Johnson County KS Archives Biographies.....James, Thomas Wilson 1851 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 March 5, 2009, 5:54 am

Author: Ed Blair (1915)

  Thomas Wilson James, a prominent farmer of Mission township, has had more
experience in various parts of the western country, beginning with the pioneer
days, than is usually crowded within the limits of one man's life-time. He was
born in Muskingum county, Ohio, August 5, 1851, and is a son of Thomas and
Barberie A. (Barrow) James, natives of Ohio. They were married in Coshocton
county, March 1, 1847, and were the parents of five children, as follows:
Charles William, born April 21, 1848, died June 30, 1884; Mary Jane, born July
12, 1849, married Henry Coppock and died April 21, 1895; Thomas W., the subject
of this sketch; Howard Marshall, born November 15, 1853, died January 29, 1864;
and Ida Belle, born September 28, 1861. They were all born in Ohio except Ida
Belle, who was born in Johnson county, Kansas. The family came to Kansas in
1858, located in Shawnee township, Johnson county, where the parents spent their
lives. Thomas Wilson James attended the public schools and later attended school
at Lawrence, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., and then entered Iva College at
Ottumwa, Iowa. In 1867, when he was sixteen years old, he drove a six-yoke ox
team across the plain from Kansas City, Mo., to Fort Union, New Mexico, and from
there back to Fort Ellsworth, Kan. Lewis Breyfogle was wagon boss and he and
Thomas James, Sr., were partners. After he had attended college at Ottumwa he
went to Portland, Ore., and spent one winter, when he returned by way of San
Francisco and the Great Salt Lake. He then spent three years, from 1871 to 1874,
on a ranch near Grenada, Colo. He then returned to Johnson county and followed
farming on Indian creek one season. The next year he went to Walla Walla, Wash.,
and from there to southeastern Oregon, From there he went to Deadwood, S. D.,
and after spending one winter in that State he went to Aubuquerque, [sic] N. M.
He took up a claim there and established a trading post near the Navajo Indian
reservation. After remaining there several years he disposed of his interests
and went to southwestern Oklahoma and bought a ranch. Here he was engaged in the
horse and cattle business about fifteen years and after his parents died, he
returned to the old home in Mission township in 1909. His father died, April 29,
1902, and the mother passed away November 25, 1905. Mr. James follows general
farming and stock raising and is one of the progressive farmers of Johnson
county. The old James home where he resides is one of the historic landmarks of
Johnson county. The residence, a commodious brick structure, was built by the
father in 1858 and apparently is in as good condition today as the day it was
built. Many trees adorn the old place, some that were set out over fifty years
ago. Mr. James was married in 1900 to Mrs. Katie Finch, a widow, residing in
Oklahoma.

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF Johnson County Kansas
BY
ED BLAIR

AUTHOR OF
Kansas Zephyrs, Sunflower Sittings and Other Poems and Sketches

IN ONE VOLUME

ILLUSTRATED
STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY
LAWRENCE, KANSAS
1915


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/johnson/bios/james278nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ksfiles/

File size: 3.6 Kb