Joseph Henry James

BY DARYL JAMES

FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)

Joseph Henry James, son of Joseph James and Sarah Holyoak, was born Oct. 22, 1855, in Ogden, Utah. He was one of 12 children.
Not much is known about his childhood; he moved to Sunset, Ariz., before 1877, where he lived the United Order of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He went by ``Joe'' and was a short, stout, dark-complexioned man with a keen sense of humor.
Joe's first wife was Elizabeth Salome Bloomfield, whom he married July 12, 1877, and with whom he had 14 children. About two years later Joe married Elizabeth's younger sister, Mary Eliza, with whom he also had 14 children. Joe's third wife was Orpha Emelia Rogers, whom he married Sept. 12, 1882, and with whom he had seven children, making 35 in all.
Joe and his three wives moved to Mexico in 1885 to avoid growing persecution against polygamists. They were the first settlers in Old Town, where they lived in a dugout and had a hard time finding enough food the first winter. From Old Town they moved to Colonia Dublan, then to Casas Grandes, and finally to the Sierra Madre Mountains in Hop Valley, near Pacheco. 2
By this time Joe had 25 children, and he decided it was time each wife had a home of her own. So, on the three banks of a forked river, he built a home for each wife, where, as he said, no matter where high water caught him he always had a place to go. He planted fruit trees, ran a dairy, made cheese and butter, and also owned a sawmill; he soon had a prosperous family community. The Jameses were good hosts and people always enjoy-ed visiting them because they always had good jokes to tell and made everyone feel at ease.
Some of Joe's jokes have survived: One day as he was walking up the street in Pacheco, a man met him and said, "Well, Brother James, I'm sure glad to see you. I heard you were dead.'' Joe said, "I did get shot, but I turned around so quick the bullet came out the same hole it went in.'' Another time Joe asked one of his little boys to go get a hammer. After some time the boy came back and was standing there when Joe asked him if he was the boy he sent after the hammer. The boy said, "Yes,'' and Joe said, "Well, you've grown so much since I sent you that I didn't know you.'' Once someone asked Joe why all Mormons ride third class. "Because there isn't a fourth class,'' he said.
In 1908 Joe and his sons devised a shortcut to get logs from his sawmill at the top of the mountain to the valley below by building a chute for the logs. This would have saved many hours of travel. Some lumbermen were skeptical and others hopeful, but there was enough interest in the project so that many came to see the first log go down. One of Joe's sons regulated the take-off while Joe waited at the bottom with two Mexican helpers. However, the expected thrill was short-lived.
The first log jumped the chute near the bottom and crushed Joe and his helpers, killing all three. Joe's bid for fame ended the same day it started, April 25, 1908. (Another account says Joe lost his life while trying to save a worker who was deaf and couldn't hear the logs rumbling down the mountainside, and both were crushed to death.) Joe's widows separated after the accident and returned to the United States.

-- Source: 1. "Joseph Henry James." Stalwarts South of the Border, pps. 321-323 (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.)