James is a mystery to say the very least. We know to whom and when he was married, when he died and where he is buried. The first thing we are not sure of his name. Web Sites list his middle initial as "R", this researcher has not found any documentation, other than Web Sites to give credence to this fact. The second thing we do not know is who were his parents or where was he born. The third thing is his birth date. Web Sites give his date of birth as 1805, which is the same as his wife's. If you look at his age at death this date is incorrect, for the date on his grave marker to be correct he could not have to be born before 1810. So what should we believe what is recorded on Web Sites or what is "Written In Stone".
I am not trying to say that the information found on Web Sites should not be used nor trusted, but it is much better if a piece of paper can be found somewhere to backup the information that is being presented. This site has used many undocumented facts, other than Web Sites, and I will continue to do so. You will notice that I am trying to back up the information on this page by giving the location where it was taken from. The date listed at the end of each footnote is the date this researcher visited the site. In doing this I am trying to say at that time this is the information that was available.
The above wedding 1 information was found by my sister, Mary Schmidt while, she was looking for the parents of James.
James's and Ellen's (Elenor's) graves 2 may be found in Hurricane Cemetery, Williamson County, Illinois (37.763661, -89.054243).
1 "Ohio,County Marriages, 1790-1950," Family Search, 01 September 2011.
2 "Hurricane Cemetery, Williamson County, Illinois," Find a Grave, 08 September 2011
