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 1809 - 1878 (69 years)
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| Name |
David James |
| Title |
Captain |
| Suffix |
Senior |
| Born |
18 Aug 1809 |
Mississippi  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Died |
28 Nov 1878 |
Green Valley, Denton County, Texas |
| Buried |
Key Cemetery, Aubrey, Denton County, Texas |
| Notes |
- FAMILY HISTORY, IN PART, OF JAMES FAMILY
written in 1964 by Varina James Low & Ophelia James Morehead
David(Grandpa) James was born in 1808 in Mississippi. He was captain of a steamboat which operated on the Mississippi and Columbia Rivers. He was of good disposition, with a bit of humor to save himself from a Rip Van Winkle kind of wife.
Mary (Grandma) Felts was born in 1812 in DeKalb County, Tennessee. She was united in marriage to David (Grandpa) James on approximately the year 1830. The children were John, Caroline, Tennessee, Amanda, Ed, Clark, David, and Enoch. David went to Nashville Medical School and later became a minister. Enoch, the youngest boy, went to Nashville Medical School and became a doctor.
For a few years Grandma operated a farm, but moved to Smithville, Tennessee and operated a "tavern" as hotels were called in that day. Her maid was a colored woman named "Old Mint."
Caroline, the oldest daughter, married Mel Foster. They moved to Arkansas which really started the westward movement. They settled near White River in Arkansas. David and Enoch, newly married to Mary and Amanda Batton, joined Caroline's westward movement. David lived in Arkansas and taught school in that state for about a year.
Grandpa S. H. Batton and Sarah Lambertson Batton came through Arkansas, but didn't like it and decided to move on to Texas. David and Enoch and their families joined this movement to the West. They lived in Grayson County, Texas, and farmed for a living. Clark, Rena and Tat were born in Grayson County.
Meantime, Grandpa and Grandma James came through Arkansas partly by steamboat having left "Old Mint" and her children sitting in a lumberyard. The slaves had been "freed" by the victory of the North over the South in 1865. The James family moved to Denton County, Texas and settled on a Green Valley Farm with fertile bottom land. They raised cattle and horses. Grandpa died of a heart attack, and Grandma operated the farms successfully and was considered rather financially independent at that time and even in our day.
David and Enoch decided to move their families to Brown County, Texas. David's family stayed one year and moved back to Denton, where David became a preacher. Enoch became an M.D. and stayed in Brown and Coleman Counties for several years. Then, after his family was about grown, they moved back to Fannin County. He prospered in his medical profession. David (Father) reading of the need of a preacher in far away West Texas (San Angelo) decided to go there, but en route stopped at Haskell, Texas, where he traded his heard of eighty cattle for a house and lot in Haskell where he stayed and taught school until his discipline ("I'll have order here if I have to bring a shotgun!") methods ruined his school. Later he moved to Lake Creek where he got a job herding sheep. (Tat and Fred herded the sheep and Father picked up bones and sold them in Albany to by flour.)
From 1886-1887 was a dry year. From Lake Creek Father moved to Miller Creek where he again taught school. Then he moved the family to Ample, Texas, where he was postmaster, farmer and rancher. Rena was married to John Low. Clark, who broke wild horses and saved money to go to Baylor University, was helped by Father.
David, with his wife and remaining children, left Ample, Texas and moved to Haskell, Texas, where the children had a good school and church benefits. Father became a pioneer missionary, preaching to Missions and churches scattered over four counties: Haskell, Jones, Fisher and Knox Counties. His duties as a missionary took him from home two thirds of the time. Mother had the larger share of bringing up the children. We all think she did her job well.
Thinking to help in family expenses, Father moved the family in November 1892, to a farm in a section of Haskell County know as "The Sand Hills," where he hoped to farm corn and watermelons. But drought burned up the crops and after almost three years of unsuccessful efforts, the family moved back to Haskell where we lived until August 1901, when we pulled up stakes and moved to Durant, Oklahoma.
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| Person ID |
I17 |
Root Tree |
| Last Modified |
27 Nov 2016 |
| Family |
Mary Caroline Phelps, b. 03 Sep 1811, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 27 Dec 1894, Denton, Denton County, Texas (Age 83 years) |
| Married |
@1830 |
Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee |
| Children |
| + | 1. Mary Caroline James, b. 23 Mar 1832, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 1904, Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma Indian Territory (Age 71 years) |
| + | 2. John Simon James, b. 23 Sep 1834, Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. Sep 1878, Sanger, Denton County, Texas (Age 43 years) |
| + | 3. Tennessee James, b. Oct 1836, Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee |
| + | 4. Edward S James, b. 3 May 1839, Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 13 Oct 1900 (Age 61 years) |
| + | 5. Amanda Christine James, b. 13 Jul 1842, Smithville, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 16 Nov 1908, Denton County, Texas (Age 66 years) |
| | 6. Clark C James, b. 1844, De Kalb County, Tennessee , d. Apr 1860, De Kalb County, Tennessee (Age 16 years) |
| + | 7. David James, Junior, b. 08 Jul 1847, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 04 Sep 1908, Haskell County, Texas (Age 61 years) |
| + | 8. Enoch Polk James, Senior, b. 23 May 1849, DeKalb County, Tennessee , d. 26 Dec 1920, Durant, Bryan County, Oklahoma (Age 71 years) |
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| Last Modified |
28 Sep 2010 |
| Family ID |
F9 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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