Madera County Biographies

JAMES W. GREEN

Transcribed by Craig A Hahn

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

JAMES W. GREEN, was born in Santa Cruz, March 6, 1848. His father, J. D. Green, 
was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1807. He was a trapper and hunter by 
profession, and first came to California in 1833, with a trapping company of 150 
men in command of Captain Bonneville. They followed the rivers across, wintered 
in the Santa Clara valley at Gilroy, and returned to Missouri in 1835, consuming 
about three years on the expedition. While on the Sierra mountains in 1833, 
there was a wonderful display of shooting stars until it seemed that every star 
was in motion. Mr. Green was married in Jackson County, Missouri, in 1835, to 
Miss Lydia Hitchcock, a native of Kentucky, and a lady of strong characteristics 
and of great kindness of heart. They settled in Jackson County, where Mr. Green 
followed farming until May, 1846, when, with his family, he emigrated to 
California coming with Captain Campbell�s party and arriving at Santa Clara on 
October 18th of same year. During the Spanish disturbance of that winter Mr. 
Green was a member of the Home Guards and performed active service under the 
command of Captain Webber. In 1847 Mr. Green went to Santa Cruz, and in the fall 
to the mines and followed mining until 1849, when he moved to Stockton and began 
farming and stock-raising, his cattle grazing over the San Juaquin [Joaquin] 
valley. He was one of the first supervisors of San Juaquin [Joaquin] County, 
elected in 1856, and serving for three years. He followed the cattle business 
until his death, September 30, 1869. His children numbered ten, six of whom 
still survive. 
     Mrs. Green is still living at the age of seventy-seven years, somewhat 
broken in health, after a life of many hardships, and of energies expended in 
the rearing of four families of children belonging to deceased relatives. She is 
a honored and highly respected member of the family of her son, James, with whom 
she resides. James was educated in Stockton but at the early age of fourteen 
years, began his own support by working on a farm, which he followed until 1869, 
and then rented 400 acres in San Benito County, and began farming for himself in 
wheat and barley. He was married in Stockton, in 1869, to Miss Retta Bozeman, a 
native of Texas. He followed farming until 1881, and then came to Madera and 
began work for the Madera Flume Company at lumbering in the mountains. In 
January, 1885, his wife died, leaving one son and two daughters, and then his 
mother came to his assistance and took charge of his family. In 1886 Mr. Green 
returned to Madera, and for two years superintended the cultivation of two 
sections of land for Dan Ingraham. In the fall of 1888 he was elected 
roadmaster, and in 1890 was elected Constable and appointed Deputy Sheriff by 
John M. Hensley, Sheriff of Fresno County.
     Mr. Green was a charter member of Madera Parlor, No. 130, N. S. G. W., and 
is now president of the parlor, and his son J. D. Green, is marshal.
     Mr. Green is a member of Madera Lodge, No. 134, K. of P., and of  Mound 
Lodge, No. 166, I. O. O. F., and of the Encampment at Fresno. 
 
Memorial and Biographical History of the counties of Fresno, Tulare and Kern, 
California Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892, p. 807-808