Shasta County
Biographies
JESSE W. CARTER
One of the ablest and most
successful lawyers of the upper Sacramento Valley is Jesse W. Carter, of
Redding, whose professional career has gained for him high standing and won for
him the confidence of the public. He was
born in Trinity County, California, on the 19th of December, 1888,
and is a son of Asa Manning and Josephine (Sweet) Carter. His father was a native of Iowa and a veteran
of the Civil War. He twice crossed the
plains, the first time in 1866 with General Canby. He was a pioneer of Trinity County, a man of
character and standing, and his death occurred in Redding in 1898. He was a staunch supporter of the Republican
Party, and by occupation were a farmer and miner. The mother, who died at Watsonville in 1908,
came with her parents to Callahan, Siskiyou County, in 1854. She was married there in 1873 to Asa M.
Carter and they became the parents of eight children, as follows: Henry, who is a miner and lives in Trinity
County; Charles, who was accidentally killed in Trinity County in 1916;
William, who was a contractor in Shasta County and died in 1913; Emma, who is
the wife of Robert Lane, a carpenter at Palo Alto, California; Elizabeth, the
wife of Fred H. Williams, a forest ranger at Callahan, Siskiyou County; Jesse
W., of this review; Chester, who was a garage owner and was accidentally killed
in Tehama County; and John, who is an automobile distributor at Cottonwood,
Shasta County.
Jesse W. Carter spent his boyhood
days in Trinity County and was the only one who ever graduated from the Coffee
Creek grade school, as the schoolhouse was burned down shortly after he
completed the course there. He attended
the Mission high school of San Francisco and studied for two years at the
Lick-Wilmerding Endowment School. He
attended the Drew preparatory school for two years, and then entered the Golden
Gate Law College, from which he was graduated, with the degree of Bachelor of
Laws, in 1913. He was admitted to the
bar on April 11th of that year, and entered upon the practice of his
profession in San Francisco. On January
19, 1914, he came to Redding, where he has since maintained his headquarters,
still maintaining an office at 1006 Merchants Exchange Bank Building, San
Francisco. He has here built up a large
and important practice and is recognized as a lawyer of learning, ability and
trustworthiness. In 1914 Mr. Carter made
the race for district attorney of Shasta County but was defeated by
twenty-three votes. In 1918 he defeated
his opponent by five hundred and fifty votes and was reelected in 1922, thus
serving eight years as district attorney.
In 1926 Mr. Carter made the race for the state senate, but was defeated
by Senator James Allen, of Yreka, a very strong and capable man. Mr. Carter conducts a general practice in
civil law, trial work and water litigation being his specialties, in which he
has been remarkably successful. He has,
as attorney for the farmers of this district, fought some of the largest
corporations and has invariably beaten them, not having lost a case for his
clients. He employs three attorneys to
assist him in the care of his large practice.
In 1910 Mr. Carter was united in
marriage to Miss Tiny Gish, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Singer) Gish, who
came from Kansas to California in the ‘70s.
Mr. Gish was a building contractor and lived at Walnut Creek, Contra
Costa County. Mrs. Carter was born in
Los Angeles, this state, is a graduate of high school and studied music under
Mrs. Rena Herman (now Mrs. Thomas Mooney, prominent in the labor circles of
this state), after which she taught music.
Mr. and Mrs. Carter are the parents of three children, namely: Oliver Jesse, nineteen years of age, who is a
junior at Stanford University; Harlan Field, who is a freshman in the State
College at Chico; and Marion Rose, who is a junior in the Redding high school.
In political affairs Mr. Carter
maintains an independent attitude. In
1927 he was elected a member of the board of governors of the California State
Bar from his district, and was reelected in 1928 and 1929. He is also a member of the San Francisco Bar
Association, the Shasta County Bar Association and the American Bar
Association. He has served as attorney
for the state board of dental examiners since 1928, and is at this time
attorney for the city of Mount Shasta.
He belongs to Western Star Lodge, No. 2, F. & A. M., located at the
old town of Shasta, of which he is a past master; to Islam Temple, A. A. O. N.
M. S., of San Francisco; the Knights of Pythias, of which he is a past grand
chancellor of the state; Redding Lodge, I. O. O. F., at Redding; and to the
Rotary Club, of which he is a past president.
He has been active in Masonic circles and in 1922 served as senior grand
steward of the grand lodge of California.
Mrs. Carter is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Carter is a man of sterling character,
fine public spirit and a pleasing personality and enjoys deservedly great
popularity throughout this community and county.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Wooldridge,
J. W. Major, History of the Sacramento Valley California, Vol. 3 Pages
318-320. Pioneer
Historical Publ. Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's
Shasta County Biographies