Charles Wesley Colter was a lawyer, publisher and political figure in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada. He represented Haldimand

Haldimand (electoral district)

Haldimand was a federal electoral district in the province of Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1892 and from 1904 to 1953. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867....

 in the Canadian House of Commons

Canadian House of Commons

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

 from 1886 to 1887 and from 1889 to 1890 as a Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...

 member.

Colter was born in York County, New Brunswick

York County, New Brunswick

York County is located in west-central New Brunswick, Canada. The county contains the provincial capital, Fredericton. Outside the city, farming and forestry are two major industries in the county, which is bisected by the Saint John River...

, the son of Samuel Colter, an immigrant from Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, and was educated at the Sackville Academy and the University of New Brunswick

University of New Brunswick

The University of New Brunswick is a Canadian university located in the province of New Brunswick. UNB is the oldest English language university in Canada and among the first public universities in North America. The university has two main campuses: the original campus founded in 1785 in...

. In 1869, he married Annie Folinsbee. Colter taught school in Cayuga

Cayuga, Ontario

Cayuga is an unincorporated community and county seat in the province of Ontario, Canada located at the intersection of Highway 3 and Munsee Street and along the Grand River in Haldimand County. Cayuga is about a 20 minute drive from Lake Erie and 30 minutes south of Hamilton and 115 minutes south...

 and Dunnville

Dunnville, Ontario

Dunnville is an unincorporated community of 6,000 people located near the mouth of the Grand River in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada, near the historic Talbot Trail...

 for several years. In 1879, he was called to the Ontario bar. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1886 in a by-election held following the death of David Thompson but was defeated when he ran for reelection in 1887 and in an 1887 by-election held after the first election was successfully appealed. His election in 1889 was declared void and he lost the by-election which followed in 1890 to Walter Humphries Montague

Walter Humphries Montague

Walter Humphries Montague, PC was a Canadian politician. He was a federal cabinet minister in the governments of Mackenzie Bowell and Charles Tupper, and subsequently a provincial cabinet minister in the Manitoba government of Rodmond Palen Roblin...

. Colter was unsuccessful when he ran for reelection in 1891 and again in 1921 in Elgin East

Elgin East

Elgin East was a federal electoral district represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1925. It was located in the province of Ontario...

.