Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Between 1884 and 1888, John James of Alvarado, Texas, returned to the Choctaw Nation in Indian Territory from his home in Wise County, Texas. He came to Stockbridge Academy, found today at Eagletown, Eagle County, Oklahoma, to fulfill his dream of being with the Choctaw, a dream he held to since his first encounter with them on his family’s migration from Illinois into Texas Territory when he was fifteen.
John’s first wife, Mary Elizabeth Rosaline “Ross” Bradley, died in 1879, leaving him with four children.
Two months later, John quickly remarried to Louisa Ellen Sutton. By 1884, Louisa had given John two more children. But soon, John would find himself at Stockbridge surrounded by many more than his own six children.
Stockbridge was founded by Cyrus Byington, who named the Choctaw school after his birthplace in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Byington migrated to Mississippi in 1821, where he became a missionary to the Choctaw. Finding the Choctaw had no written language, Byington set about to create a grammar, dictionary, and speller.
Byington followed the Choctaw in 1832 in their removal to Oklahoma. There, for another thirty-one years, Byington preached and taught among the Choctaw. Byington died in 1876.
John James was invited to Stockbridge by Judge James Hudson. John arrived sometime in 1884. At Stockbridge, John and Louisa would add two more children to their growing family. Among John’s students were the children and grandchildren of Judge James Hudson, some of whom found their way into John’s book My Experience with Indians, published in 1927 right before John died.
In 1888, John James acquired a portion of the estate of his former father-in-law Jackson Bunyan Bradley, who died the previous year. Bradley and his family came to Texas from Mississippi in 1851, accompanied by his brother-in-law Sam Myers. In Johnson County, Texas, Bradley built and operated a school at Mountainview, where John would live and teach next.
Though John James left Stockbridge for Mountainview, he also retained his love of the Choctaw. When he wrote My Experience with Indians he wrote of them in particular “that my children and grandchildren may know of them.”
Six years later in 1894, after leaving Stockbridge, John James received a letter from one of his former Choctaw students, Elliston E. Dyer.
Hon. J. James, Alvarado, Texas.
“My dear old time friend:
“I have just received a copy of the Cleburne Daily Times, and in it I find your picture, and note that the paper states that you spent several years among the Choctaw Indians, as a missionary…This of course calls to my mind the days of long ago, when you were at old Stock Bridge, trying to guide to the right direction, the destinies of a bunch of more or less ignorant boys and girls…Of the Choctaw tribe, I am one, and I have often thought since then, what a pity that men like you weren’t scattered all over this country…”
On December 29, of that same year of 1894, Louisa bore John a son, the last of the couple’s thirteen children. John and Louisa James named the child Elliston Dyer James.
*****************************
RELATED
The Choctaw Teach John James to Sing for His Supper
The Choctaw Family of Elliston E. Dyer
My Choctaw Family, The Family History of Judge James Hudson
Genealogy Database for the Choctaw Relatives of John James of Alvarado
Susannah James, Matriarch of Colbert Chickasaw Descendants
Stray Leaves Daily
Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealogy databases.
THE FIRST IMMIGRANT TO AMERICA OF OUR JAMES FAMILY . . .
Stray Leaves, our website below, now reaches back into the 17th century to bring you the story of our first immigrant, John James, in narrative form.
John’s story comes to us through original documents and seasoned source citations, which are also provided.
What John James Tells Us
• He arrived at Jamestown.
• He transported 10 indentured people.
• He was rewarded with a land patent.
• The location of his land can be visited today.
• He and his neighbors comprised the important founding families of Virginia.
• The location of origination of the James in the Old World, as Jesse James family historians say is Pembrokeshire, Wales is disputed and unproven.
• The name identity of John’s wife as formerly stated by traditional genealogists is disproved.
• John James arrived as an oligarch and royalist with no pretensions to democracy or self-rule.
• Early James family wealth was accrued in the tobacco culture and by land speculation.
• John and his family were followers of the Church of England.
• His children and grandchildren remained savvy and street-wise, relating well with common people.
• Generations beyond the grandchildren of John James produced significant diversity in America’s people and culture.
Read about John James, the Immigrant now.
John James – Immigrant Cavalier to the New World
ericjames.org
The first foothold of the James family in the New World was secured by John James, the Immigrant. John was born about 1623. Sometime before 1690, he died.
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Will the real DAVID JAMES, please, stand up and come forward? Are you still drinking this stuff?
Founder of Churchill Downs race track, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. is a 4th cousin, twice removed of Frank & Jesse James.
This content isn't available right now
When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Delma E. Watkins Candido has passed. Del is a granddaughter of Mack Henry James & Dorinda Phelps. She also is a 2nd great-granddaughter of the "talented, but erratic" Rev. Joseph Martin James & Permellia Estepp.
Obituary for Del E. Candido at Pulaski Funeral Home
www.pulaskifuneralhome.com
Del E. Candido, daughter of the late Leonard A. and Ada James Watkins, was born at Dykes, KY on November 29th, 1937 and she departed this life on Thursday, May 5th, 2022 in Somerset, KY having attaine…