Butte County
Biographies
CARLETON GRAY
CARLETON GRAY. – The bar of
California has many able representatives who stand high in the legal profession
because of deep study of the best authorities on law; and of these none has a
higher rank than Carleton Gray, prominent attorney, native son, and
public-spirited citizen of Oroville. A son of the late John C. Gray, for many
years Superior Judge of Butte County, Mr. Gray was born at Oroville on December
15, 1871. He was educated in the public schools, and then the Berkeley
Gymnasium, where he graduated. He then entered the law department of the
University of California and, after a two years’ course of study, passed the
examination and was admitted to the bar of the state in San Francisco, on
August 8, 1893. Coming back to his native city, he opened an office and began
to build up a practice; and from the start he has met with more than the usual
success. For two terms he has served as city attorney of Oroville.
Mr. Gray is largely interested in
horticulture, and with his sister, Mrs. J. W. Wilson, owns the Mt. Ida Ranch of
five hundred twenty acres, in the Wyandotte section of the county. Here one
hundred sixty-five acres is devoted to orchards, including one of the oldest
and one of the best olive groves in Northern California. In the interests of
olive-growing, Mr. Gray was one of the organizers of the Olive Products
Company, in 1916, now known as the Mt. Ida Packing Company, the personnel of
which is composed of the local olive growers. He is a director and treasurer of
the company, whose plant is the most modern and best-equipped plant for
pickling olives and the manufacture of olive oil in the world. He is also a
director of the First National Bank of Oroville.
Mr. Gray was married on November 11, 1897,
in San Jose, to Miss Minnie M. Shekels, born in Butte County, a daughter of one
of the old pioneer families of the county. Mr. Gray is a very enterprising man,
and is always interested in projects that have for their aim the upbuilding and
development of the resources of the state, and especially of Butte County. He
is a member of the State Bar Association, and is well-known throughout the
Sacramento Valley as an able and successful attorney and business man.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 23 April 2008.
Source:
"History of Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Page 885, Historic Record Co, Los
Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2008 Marie Hassard.
Golden Nugget Library's Butte County Biographies