Warren E. Doan, the official court stenographer of Sacramento County, decided upon the occupation of court reporter when he left school, and has been persistent in winning a well-deserved success in this pursuit, as his present important position indicates. For many years he was reporter in Placer County and has held his position in Sacramento County since 1897. He is a man of engaging personality, genial and popular among his associates, and has found and filled a worthy place in this world of work.
Mr. Doan was born March 8, 1862, in Portland, Oregon, being a son of Riley R. and Sarah Catherine (Butler) Doan. His father was a native of Ohio and was a mechanic and inventor by trade. He died in August 1902. He had come across the plains to the coast in 1852 and for a time was in the sawmill business at Sly Park in El Dorado County, California; from there he went to Austin, Nevada, where he worked in the mines; thence to Colfax, Placer County, California, in the same occupation; was again in the sawmill business in El Dorado County, whence he went to Sacramento; he was foreman of the mines at Harrison Gulch, in the employ of Captain Roberts, and the latter was part owner of the steam road wagon which was the invention of Mr. R. R. Doan, and was a most valuable and widely used machine. He bought a farm at Elmira and spent the last three years of his life in farming. He was seventy-three years old at the time of his death. He came from a family who were early settlers of Ohio and Michigan, and his ancestors, of English-Scotch stock, came to America prior to the Revolution. His wife was born in Peoria, Illinois, of English lineage, and now makes her home in Oakland. There are three children: Warren E.; Arthur, in the employ of the Southern Pacific Railroad; and Dora E., wife of Charles Lowell, a farmer near Elmira.
Mr. Warren E. Doan received his education in the schools of Sacramento, and in 1880, having studied shorthand sufficiently to become an amanuensis, entered the office of Major Winn J. Davis, official reporter of the superior court. In 1882 he became an amanuensis for the firm of Huntington, Hopkins and Company, but after fourteen months returned to work for Major Davis, with whom he remained until 1889. In that year he was appointed official reporter of the superior court of Placer County, and had his residence at Auburn until 1897, at which time he received his appointment as court reporter of Sacramento and has given a most creditable administration of the duties of that office to the present time. During the time he was with Mr. Davis, he was also associated with Hon. William M. Cutter, official reporter of the superior courts of Yuba, Sutter, and Butte counties.
Mr. Doan is a Republican in politics but takes no active part in party affairs. He was appointed a notary public in 1893. He affiliates with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. For three years he was a private in Company G of the National Guard of California, that being a Sacramento company.
Mr. Doan was married in Washington (now Broderick), Yolo County, California, October 17, 1883, to Miss Kittie E. Young, a native of Yolo County and a daughter of Captain William H. Young. Her father was foreman of the carpenters for the San Joaquin Transportation Company, and he has built several of the company’s boats. He came around the Horn to California in 1850 and was in the employ of the transportation company for thirty years. He comes from an old American family of English lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Doan have one child, Norman E., who is eighteen years old and a graduate of the Sacramento high school, now taking a post-graduate course.
Source: Leigh H. Irvine; A History of the New California Its Resources and People, 2 Volumes; New York and Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1903.