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IOWA, ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION

Last updated: 1 November 2007nfj

VOLUME III

transcribed by Debbie Couch Gerischer

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Surnames beginning with "J"

IOWA
ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION
VOLUME III
1804-1926

ORVILLE JAMES

Orville James, popular ex-sheriff of Buena Vista county and for a number of
years one of the leading business men and enterprising citizens of this
locality, and now living in honorable retirement in Storm Lake, was not favored by
inherited wealth or the assistance of influential friends at the outset of
his career, but by perseverance, industry and the exercise of sound judgment,
has attained a comfortable station in life, and has mae his influence felt
for the general good of his community and county. mr. James was born in
Wyandot county, Ohio, on the 19th of September, 1844, and is a son of Benjamin and
Melissa (Ritcheson) James, the former a native of Maine and the latter of
Ohio, where they were married and spent their remaining years. They were the
parents of eleven children.

Orville James was reared in the Buckeye state and attended the public
schools of his home neighborhood. On September 23, 1863, at the age of nineteen
years, he enlisted in Company A, Twelfth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, with
which command he served until the end of the Civil war, escaping without
injury, though he took part in a number of the most hotly-contested battles of
that conflict. He was mustered out at Nashville, Tennessee, and received his
honorable discharge at Camp Chase, Ohio. He then went to Crawford county,
Ohio, where he was employed at day labor until 1872, when he came to Storm Lake,
Iowa. For a time he followed farming and also handled live stock for a
number of years but at length engaged in the livery business in Storm Lake, to
which he devoted his attention for twenty-seven years. In 1909 he retired from
active business affairs and has since lived quietly in his attractive home
in Storm Lake.

In 1872, in Ohio, Mr. James was united in marriage to Miss Mary L. Hanks,
who also is a native of Ohio, and a daughter of William and Margaret (Thompson)
Hanks. Her parents were natives of Ohio, whence they came to Iowa in 1875
and engaged in farming, though maintaining their residence in Storm Lake, and
there they both died. They were the parents of eleven children, of which
number two are living. Mr. and Mrs. James became the parents of a daughter, who
died in infancy. Mr. James has always been an earnest supporter of the
republican party and in his earlier years took an active and effective part in
public affairs. He served four years as sheriff of Buena Vista county and ten
years as constable, faithfully discharging the duties of those offices and
earning the reputation of an able and fearless officer. He is a member of E. D.
Baker Post, No. 8, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he has been
commander for the past ten years. He has led an active and useful life and at all
times has been as true and loyal to his country as when he followed the
nation's starry banner into the southland as a defender of the Union.


William H. C. Jaques-  Residence Abingdon IA; 20 years old. Enlisted on 8/13/1862 as a Private.

On 8/20/1862 he mustered into "D" Co. IA 19th Infantry He was discharged for promotion on 4/25/1864. On 4/25/1864 he was commissioned into "H" Co. US CT 56th Infantry He was Mustered Out on 9/15/1866. Promotions: * 7th Corpl 5/20/1863 * 2nd Lieut 4/25/1864 As of Co. H 56th USCT Infantry * 1st Lieut 2/1/1865 As of Co. B (estimated date)) * Capt 3/15/1866 Intra Regimental Company Transfers: * 2/1/1865 from company H to company B (Estimated Date) Civil War Mailing list - Sue Trout.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa, Acme Publishing Company, 1887.

WILLIAM R. JEFFREY, capitalist, came to Washington County, when a small boy, and has since made it his home. He was born in Fayette County, Ind., Feb. 22, 1836, and is the son Asahel and Nancy (Stephens) Jeffrey. His father was born on Long Island in 1812 and moved to Indiana at a very early day, and there married Nancy Stephens, March 16, 1835. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are yet living, as follows: William R., of Washington, Iowa; Marion, a farmer; Jeremiah, a resident of Wymore, Neb.; Jane, the wife of Frank James, express agent, Greenfield, Adair Co., Iowa; Hiram, stock and grain dealer in Page County, this State. Asahel Jeffrey in early life was a Democrat, but in consequence of the position of the party on the slavery question, became a Republican, casting his first vote with that party in favor of Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in March, 1887, at his home in Washington. He came to this county in 1843 and located in Oregon Township, where he entered 200 acres of land with a land warrant, and where he resided until his

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death. Few men were better known or more highly respected by those who knew him than Asahel Jeffrey. A sketch of him will appear in this work.

William R. Jeffrey was the first child of Asahel and Nancy Jeffrey, and came with his parents to this county when a lad of seven years. Notwithstanding his tender