Butte County
Biographies
WILLIAM JAMES
WILLIAM JAMES.--An old settler long
active in the great work of upbuilding California,
and concerning whom it is a pleasure to know that, having made wise
investments, he became prosperous and prominent, is William James, who was born
near
Neath, Glamorganshire, Wales,
January 1, 1833. His father was also named William James and was a farmer, from
which circumstance the son was reared on a farm in Wales
and educated in the public schools of the neighborhood.
When
nineteen years of age, however, William James, Jr., bade good-bye to his native
mountains and valleys, and came to the United States
and California. Traveling by way
of the Isthmus of Panama, and landing in
San Francisco, he proceeded by boat to Marysville, and thence by stage to
Bidwell's Bar, Butte County, arriving in 1852. Here he followed mining along
the Feather River, above Ophir
(now Oroville), and met with success. Next he came to
Cherokee, where he was one of the owners and the superintendent of the Welsh company
that operated the first hydraulic mine at Cherokee. When they sold out to the
Spring Valley Mining Company, Mr. James retained stock in the new company, but
gave his attention to stock-raising, in which he had become considerably
interested by his purchase of a ranch near Cherokee, where he made his
residence and from which point he transacted his varied interests. Having an
abiding optimism and faith in the value and possibilities of land, with his
brother-in-law, Jenkin Morgan, he purchased land at
Nelson and devoted it to grain-raising. They added to the place until they
owned sixteen hundred acres, which is still in the possession of the family.
Mr. James also owned, in partnership with others, a ranch of five thousand
acres at Gridley, which they operated until they sold out.
Mr.
James made his residence at Cherokee, and was so esteemed as both a
public-spirited man and a man of large affairs, that he was twice elected
supervisor from his district (the fifth) and served eight years. During the first
term he served as chairman of the board. He also served for many years as a
school trustee, and on the formation of the Oroville
Union High School
district, he was a member of its first board,
representing the Cherokee section. He was a stanch Republican in national
politics and a pillar of the Congregational Church; he was made a Mason in
Table Mountain Lodge, No. 103, F. & A. M., in which he was a Past Master;
he belonged to Franklin Chapter, No. 20, R. A. M., at Oroville; and to Oroville
Commandery, No. 5, K. T., of which he was Past Commander.
His death occurred at Cherokee, on August 7, 1903, and he was buried with
Masonic honors.
On
January 22, 1858, Mr. James was married to Miss Mary Morgan, also a native of Wales,
in which rugged country she was born near Neath,
the daughter of Evan Morgan, a farmer there. Her brother, Thomas Morgan, had
come to the United States and in 1852
had crossed the wide plains with ox teams to California.
Once landed near the goal of his ambition, he tried his luck at mining in Butte
County. He went back to Wales
and was married, and returned to California,
with his bride, bringing with him his sister Mary. In the spring of 1855, Mary
Morgan visited New York and from that port sailed for San
Francisco via Panama,
and coming to Cherokee she renewed the acquaintance of William James, whom she
married three years later. Later her brother, Thomas Morgan, returned to Wales
and there he died. Another brother, Jenkin Morgan,
came to California as one of the earliest gold-seekers,
and died in San Francisco. William
James, in 1873, made his first trip back to his old home in Wales,
visited his mother, who was still alive, and also visited the old familiar
scenes in his native heath.
After
the death of Mr. James, his widow continued to reside at Cherokee until 1911,
when she removed to Oroville, and here she is still living, with her loving and
devoted daughter, Mrs. May L. Thomas. She leases out the ranch in the Nelson
district, and it is devoted to raising grain. A member of the Congregational
Church and of the Eastern Star, Mrs. James enjoys a quiet life and finds much
pleasure in her two children: Thomas Morgan James, who is a graduate of Hopkins
Academy in Oakland and a business college in San Francisco, is now a stockman
at Cherokee and Nelson; May L., Mrs. Thomas, is a graduate from Mills College
and lives with her mother. Mrs. James is a woman of culture and refinement,
gifted with an amiable disposition and a winsome personality, as well as
endowed with much native business ability. She takes a deep interest in the
live issues of the day and is well informed, thus spending the evening of her
life in contentment, for through her children's assistance in the management of
her affairs she is relived from all unnecessary care and worry.
Transcribed by Sande Beach.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 485-486, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2007 Sande Beach.
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