| Notes |
- Chronology
1830 in John James household, Campbell Co, TN
1840 in Father's household, Carroll Co, AR
1844. Purchased land in Carroll Co, AR
1850 Eary Spring, Moved to Nevada City, CA
In 1850 Census, CA, Butte Co, Living in a hotel.
1856 In Nevada City, CA James, William C. 75 Broad Street, Owned the Virginia House Hotel.
1857 Virginia House burned down. Moved to Willits, CA
1860 Census Mendocino Co, CA Little Lake twp 829
Wm C James 42 m w Miller TN
Mary Ann 34 f MO
Mary E 25 f AR
M---------11 f AR
George 5 m CA
Melvin 3 m CA
Wm Henry 2 m CA
1870 Census Mendocino Co, CA Little Lake Twp 202
James, Wm C 51 m w farmer AR
Mary 44 f keeps house MO
George T 15 m farmer laborer CA
Melvin 14 m farmer CA
Albert 5 m CA
Frances 2 f CA
1900 Census, CA, Mendocino, Willits, Image 90, Dwg 81-81?
Mary A. James 74, born Oct 1825 MO Parents born VA KY
Mary D. Broaddus 95 born Nov 1804, KY Parents born VA KY
On 29 Mar 1841, William C. James, his brother, Thomas A. James and William's soon to be father-in-law. Joseph Birchett, showed up at the government land office in Fayetteville where William and Thomas each paid $100 for 80 adjoining acres of land that was located just west of Valley Springs. Joseph paid $50 dollars for 40 acres in what is now the SW quarter of Harrison, AR. Where do you suppose William, age 22, and Thomas, age 21, each got $100? That was a lot of dough in those days! William and Mary Ann Birchett were married, date unknown, and had three daughters, all born in Arkansas, Nancy Jane, 17 Mar 1844, Mary Elizabeth, 18 Jul. 1846 and Margaret C., 14 Jul 1848. In the fall of 1849 loaded his family into a covered wagon in Little Rock and joined a train headed for L.A. where they arrived in January 1850. By the spring of 1850 the family was in Nevada City. Mary Ann died 04 Jul 1850. The three girls were sent back to Arkansas to live with their grandparents (maternal? paternal?). In 1854 William married Mary Ann Broaddus, 16 Oct 1825, and sent for the three girls. By 1857 there were two sons, George Patton, 26 Mar 1855, my grandfather, and Melvin Monroe, 31 Jul 1856. When fire destroyed the Virginia House Hotel that William owned, he packed up his wife, the three daughters and two sons and moved to the Willits area. They were the first white family in the region. William bought 270 acres along and near Davis Creek and set up a grist mill. A person does not set up a grist mill without knowing something about the subject. (The 1850 census shows John and Nancy living in Benton Co, AR. and that his occupation was "mill worker". It is my belief that William learned about grist mills from his father. When John died in 1858, he and Nancy were homesteaded on a river west of Fayetteville, possibly with a grist mill). William and Mary Ann had one more child that lived to maturity, Albert Jeremiah, 03 Mar 1865. George married my grandmother, Mary Alice Maddox, 05 Oct 1881. Their fourth child, Carl Crittenton James, 23 Sep 1894, was my father. I was born 29 Aug 1927 in San Jose, CA. by Milton James
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1819 - 1876 (57 years)
