Davidson-Blount-Knox County TN Archives Biographies.....Cates, Charles T. (jr.) 1863 - 
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Author: Will T. Hale

   GEN. CHARLES T. CATES, JR. One of the old and honored names in the bar of

east Tennessee was given additional distinction with the appointment of Charles

T. Cates, Jr., as attorney general and reporter of the state. General Cates is

now in his second term of eight years, and has been the efficient representative

of the state in much important litigation. In the aggregate, his father and

himself have been practicing members of the bar of east Tennessee for the past

half century.



   General Cates, one of the four children of Charles T. and Martha Victoria.

(Kidd) Cates, was born March 6, 1863, at Maryville, Tennessee, where his father

was for many years a prominent lawyer. His early education was obtained at the

New Providence Academy in Marysville, and in 1881 he was graduated from

Maryville College with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. The same institution

conferred upon him in 1909 the degree of LL. B. Between the years of 1881 and

1884 the young man taught school, and for two years was principal of the

Maryville school.



   At night and during his vacations, while his school teaching work went on, he

studied law in his father's office. He made rapid progress and was granted a

license to practice in October, 1883, and at the following December term of

circuit court at Loudon was admitted to the bar. He began practice in his native

town, there becoming associated with his father under the firm name of Cates &

Son. He continued thus until 1889, when he sought a larger field for his

practice in the city of Knoxville, and he has since been identified with that

city. Here for a time he was a member of the firm of Howe & Cates, and then

entered a partnership with General R. N. Hood, which endured from 1890 until the

death of the latter in 1892. In the year 1893 a partnership, was formed with

Jerome Templeton, and the legal association of Templeton & Gates continued until

1898. In October, 1902, the firm of Shields, Cates & Mountcastle was formed.



   In September, 1902, Mr. Cates received his first appointment as attorney

general and reporter, for the full term of eight years, at the expiration of

which he was reappointed in 1910, In the inevitably large mass of miscellaneous

business with which his office has been concerned, he has had personal charge of

some of the most notable. Conspicuous among them was the State of of Tennessee

vs. Standard Oil Company, the result of which was a decree of ouster against the

Oil Company, handed down by the state supreme court. This case was appealed to

and affirmed by the United States supreme court. Mr. Cates also exercised the

duties of his office in the most notable criminal trial before the supreme court

during the last decade,—the case of Duncan B. and Robin J. Cooper.



   Mr. Cates is one of the best known and ablest lawyers in the South today. He

is widely known* as a speaker of unusual ability, and that fact has made him an

important factor in the affairs of the Democratic party. From 1898 to 1902 he

was chairman of the Democratic executive committee of Knox county; he was a

member of the Democratic state executive committee from 1898 to 1900; and he was

delegate at large to the Democratic national convention in Kansas City in 1900.

In the campaign of 1910 known as the "free and untrammeled judiciary," he was

chosen manager, and put his ticket through in the state with large majorities.



   Mr. Cates is affiliated fraternally with the order of Elks, is a member of

the Cumberland Club, and has professional associations with the Tennessee and

American Bar Associations. He is a director in the Third National Bank of
Knoxville.



Additional Comments:
From:



A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans : the leaders and representative men in

commerce, industry and modern activities

by Will T. Hale

Chicago:  Lewis Pub. Co.,  1913



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