John James was born on February 13, 1819, in Gorleston, England, to Thomas and Ann James. He grew up in Nova Scotia. According to one scholar, he “read accounts of the Texas struggle for independence from Mexico and at age seventeen set out on a long journey south to aid the Texas cause.” He arrived in Texas in 1837 and worked as a surveyor in Bexar County. He was reportedly “paid in land certificates,” and he “soon accumulated a great deal of land.”

 

He married Emeline Polley on August 17, 1847, but she died the following year. He then married Annie Milby around 1851, and they had at least eight children: John, born around 1852; Thomas, born around 1854; Vinton, born around 1858; Laura, born around 1860; Sidney, born around 1862; Mary, born around 1866; Scott, born around 1867; Agnes, born around 1869. He expanded his business ventures in the 1850s, opening a general merchandise store and a sawmill. He also worked as a sheep rancher. In the mid-1850s, he leased land to the federal government, allowing them to build Fort Davis. By 1860, he owned $100,000 of real estate and enslaved at least one person.

 

During the winter of 1860-61, he opposed secession and “endorsed the stand made by Governor Sam Houston against entering the war.” When the war began, however, he served in a home guard unit. He remained in San Antonio after the war. He died there after a long illness on November 26, 1877.

SOURCES