 Settle was born near Wentworth, Rockingham County, N.C., on March 10, 1865.He attended the public schools and Georgetown University, studied law in Greensboro, N.C.; was admitted to the bar in 1885 and commenced practice in Wentworth.Settle served as solicitor of the ninth judicial district (1886–1894) before he was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-third and Fifty-fourth Congresses (March 4, 1893 – March 3, 1897).