Stanislaus-Statewide County CA Archives Biographies.....Needham, Hon. James Carson September 17, 1864 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 26, 2010, 1:13 pm

Source: California and Californians, Vol. IV, Published 1932, Pages  87 - 88
Author: The Lewis Publishing Company

     HON. JAMES CARSON NEEDHAM, judge of the Superior Court, a resident of 
Modesto, was born in a covered wagon at Carson City, Nevada, while his parents 
were on the way to California. His birthday was September 17, 1864. The 
following day his parents resumed their journey, and thus by the interval of 
approximately twenty-four hours Judge Needham missed becoming a native son of 
the Golden West.

     His father, Charles Elisha Needham, was a native of Vermont, a New 
England farmer, who in coming to the far West first settled at Mayfield, 
California, and three years later moved to Tracy, where he engaged in farming 
on a tract of land which he preempted. In 1889 he moved his home to Calaveras 
County and later retired. He died at the age of seventy-seven, in 1906. 
Charles Elisha Needham married Olive Lavina Drake, who was horn at Crown 
Point, New York, and died in 1915.

     James Carson Needham was educated in public schools in San Joaquin and 
Santa Clara counties, attended the San Jose High School, graduated with the 
Bachelor of Philosophy degree in 1886 from the College of the Pacific and then 
went east to attend the law school of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 
where he received the LL. B. degree in 1889.

     Judge Needham has been an honored member of the California bar for over 
forty years. On November 1, 1889, he engaged in practice, with L. L. Dennett 
as his first associate.

     His associates have long had a favorable opinion of Judge Needham's legal 
attainments. After he had become well established in his law practice he 
became interested in politics and in 1898 made a campaign for election to 
Congress. Judge Needham was in Congress seven consecutive terms, from March 4, 
1899, until March 4, 1913. For nine years he was California's representative 
on the most important committee of the House, ways and means. In 1902, when a 
candidate to succeed himself for a third term, Judge Needham had as his rival 
in the district Gaston Ashe, member of a very prominent family of the state 
and who had the special advantage of being a native son. At that time members 
of the Order of the Native Sons of the Golden West were stressing the matter 
of loyalty to their members who, other things being equal, should be preferred 
as candidates for public office. Many of the speeches made during the campaign 
dwelt upon this item in favor of Mr. Ashe. It was difficult to combat such an 
argument, and at that time the members of the order were very strong 
politically. Judge Needham in the peroration of one of his speeches brought 
out the idea that individuals had nothing to say about the locality in which 
they were to be born. He then gave a graphic description of the journey of the 
covered wagon toward California, ending with the declaration that it was not 
his fault and that had destiny permitted one day more he would have been 
enrolled as a native son. This effectually turned the tables on the 
opposition, and he was elected.

     After the election there came to him letters from many people throughout 
the state who had read his speech and who, like him, had been born in covered 
wagons enroute to California. These incidents of the campaign gave him the 
idea of founding a club made up of persons who came into the world under 
circumstances similar to himself. Thus he organized and became president 
of "The Covered Wagon Babies Club." The members of this club meet annually at 
a banquet, where they rehearse and revive old-time experiences and 
associations.

     After retiring from Congress Judge Needham resumed the active practice of 
law until he was appointed judge of the Superior Court, by Governor Stephens. 
He qualified January 1, 1919, and since then has been elected three times 
without opposition. His present term expires December 1, 1934. Judge Needham 
is a Republican, a member of the Masonic fraternity and the college fraternity 
Psi Kappa Pi. His favorite recreation is golf.

     He married at Modesto, July 1, 1894, Miss Dora D. Parsons, daughter of N. 
M. Parsons, of Modesto. They have three children and seven grandchildren. The 
daughter Mildred is the wife of Edward T. Taylor, a Modesto attorney, and they 
have two children. Chauncey Everett Needham is in the stock and bond business 
at Palo Alto, is married and has four children. Nathalie is the wife of 
Maynard P. Garrison, a Los Angeles attorney, and they have one child.

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