General Notes

James was born in Augusta Township, Oneida County, New York, on June 1, 1821. His family moved to Ayr, Ontario, in 1825; and sometime following his father's death, in 1833, his mother moved the family to Jerseyville, Ontario.

In 1839 he and his brother Samuel went to New York where they secured employment on the Erie Canal. In 1844 he and his sister Emily accompanied a party of Canadian emigrants to Michigan. While enroute (at Detroit), they met a Miss Emma Gaston (later to marry their brother Samuel) who was enroute to Eaton County with a party from New York.  The Canadian party was headed for the Canadian settlement in Keene Township,  Ionia County,  but Emma Gaston prevailed upon  James and Emily to change their plans and accompany her group to Eaton. At Eaton County, the three of them boarded with Emma's Sister, Clarissa Bolton. A few months later their Sister, Phebe, having accompanied another party of Canadian emigrants, joined them at the Bolton homestead.

On December 20, 1844, at Eaton, James married Susan, daughter of John Lucas (formerly of Ontario, then of Eaton, and subsequently of Ionia County, Michigan).  The following Spring, James, Susan and James' sisters left Eaton and moved to  Keene Township (Ionia County) where they had made prior arrangements to board with the Hubbard family.  At Keene, James bought 300 acres of government land,  built a log cabin and spent the next five years clearing the land  and building up a herd of beef cattle. His farm had no independent water supply and the cattle had to be driven to water, twice a day, a mile and a half to the Flat River near Fallasburg. James was often heard to say he'd trade half his farm for a creek.

In March, 1851, he purchased 120 acres in Vergennes Township,  Kent County, from his cousin Lucien Richmond. The Vergennes property, about 3 miles west of his Keene Township farm, on the other side of the Flat River, had an excellent spring-fed creek, a log cabin, and the foundation and wall studding for a two-story frame house.  Lucien had purchased the property from the State of Michigan via land agents Rix Robinson and John Ball in 1844, but had not gotten too far along in clearing the land.

In April, 1851,  James sold the farm in Keene and moved his family to Vergennes. After completing the frame house, he used the logs from the cabin as the foundation for a new cattle barn (the logs lasted 105 years before they had to be replaced by a concrete foundation).   In addition to his beef herd, James also kept a flock of sheep which he pastured on about 35 acres from which  the tree stumps had not yet been removed.

Children
     (A8-1) Orson D. (born 1845 in Eaton County).
     (A8-2) Frederick J. (born 1848 in Keene).
     (A8-3) Sarah L. (born 1849 in Keene).
     (A8-4) Frank (born 1851 in Vergennes, founded Washington State branch of Richmond's).
     (A8-5) Abner L. (born 1853 in Vergennes).
     (A8-6) Melvin (born 1855 in Vergennes).
     (A8-7) Emerson B. (born 1857 in Vergennes).
     (A8-8) Robert D. (born 1859 in Vergennes).
     (A8-9) Mary (born 1861 in Vergennes).

Susan died on May 5, 1864; and on May 5, 1865,  James married Eunice (Sage) Vandecar, widow of Elija Vandecar who had been killed the previous year in the Civil War. Eunice was born March 31, 1840, in LaPeer County, Michigan, and was the daughter of Selah and Maria (White) Sage, then of Vergennes Township. Eunice brought a daughter to the marriage from her prior marriage to Elija Vandecar. 

Stepchild
     Almira Estelle Vandecar (b.1859, d.1950)

Almira later married John Wright who owned a farm adjoining the east boundary of the Richmond property. She was the great-grandmother of Robin (Wright) DeWitt and the great-great grandmother to the DeWitt children (Tracy, Scott, Chad, Andy), a local family familiar to the Richmond's of Vergennes.

Following their marriage, James Charles and Eunice had 5 children of their own:

Children (born at Vergennes)
     (A8-10) Elmer E. (born 1868, carried on Vergennes branch of Richmond's).
     (A8-11) Carrie M. (born 1872)
     (A8-12) Elsie M. (born 1874)
     (A8-13) Luella S. (born 1878)
     (A8-14) Fanny B. (born 1882)

James was of medium height, dark complected, blue eyes and black hair, with the Norman nose and large head common to the family.  He militated against intemperance and allowed neither alcoholic beverages nor tobacco to be used  in his household. He also had an extremely authoritarian personality, and in that regard the following anecdote may be of some interest:

It was the custom of the times that the pioneer wife had the butter and egg revenues for her own use. James had the canny knack of somehow  knowing when these sums had reach a sufficient  proportion  for the  purchase of some personal or household item,  and when next the couple went into town (Fallasburg or Lowell), James would invariably happen to stop by the millinery shop where he would discover his wife trying on a new hat or other item, and would always discard the item of her choice and substitute his own selection.

During the thirty years following his move to Vergennes, James built up the size of his sheep flock and cattle herd, added several farm buildings, and purchased several additional fields,  until finally he was in very  prosperous circumstances for the times.  The "History of Kent County - 1881" says of him; "When he came to Michigan in 1844 he had five dollars, part of which he invested in an axe, and went to work." James initially joined the Alton Corners community church located near his farm, however he later dropped out of this church to become an Adventist. His wife, however, remained a member at Alton.

James retired in 1886, taking a town house in Lowell into which he moved his wife and four youngest daughters, and turned over the management of the farm to his son, Elmer, then 18 years of age.  In 1889 he entailed the farm properties to his sons Abner, Melvin, and Elmer; with Elmer being the principle heir.

Despite his retirement, James continued to make almost daily trips  between Lowell  and the farm (a distance of five miles),  and had a small barn  behind the town house where he kept his horse and buggy.   In 1894 he fell from a hay wagon and suffered internal injuries.  His health gradually declined from that point, and he died on November 2, 1895.

Eunice, his widow, remained in residence in Lowell until 1908, and then moved in with her daughter Luella at Grand Rapids. She died on May 9, 1917 at Luella's home. James, Susan, and Eunice are all buried at Foxes Corners Cemetery in Vergennes, two miles North of Lowell.

  Burial Notes

Foxes Corners Cemetery

  Recorded Events in His Life

• Moved: from New York to Ontario, Canada, Abt 1822. ¹

• Moved: from Ontario, Canada to Eaton County, Michigan, 1844. ¹

• Moved: from Eaton County, Michigan to Ionia County, Michigan, Abt 1845. ¹

• Moved: from Ionia County, Michigan to Kent County, Michigan, Abt 1850. ¹

• He worked as a farmer and stock breeder in 1881 in Vergennes Township, Kent County, Michigan, USA. ¹