C. H. Steele biography

C. H. STEELE, the president of the First National Bank of Anson and a prominent factor in financial circles in Jones county, was born in Calhoun county, Mississippi, January 13, 1867. His father, Ira M. Steele, was a native of Georgia, born near Decatur, while the mother, who bore the maiden name of Angie Armstrong, was a native of Mississippi. In 1872 the family removed to Texas, settling five miles south of Arlington in Tarrant county, although the town had not yet been founded. Fort Worth was at that time a small place and the enterprise and progress which have wrought such great changes here were hardly noticeable at that period. Ira M. Steele located on a farm and has since followed agricultural pursuits, his home being now in Anson. In the family were six children, three sons and three daughters, who reached adult age.

Charles H. Steele was only about five years old when brought by his parents to Texas. His early educational privileges were supplemented by study in Granbury College at Granbury, Hood county, to which place the family removed from Tarrant county in 1884. His literary education being completed he entered upon the study of law with the firm of Cooper & Estes of Granbury and was admitted to the bar before Judge C. K. Bell, then district judge. This was in 1889 and in 1890 Mr. Steele entered upon the practice of law. In the fall of that year he was elected county attorney of Jones county and continued in the office for four years. In 1895 he was appointed by Governor Culberson as district attorney for the thirty-ninth judicial district to fill a vacancy, and in the fall of 1896 Mr. Steele was a candidate for the office, to which he was elected. He continued to serve until 1897, when the district was changed and Jones county was placed in the forty-second district, which was a means of cutting Mr. Steele out of the district and he resigned. Since that time he has practiced his profession at Anson, being associated a part of the time with J. P. Stinson under the firm name of Steele & Stinson. In 1902, however, Mr. Stinson was elected county attorney and the partnership was dissolved, since which time Mr. Steele has been alone in practice. He is a capable lawyer with broad knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence and has won many notable forensic victories. In addition to his law practice he has the management of the First National Bank, of which he is the president.

On the 3rd of June, 1894, occurred the marriage of Mr. Steele and Miss Julia Hale of Anson, a daughter of H. C. Hale, one of the early settlers of this portion of the state, and they have one child, Annie May Steele. Judge Steele is a member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity and is also identified with the lodge of the Woodmen of the World, at Anson. An active and successful business man and lawyer, he has worked his way upward to the front ranks of his profession in western Texas and also occupies a leading position in financial circles. He is well known throughout the state and has won a desirable reputation in the practice of both civil and criminal law.

Source: B. B. Paddock, History and Biographical Record of North and West Texas (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1906), Vol. II, p. 512.

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