Lucas County IA Archives Biographies.....James, Curtis Hoopes 1818 - 1889 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 12, 2007, 10:48 pm Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896) CURTIS HOOPES JAMES, deceased, was one of the pioneers of White Breast township, Lucas county, Iowa, and for many years one of its honored citizens. A sketch of his life will be found of interest to many, and, briefly, is as follows: Curtis H. James was born at Chester, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1818. His parents, Caleb and Elizabeth (Hoopes) James, were natives of Pennsylvania and members of the Society of Friends. Little is known of the history of the James family back of Caleb James other than that they were descended remotely from the English and Welsh. Caleb James and his wife had eight children, viz.: Lorenzo, Mary Ann, Curtis H., Elizabeth, Caleb, Jr., Caroline, Isaac, and Robert. For a number of years the family resided in Muskingum county, Ohio, and as early as 1849 the father and his son Curtis came out to Iowa and entered Government land, and in 1851 the father established his home on a farm near Chariton, the site on which the roundhouse now stands. On this farm the parents spent the closing years of their lives and died, the father's death occurring at the age of seventy-nine years and the mother's at eighty-four. In Muskingum county, Ohio, the subject of our sketch was reared and educated and there learned the trade of miller. He was married in Ohio, January 1, 1840, to Miss Julia A. Mauk, who was born June 7, 1822, in Muskingum county, daughter of Anthony and Sarah (Price) Mauk, natives of Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. Mauk were among the earliest pioneers of the Western Reserve and in Muskingum county reared their large family of children. The following named reached adult age: John, Eliza, George, Anthony, Sarah Ann, Joseph, Julia A., Hamilton L., William, Mary and Rebecca; and Wayne, Catherine and James died in infancy. Mr. Mauk died at the age of sixty-eight years and Mrs. Mauk at sixty-three. She was a member of the Christian Church and he was a-Lutheran. As above stated, Mr. James first came to Iowa in 1849. In the fall of 1851, having made due preparations to locate here permanently, he and his family started in a wagon for their new home, spent two weeks with friends in Illinois, and six weeks from the time they left Ohio landed at their destination. Their first house on this pioneer farm was built of logs, had a puncheon floor and was covered with a clapboard roof. In 1866 they built the brick residence which Mrs. James still occupies, this being 38x40 feet, and two stories, beautifully located and with attractive surroundings. The farm comprises 160 acres, and among its other improvements are a good barn and fine orchard and grove. Here Curtis H. James passed the rest of his life. He died in April, 1889, at the age of seventy-one years. During his residence here he filled most acceptably a number of positions of local importance. He was the first clerk of the township and also served as Township Assessor and Trustee and as a member of the School Board. He was a Republican. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he served as Steward of the local society. In all his business transactions he was honorable and upright, in office was prompt and efficient, in his church was active and devoted, in his family was loving and kind, and, in short, his whole life was in every way above reproach. Of the ten children of Mr. and Mrs. James we record that Caleb and Jessie died in early life; Lorenzo, a Corporal in the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, died of smallpox near New Orleans, during the war, at the time of his death being twenty-one years of age; Whiting, who also served as a member of the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry, is now a resident of Union county, Iowa; Curtis, Jr., died December 10, 1885, leaving four children, his wife having died about three years previously; Anthony, a resident of this county; Marcus, of Aurora, Nebraska; Mary E., who died at the age of seven years; the next, a son, died in infancy; and the youngest, Lovina E., is the wife of Charles Ramsey, of Oakley, Iowa. Additional Comments: Extracted from: A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA ILLUSTRATED "A people that take no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants."'—MACAULAY. "Biography is by nature the must universally profitable, universally pleasant, of all things."—CARLYLE "History is only biography on a large scale"—LAMARTINE. CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY 1896 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/lucas/bios/james143gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/iafiles/ File size: 5.0 Kb