James M. Kimball
History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894
USGENWEB Montana Archives
May be copied for non-profit purposes.

James M. Kimball, telegraph operator on the N.P. Railroad at 
Billings, was born in Indiana, in 1842 a son of John and
Lucinda Hilton Kimball, of German ancestry. The father for many 
years was connected with the railroads of Indiana and 
at the time of his death was an official of the Indianapolis, 
Bloomington & Western Railroad. He was killed by a 
railroad collision at Indianapolis in 1877. James M. Kimball 
received his education at Vernon Academy under Prof. O. 
Phelps and when young began studying electricity. When the cry 
for the defenders of the Union was heard over the land, 
in 1861, young Kimball left school and in September of that 
year enlisted in the Sixth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, 
Company B. He was afterward detached and placed in charge of 
the left flank of the fifty-fourth Indiana Regiment, as 
drill master. With a number of others he was captured at Green 
River, but was paroled and returned to his home in 
Indiana. The war closed before he received his exchange. After 
the close of the struggle Mr. Kimball began the study of
telegraphy and has ever since followed that occupation.

Mr. Kimball was married in Indiana in 1863 to Julia Woods, a 
daughter of William and Elizabeth (Shell) Woods, natives 
of Tennessee. The mother was a relative of the prominent Shell 
family of Tennessee. The father, a farmer and mechanic 
by occupation, owned land near Morgantown, Indiana and his 
death occurred before the late war. Mr. and Mrs. Kimball 
have five children: Joseph T., Andrew S., Melvina, Sarah and 
Julia.


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