The father was born in Virginia in 1791, moved to Alabama when a boy, and was married in Tennessee, where his eight children were born. In 1837 he located in Arkansas, five miles south of Huntsville, sold his place about 1850, and moved on King’s River, where he farmed until his death in 1857. The mother was born in Virginia in 1792, and died in Texas in 1867. All of the children, save one sister, are living.

James passed his youth upon the farm, remaining with parents until twenty-three years of age, when he married and engaged in farming. In 1857 he moved to Texas, and there served in the Confederate army four years. He left Texas in 1867 and settled in War Eagle, where he served as sheriff for two years after 1874. He then became interested in the insurance business, but for the past nine years has been successfully engaged in the mercantile business at Huntsville.