Pitkin County CO Archives Biographies.....James, David S. December 18, 1845 - ?
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Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net March 16, 2006, 7:53 am

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Perhaps by natural endowment, perhaps by inheritance from his ancestors,

this now prosperous and successful stock man and rancher was possessed in early

life with a desire to go abroad from the narrow confines of his home and see the

country and make his own way wherever fortune or inclination might lead him.  At

any rate when he was twenty years old he freely gave up bright prospects in the

mercantile line, and turning his back upon the scenes and associations of his

childhood and youth, and the pleasures of a peaceful fireside, he came into the

wilds of the west with but little capital beyond high hopes, a stout heart, good

health and a first-rate education, here to encounter danger and disaster, hard

work with slender compensation, privation, loneliness and cheerless outlooks,

until by native force and the exercise of good judgment he made a lodgment

against fate and commanded circumstances to his service, winning prosperity by

sheer determination and perseverance.  He was born in Bedford county,

Pennsylvania, on December 18, 1845, the son of John and Elizabeth James, the

former a native of England and the latter of Maryland.  They settled in

Pennsylvania in their early married life, and there the father became a

prosperous merchant and banker.  In politics he was a Republican and in church

affiliation a Methodist.  The mother was a Lutheran.  She died in 1875 and he in

1898.  Their family comprised seven children, Mary, then the wife of Jacob

Barnhardt, died at the town of Bedford, Pennsylvania, and Sarah at her father’s

house.  The living children are:  William, living at Charlesville, Pennsylvania;

Maria, the wife of John Emig; John, at Rainsburg, Pennsylvania; Rachel H., in

Ohio; and the subject of this brief review.  The latter received a good

education, attending the public schools and the Missionary Institute located at

Seal’s Grove on the west bank of the Susquehanna.  At the age of eighteen he

received from his father a one-half interest in his mercantile business, and for

two years he gave his attention to the enterprise with zeal and industry.  At

the end of that time, being dissatisfied with the occupation, he abandoned his

interest and started west to find something more congenial.  He stopped at

Nebraska City, Nebraska, where he secured employment as a clerk in the

postoffice at a compensation of fifty dollars a month.  He remained there so

employed three years, then came to Gunnison, Colorado, and began prospecting. 

During the two years he devoted to this business he suffered many hardships and

privations, with all the danger and discomfort incident to life in a wild mining

camp.  Giving up prospecting as a bad job, he located the ranch on which

Carbondale has since been built, but two years later sold it to Elsey Cooper for

three hundred and fifty dollars, after which he purchased another ranch which he

sold three years afterward to Mr. Crane of the vicinity.  He had tried to

improve it, but the survey for the ditch was made wrong and the water was

unavailable.  In 1884 he moved to Aspen, where he remained until July of the

next year without accomplishing much, then changed to the vicinity in which he

now lives and bought a ranch of Mr. Campbell for fifty dollars.  The ranch

comprised one hundred and sixty acres and was located six miles northeast of

Carbondale.  Retaining this, he returned to Aspen, and during the next three

years he drove a transfer wagon in the interest of Mr. Stephens.  He then moved

back to his ranch and remained there five years, at the end of that period

selling the property at a good profit.  His next venture was the purchase of one

hundred and fifty-eight acres of the ranch which he now owns, to which he has

since added one hundred and sixty-six acres, making his holding at this time

three hundred and twenty-four acres.  Of this he cultivated two hundred acres,

raising hay, grain, potatoes and other vegetables.   His crops are first-rate in

quality and generous in quantity.  The water right is good and the supply

sufficient, and the land responds readily to skillful tillage.  Mr. James has

also devoted some time and attention to raising horses. In national politics he

is a Republican, and in fraternal circles he is connected with the Odd Fellows,

the Woodmen of the World and the Patriotic Sons of America.  

Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905

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