Charles M. Start

Start was born in Bakersfield, Vermont, the son of Simeon Gould Start and Mary Sophia (Barnes) Start.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/progressivemenof00shut/page/423/mode/1up |title=Progressive Men of Minnesota |editor1-first=Marion D. |editor1-last=Shutter |editor2-first=J. S. |editor2-last=McLaine |publisher=The Minneapolis Journal |page=423 |date=1897 |access-date=2023-02-04 |via=Internet Archive}} His father was a farmer who also served in local offices including justice of the peace. Start's younger brother, Henry R. Start, served as a member of the Vermont Supreme Court.{{cite book |last=Start |first=William A. |date=1894 |title=A Genealogical Record of the Start Family in America |url=https://archive.org/stream/genealogicalreco1894star#page/20/mode/2up |location=Boston, MA |publisher=Wallace Spooner |pages=21–22}} Charles Start was educated in Bakersfield and at Barre Academy, studied law with William C. Wilson, and attained admission to the bar.

Wilson joined the Union Army during the American Civil War. In July 1862 he enlisted in Company I, 10th Vermont Volunteer Infantry, and he received a commission as a first lieutenant shortly after enlisting. However, ill health caused him to resign his commission in December, and he left the unit while it was serving in Virginia. In August 1863, Start married Wilson's daughter, Clara A. Wilson (1843-1924). They were the parents of two children, one of whom, daughter Clara L. (1868-1950), lived to adulthood. He moved to Rochester, Minnesota in 1863, and established himself in a law practice. In 1866, he formed a law partnership with Ozora P. Stearns.{{cite magazine |last=Butterfield |first=Consul Willshire |date=March 1889 |title=Bench and Bar of Duluth |url=http://www.minnesotalegalhistoryproject.org/assets/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20Bench%20Bar%20Duluth.pdf |magazine=The National magazine |access-date=April 6, 2019 }} Alternate link at [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015083056740;view=1up;seq=706 HathiTrust].

A Republican, he served as Rochester city attorney beginning in 1864. His subsequent offices included Olmsted County Attorney (1871–1879), Minnesota Attorney General (1880–1881), Minnesota District Court Judge of the Third District (1881–1895), and Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court (1895–1913).

Start retired from the court in January 1913 and was succeeded as Chief Justice by Calvin L. Brown. Judge Start died at his home in Saint Paul, Minnesota on December 19, 1919.{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/117967512/former-chief-justice-start-of-minnesota/ |title=Former Chief Justice Start of Minnesota is Dead at Age of Eighty |newspaper=The Bismarck Tribune |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |page=1 |date=1919-12-22 |access-date=2023-02-04 |via=Newspapers.com}} He was buried at Oakwood Cemetery in Rochester.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080911181204/http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/judges/memorials/Mem144MinnStart.pdf Proceedings in Memory of Chief Justice Start, April 30, 1920 - Minnesota State Law Library]

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Category:1839 births

Category:1919 deaths

Category:People from Bakersfield, Vermont

Category:Minnesota attorneys general

Category:Chief justices of the Minnesota Supreme Court

Category:Minnesota state court judges

Category:19th-century Minnesota state court judges

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