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James Earnshaw

Of sturdy and honorable English stock comes James Earnshaw, he himself being a native of “ye merrie isle,” having first seen the light of day in Yorkshire, England, July 12, 1843, but the major portion of his eminently successful and useful career has been spent in the United States and he has not only benefited himself and family by his operations here, but also those with whom he has been associated, for he is a man who delights to see others prosper as well as himself. Being loyal to our institutions and of honorable character, he has been heartily welcomed wherever he has lived, and now in the evening of his years he is surrounded by the many comforts of life as a result of his past years of activity, and he also enjoys the friendship and good will of a host of acquaintances as a result of his honesty. He is the son of Nathaniel and Ann Earnshaw, the mother dying in 1850, and in 1855 the father and children came to America, landing at Croton, New York. They soon afterwards moved to Sullivan county, that state, but finally made their way to Kane county, Illinois, where they lived until the commencement of the Civil war, when, true to his adopted country, James Earnshaw, of this review, bravely went forth in many a trying campaign and hard-fought engagement to save the dignity of the stars and stripes just as if he had been living under the protecting folds of the Union Jack, enlisting in 1862, in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the Federal army on September 6, 1862, serving with distinction until August 22, 1865, when he was honorably discharged. He was in the Western army which participated in the siege of Vicksburg. After the close of the war he returned to Kane county, Illinois, and in 1865 married Lydia A. Fallows, daughter of Stephen and Sabra (Stevens) Fallows, an old and well established family of that place.

Addie May Earnshaw is a member of the subject’s family, having been taken to raise when she was fourteen months old. She was married to Walter Smith and they live on Sixth street, West, in Oelwein, Iowa, near the home of James Earnshaw. She and her husband have five children, Hattie, Trueman, Esto, Earl and George.

One child, Blanche, was born to Mr. and Mrs. James Earnshaw. She married Jesse Watkins living in Oran township on a farm, and they are the parents of two children, Jay and Effie.

About two years after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Earnshaw moved to McHenry county, Illinois, where they lived until 1871, when they moved to Oran township, Fayette county, Iowa, where they bought a farm which they developed and on which they lived very comfortably until 1901, when they moved to Oelwein into a cozy and substantial home they had bought the year previous, at No. 43 Sixth street, North. Mr. Earnshaw sold his farm at that time and has since lived practically retired, surrounded by the evidences of his former years of activity and good management. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and he is known to be honest in all the relations of life, kind-hearted, genial, fond of a good joke, companionable and therefore has hosts of friends.

~transcribed for Fayette IAGenWeb project by Claudia Meyer