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 the Oroville Commandery, No. 5,
K. T., of which he was Past Commander.
His death occurred at Cherokee, on August 3, 1903and 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 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 relieved from all unnecessary care and
worry.
Transcribed
by Roseann Kerby.
Source: "History of
Butte County, Cal.," by George C. Mansfield, Pages 1091-1092, Historic Record Co, Los Angeles, CA, 1918.
© 2009 Roseann Kerby.
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