ROBERT JAMES

ROBERT JAMES, an enterprising farmer of Greeley Township, has been a citizen of Shelby County since 1880. He was born in Davenport, Iowa, February 8, 1858, and is a son of George and Sarah (Montgomery) James. His youth was passed in Davenport, and at the age of fourteen years he removed to Poweshiek County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming for eight years. As before stated, Mr. James came to Shelby County in the year 1880, and settled on a farm of unimproved land in Douglas Township. There were eighty acres in this place, which he placed under good cultivation, and sold, going to Astor, Crawford County, Iowa, where he bought an interest in a stock of hardware with F. W. Blackburn; he continued in this business for two and a half years, and then traded his stock for a farm of eighty acres in Greeley Township. He also owns forty acres in section 3, Greeley Township, and eighty acres in Crawford County, all of which is under good cultivation, and all of which lies in one body. In 1885 Mr. James erected a fine frame residence on his farm in section 4, where he has one of the most attractive homes in the community. He devotes himself to farming, stock-raising and shipping, and is a live, energetic man, standing in the foremost ranks of Shelby County's well-to-do citizens. Politically Mr. James give a staunch support to the Republican party. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., and of the Iowa Legion of Honor. September 3, 1885, he was married to Alice Saunders, daughter of Charles and Louisa Saunders, who was born in Dane County, Wisconsin, September 4,1862. Mr. James has done much toward the improvement and advancement of the county, and well deserves the honor and esteem in which he is held in the community.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa. pp. 571-572. Transcribed and submitted by Marthann Kohl-Fuhs