Born in Halifax, England, Lister immigrated with his family in 1884, to be near his uncle, who was mayor of Tacoma, Washington.

[1] He married Mary Alma Thornton on February 28, 1893, and they had two children, Florence and John Ernest.

After a successful management of Governor John Rankin Rogers' campaign in 1896, Lister was appointed chairman of the State Board of Control.

[2] As governor, he supported agricultural aid, irrigation and reclamation projects, and state industrial accident insurance.

[3][4] Lister died one day before his forty-ninth birthday,[5] on June 14, 1919, from heart and kidney disease, in Seattle, Washington.