John Thompson James 1844 - 1913

John Thompson James is my great-grandfather on my mother’s side. He is the father of Orville and Paul, whom I wrote about in the previous post. John was a Civil War veteran. He served in the 134^th Illinois Infantry Regiment. This was a group of 100-day volunteers that was raised in Chicago in 1864. The excerpt below is from the Illinois Adjutant General's Report of Regimental and Unit Histories (Containing Reports for the Years 1861– 1866)

134th Illinois Infantry

The ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOURTH INFANTRY ILLINOIS VOLUNTEERS was organized at Camp Fry, Chicago, Ill., by Colonel Waters W. McChesney, and was mustered in May 31st, 1864, for one hundred days.

Left camp June 3d, for Columbus, Ky., where it was assigned to garrison duty.

Mustered out of service October 25th,

Below is a snapshot of one page of John’s official records from his service in the Civil War. Many men decided in 1864 to volunteer for a 100 day period of service because they were concerned that a draft would be held that would make the men serve the duration of the war. This may have been John’s motivation, or perhaps he had other reasons.

After the war he lived in Hannibal, Missouri and the surrounding areas. He married Evaline Scott in 1879. He is listed in the 1890 Census of Veterans as residing in Ralls Co., Missouri, and in the Sometime in the late 1900s he and family moved to Savanna, Illinois. He apparently worked for the railroad, as did many men at that time. The family moved back to Hannibal at some point as they are listed as living on Willow Street in Mason Township. John died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his body was transported to Savanna for burial.

The photo below is of John with his wife Evaline. The two other women are not identified on the photo but are probably their daughters Emma and Uva. According to family tradition the photo is thought to have been taken in Savanna, but it is possible it was taken in Hannibal.

In May of 2006 my mother (Shirley James Whitlock), her sister (Carolyn James Epperson), and I made a sidetrip to Savanna, Illinois to find the grave of John. Aunt Carolyn had determined that he was buried in the cemetery in Savanna, but she did not remember anyone from the family visiting John’s grave since he died in 1913. That made this kind of a special pilgrimage to honor our ancestor.

We found the grave with the help of the sexton of the cemetery and took a few moments to take the photos posted below. It was wonderful to discover so much about the life of a grandparent that lived in exciting times. He grew up when traveling by horseback was the norm and lived to see the advent of the automobile.