Career
Cinema historian Terry Ramsaye later claimed that Rector, during his association with Latham, invented the "Latham loop", a key feature of modern cinema cameras and projectors, in 1895. However, in 1927 Dickson stated unequivocally that Lauste was responsible for this important invention. Using this technique, Rector created the 90-minute documentary film The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight (1897), filmed in an early widescreen process in 63mm film, with an aspect ratio of about 1.75:1.
He was born near Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1863.
He later attended West Virginia University. Jesse had a sister, Anna Russell Leach (1860-1952), a writer for the New York Times.
He had a daughter, Anne Elizabeth Rector (1899-1970) who was married to Edmund Duffy.