Grant Carpenter (1865–1936) was a newspaperman, attorney, and writer, and twin brother of artist Grace Carpenter Hudson."Grant Carpenter, Writer, Lawyer, Dies in San Francisco," ''The Oakland Tribune'', April 21, 1937, p. 35."Carpenter, S.F. Writer, Dead," ''The San Francisco Examiner'', Tuesday April 21, 1936, p. 11.Karen Holmes and Sherrie Smith-Ferri, Grace Hudson Museum: "The other twin, Grant Carpenter," ''The Ukiah'' alif.''Daily Journal'', December 1, 2008. As a youth, Carpenter worked as an apprentice to a printer, and later as a

newspaper reporter A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

for the ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

''. He studied law at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

,''Calendar of the University of Michigan for 1880–81'', Ann Arbor: The University, 1881, p. 181. and after earning his law degree, became an attorney for the

Chinese Six Companies The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association (CCBA) ( in the Western United States, Midwest, and Western Canada; 中華公所 (中华公所) ''zhōnghuá gōngsuǒ'' (Jyutping: zung1wa4 gung1so2) in the East) is a historical Chinese association ...

in San Francisco, and later served as an

Assistant District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a loc ...

. He became involved in San Francisco's

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

circles, writing continued to be an interest, and he served as president of several associations, including the San Francisco Press Club. In 1916, he moved to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York City, to begin a new career as a writer. In the 1920s, he moved to Los Angeles, California and pursued writing for Hollywood. He was the author of two plays, ''The Dragon's Claws'' and ''The Concubine'', several film scenarios, and two novels, ''Long Sweetening: A Romance of the Red Woods'' (New York: Robert M. McBride & Company, 1921, 306 pp.) and ''The Night Tide, A Story of Old Chinatown'' (The H. K. Fly Company, New York, 1920, 319 pp.). He served as president of the

Screen Writers Guild The Screen Writers Guild was an organization of Hollywood screenplay authors, formed as a union in 1933. In 1954, it became two different organizations: Writers Guild of America, West and the Writers Guild of America, East. Founding Screenwriter ...

and vice-president of the Authors League of America, now the

Authors Guild The Authors Guild is America's oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has counted among ...

Personal

Carpenter was born on February 21, 1865, in

Potter Valley Potter Valley is a census-designated place in Mendocino County, California, United States. It is located north-northeast of Ukiah, at an elevation of at the headwaters of the East Fork Russian River. The CDP population was 665 at the 2020 cens ...

Mendocino County, California Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

, a son of the noted photographer

Aurelius O. Carpenter Aurelius Ormando Carpenter (1836–1919) was an American photographer, writer and abolitionist. He was one of the earliest photographers in early American California, photographing Mendocino County, California. He was the son of Clarina I. H. Nich ...

and Helen (née McCowen) Carpenter. He married first Sophia Storm, with whom he had two children. He married second to pianist and singer Mercedes Woodford, whose father was a mining engineer for the Kimberley diamond mines in South Africa. His third wife was writer Medora Block. He died on April 30, 1936, in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

, and is interred in the Russian River Cemetery in Ukiah,

, alongside his twin sister, artist Grace Carpenter Hudson. There is a documented friendship between Carpenter and fellow writer Rose Wilder Lane. The two exchanged letters beginning in the mid-twenties until shortly before Carpenter's death. Lane's letters to Carpenter focused on politics of the time, her personal life, their mutual friends in the arts, farming, reminiscences of their early friendship, and also mentions medical problems Carpenter referred to in his letters to Lane. There are long gaps between the dates of some of the letters, as well as comments on Lane's part indicating that she has not forgotten about writing to him, indicating that their communication was sporadic.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Grant People from Potter Valley, California Writers from San Francisco Journalists from Los Angeles University of Michigan Law School alumni 19th-century American journalists 19th-century American male writers 20th-century American journalists American male journalists 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American novelists American male dramatists and playwrights American male novelists American twins Fraternal twins American male screenwriters Screenwriters from California 1865 births 1936 deaths American male non-fiction writers 20th-century American screenwriters