Frank Morrison Pixley (January 31, 1825 – August 13, 1895) was an American journalist, attorney, and politician. Pixley was the 8th attorney general of California. Biography Pixley was born in Westmoreland, Oneida County, New York. As a youth, he worked on the family farm and was first educated in the village academy, later at the Quaker school in Skaneateles (town), New York. He graduated from Hamilton College and studied law in Rochester, New York, he worked in the law office of Smith, Rochester and Smith. In 1847, he went to Michigan where he was admitted to practice law and qualified to appear before the state supreme court. Two years later he travelled to California during the Gold Rush, and spent two winters working mines on the Yuba River. He met and, in 1853, married Amelia Van Reynegom, daughter of Captain John and Margaret Van Reynegom, who had arrived to San Francisco in 1849 aboard her parents’ ship the Linda. The Pixleys lived in the North Beach area of San Francisco. In 1858, although California was a Democratic state, Pixley was elected as a Republican to represent San Francisco in the State Assembly. In 1861, he was elected the 8th Attorney General of California. His term ended in 1863. He traveled to Washington D.C. as a Civil War correspondent. However, he could not obtain a pass from Edwin Stanton who was the Secretary of War. At that he persuaded the United States Senator from California, John Conness, to let him use his congressional pass. With that he was able to spend three months in Civil War combat areas, and at one time riding his horse to the front line with the Second Connecticut Regiment. He visited Ulysses S. Grant in his headquarters. The General commented that Pixley had seen more warfare than many of his fighting men. In 1868 he was the Republican candidate for Congress in California's First District, losing to incumbent Samuel Beach Axtell by more than 3500 votes. He briefly served as the United States Attorney for the District of California in 1869. Pixley joined with Frederic Somers to found The Argonaut in April 1877. The Argonaut was considered one of the most important publications in California and it had a great deal of political influence. He was friends with former Governor of California John G. Downey, and after the death of Downey's wife, introduced him to Yda