California Biographies 

Source:
History of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura Counties, California
by: C M Gidney - Santa Barbara. Benjamin Brooks - San Luis Obispo. 
Edwin M Sheridan - Ventura
Volumes II - Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, ILL., 1917

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


JAMES L. BUCHANAN, who now lives retired at Santa Paula, has in the course of his lifetime, 
which still does not make him an old man, seen a great deal of the world and has mingled with 
men and affairs under many varying conditions.
A son of John and Mary Buchanan he was born in the Province of Quebec, Canada, October 8, 
1860, attended public school in his native province until he was eight years of age when his 
parents removed to Winnebago County, Illinois, and two years later to Sheridan County, 
Missouri. He attended school in Illinois two years and two years in Missouri, and then started 
out to make his own living, working on several farms in Northern Missouri. In 1885 he returned 
to Winnebago County, Illinois, and continued farm work until 1887, when he first came out to 
Ventura County, California. The first six years in this state were spent as an employe of the 
Union Oil Company, after which he engaged as an oil well driller for the Union Oil Company in 
Los Angeles and Orange County three years, then became a driller for the same company in 
San Benito County for two months, and followed that with a trip East, spend- ing the winter 
there. The next year after working for the Columbia Oil Company two months, he took a trip 
out to the Hawaiian Islands. There his services were in demand for drilling water wells, and he 
did a very large business in that line for three years.
After his experiences on the Pacific Islands he went to the British Colonies in South Africa. 
There he engaged his services with the Colonial government and put in eight years as a water-
well driller. On returning to the United States from South Africa Mr. Buchanan completed a 
voyage entirely around the world, and has since lived largely retired at Santa Paula. In 1892 he 
had bought forty acres east of that town, but sold the property in 1911. He is an active member 
of the Citizens Club of Santa Paula and is a democratic voter.