Born in San Jose, California, Welsh read law to enter the bar in 1912. He was in private practice from 1912 to 1932, also serving as a deputy district attorney and a Superior Court judge of Sacramento County, California in 1914. He was a United States Commissioner for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California from 1914 to 1919. He served as a councilman on the Sacramento City Council from 1928 to 1929, and was Mayor of Sacramento in 1929. He was a member of the Board of Education of Sacramento in 1931, and served as a Judge of the Superior Court of California County of Sacramento from 1932 to 1939.[1]