Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2023 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Centennial History of Grant County, Indiana 1812-1912, Vol. II Compiled from the Records of the Grant County Historical Society, Archives of the County, Data of Personal Interviews, and Other Authentic Sources of Local Information pub. Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago and New York - 1914 Pg. 682-683 JAMES F. CHARLES. On other pages of this work is entered a memoir to the late JAMES CHARLES, who was one of the honored pioneers and influential citizens of Grant county, and thus it is not demanded that the record of his career and of the family history be repeated in the following epitome of the life of his son, JAMES F., who is one of the representative members of the bar of his native county and who is engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city of Marion, judicial center and metropolis of Grant county. JAMES F. CHARLES was born in the city that is now his home and the date of his nativity was December 30, 1872. He received his early educational discipline in the public schools of Marion and was gradu- ated in the high school when but fourteen years of age, in 1887 - a fact indicating his receptiveness and also his ambition and appreci- ation. He was at the time the youngest person ever graduated in the Marion high school. After leaving school he gained practical and valu- able business experience by entering the flour mill conducted by his father, and with the operations and business management of the same he continued to be actively identified until 1896, in the meanwhile showing himself of distinctive business acumen, - a trait evidently inherited from his father and grandfather, the names of both of whom have been prominent in connection with industrial activities in Grant county. Desirous of fitting himself for a broader field of endeavor, Mr. CHARLES severed his association with his father's business and was matriculated in the law department of the celebrated University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor. In this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1898 and he received therefrom his well earned degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then returned to his native city and was forthwith admitted to the Indiana bar. He has been continuously engaged in the active practice of law in Marion since the autumn of 1898 and has gained secure prestige as one of the prominent and resourceful representatives of the bar of Grant county. He has won success through close application and the proper untilization of his admirable powers as a strong and versatile advocate and well fortified counselor. He continues a close student and is specially well fortified in the involved and extracting science of juris- prudence, the while he is a stickler in the observance of the unwritten ethical code of his profession, so that he commands the confidence and high regard of his confreres at the bar, as does he also those of the general public. In the practice of his profession he has had various partnership alliances but his law business is now conducted in an inde- pendent way, with a clientage of important and representative character. Like his honored father MR. CHARLES has been unwavering and zealous in the support of the cause of the Republican party and he is one of its influential representatives in this section of the state. Through several important campaigns he served as vice-chairman of the Republican central committee of Grant county and he has otherwise been active in furthering the party cause. He has served as city attorney of Marion for the past ten years, under three different administrations, and his long retention of this position indicates the value of his services and the estimate placed upon him in the community that has ever been his home. Upon the organization of the present Grant County Bar Association MR. CHARLES had the distinction of being elected its first president, and he is one of its active and valued members at the present time. He is essentially progressive and liberal in his civic attitude and gives his support to those undertakings that tend to conserve the general good of the commun- ity. He is secretary and a director of the Unites States Glove Company, representing one of the important industrial enterprises of Marion, and is an influential member of the Marion Civic Assembly. He is Past Exalted Ruler of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks and is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Connubial responsibilities were assumed by MR. CHARLES on the 11th of June, 1907, when he wedded MISS EDITH M. ESLER, who was born in the city of Baltimore, Maryland, and the two children of this union are ROBERT FRANKLIN, who was born May 12, 1908; and EDWIN ESLER, who was born June 26, 1911. ================================================================================