09/03/2026
TBT: N.L. James
Column by Keith Ruetten
Norman Leslie “N.L.” James was born on November 29, 1840, in Deerfield, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He was the son of George H. and Lois James.
The father Geroge Hopkinson James had been born in 1815, also in Deerfield, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, where he grew into manhood. He worked on a farm until he was eighteen years of age and then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, and also worked as a wheel and millwright, after which he went to Lowell, Massachusetts to ply this trade in the cotton mills there. In Lowell, George made the acquaintance of Miss Lois Hurd who would become his wife on June 20, 1838. A year after their marriage, George and Lois returned to the hills of New Hampshire and remained there until the spring of 1855.
In 1855, George moved to Wisconsin with his family. George and Lois had a total of six children. They had lost their two oldest sons in infancy and the remaining children that came to Wisconsin with them included sons Norman, David, and William, and daughter Lizzie.
In Wisconsin, George purchased a large quantity of land in Richland and Vernon counties. He also purchased a large quantity of flour, and for several years supplied a large portion of the county with that necessary article.
When the James family came to Richland County, the nearest railroad was at Madison, so they drove by wagon the remainder of the way, crossing the Wisconsin river by ferry at Muscoda.
They settled in the village of Richland Center, building a home on the northwest corner of Church and Hazeltine Sts. George gave his attention to farming on a track of land immediately south of the village. There being no store at that time in Richland Center except one connected with a saloon which he was very much averse to patronizing; he put in a small stock of goods in the front of his house. Mrs. James tended to the store, while George and his sons worked the farm.
In 1862, in addition to his farm, George established a hardware store in the village.
N.L. James, the oldest child of George and Lois James, attended public schools in his native state prior to coming to Wisconsin with his family. After coming here, he continued his efforts for an education in the schools of Richland County.
When he was eighteen years of age, with his father's consent, he began life for himself, and by his own efforts succeeded in getting a good education. He worked at various occupations, in the meantime attending private schools, and he also employed private instructors in his desire to realize his cherished ambition.
He taught school in the Brush Creek district in the winter of 1860-1 and also during the following summer.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, N.L. enlisted for service in the Union Army, along with his younger brother David G. James and several classmates from school. They were enrolled as privates in Company F of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment on October 12, 1861. The 16th Wisconsin Infantry mustered into federal service in January 1862 and with the command remained in Camp Randall. On Mar. 13, 1862, they headed for St. Louis, Missouri, for service in the western theater of the war. They arrived at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, on March 20, 1862, and were assigned to the left wing of Grant's army, under the command of General Prentiss.
On April 6, 1862, they fought at the front in the Battle of Shiloh, where the regiment suffered significant casualties. N.L. assisted at the battle in carrying Col. Messmore from the field. The colonel then caused him to be detailed to go down the river where he was taken seriously ill, and he was sent to a hospital north of Cairo, Illinois. After being on the convalescing list until Oct. 1, 1862, he was discharged for disability. Subsequently, he tried to re-enlist three different times but was rejected.
N.L. returned home to Richland Center and on Feb. 3, 1863, he formed a partnership with his father in the hardware business under the firm name "G. H. and N. L. James."
On September 11, 1865. Norman married Georgiana Lane of Bear Valley, Wisconsin. After their marriage, Norman and Georgiana lived for a short time with Norman’s folks while their own home was being built on the northeast corner of Seminary and Sheldon Streets.
Their home was completed in early 1866. Carl Burdick in his memoir described the James house as being “an estate, but of a different type than the big home above (the Kirkpatrick house). This was a low rambling home in a T shape, and it sat on the N.E. corner of Sheldon and Seminary Sts. This home was ornate in that it had much iron grill work like one sees in New Orleans. The railing around the entire west and south side of the big porch was fancy iron scroll fencing. There were iron rabbits setting all around the flower beds. This was as fancy and ornate inside as it was out.” Burdick further described Mr. & Mrs. James as follows “Mrs. James was a very good likeness of Queen Victoria, fancy rustling silk and taffeta, Leslie wore a white goatee and was a “dukey” sort of man too.” Norman and Georgia were the parents of four children, daughters Eva and Mable, and sons Harry and Norman L. “Leslie” Jr.
In 1866, after having been mustered out of service at the conclusion of the war, N.L.’s brother, D.G. James, returned to Richland Center. D.G. James learned the tinner's trade, and he joined the partnership. Later the father's interest was purchased, and the firm was changed to “James Brothers.” They operated the business together until 1880, when Norman sold his share of the company to David, and retired from the business.
N.L. James was very ambitious and actively engaged in the ownership and operation of several other business ventures, in addition to the hardware business.
Prior to the building of the railroad to Richland Center, in 1867 N.L. James took the contract to carry the mail to Lone Rock, secured a relay of horses, and also established a freight and express carrying system, his brother, D.G., being associated with him in the enterprise. They ran two teams each way daily and also carried passengers, but that mode of travel and conveyance ended upon the building of the railroad in the 1870s.
In the summer of 1875, a railroad company was organized at Richland Center with George Krouskop as president and N.L. James as general manager, under the name of the Pine River & Stevens Point Railroad company, the purpose being to build a railroad from Lone Rock to the county seat. N.L. employed a civil engineer to make the survey for the road and when ground was broken for the railroad in October, N.L. drove the first plow to grade the railroad bed. He proceeded to build the road and when it was completed in 1876, N.L. then had charge of the enterprise until 1878, when he sold out his interest. In 1879 he sold the road, for the stockholders, to the St. Paul Railroad Company.
N.L. James also operated a water powered sawmill on the west side of the river during the 1870-1880s (he sold this mill to A.C. Parfrey in 1892).
In 1880, after selling his stake in the hardware business and the railroad, N.L. built and ran a steam powered mill and wagon shop. It was located on a site known as James Island, south of Seminary Street between the two bridges made necessary by the twin forks of the river. It was reached by a spur of the railroad via a little bridge downstream. In that business, he contracted to provide bridge timber for the St. Paul Railroad Company.
Another one of the former enterprises of N.L. James was the management of a furniture factory in Richland Center. The factory had fallen into his hands because of his being security for a firm that failed. He shipped furniture by boats and rafts to Burlington, Ia., and he also formerly floated railroad ties down the river.
N.L. James also engaged in agriculture. In 1882, he acquired his father’s farm of 120 acres, lying within the city limits of Richland Center, and he also owned 240 acres in the town of Dayton. He was very successful in farming and stock-raising and was the owner of the best herd of Shorthorn cattle in the county.
In 1878, he brought the first creamery to Richland County, establishing it in Bear Valley, and in 1884 he also opened a little creamery on land he owned at the south edge of the city, where he installed the first centrifugal separator in the state.
In the fall of 1899, James returned to the railroad industry. Working as general manager of the Kickapoo Valley Railroad, he brought it to profitability, and then again sold out to the St. Paul Railroad in 1903. After the sale, N.L. James was employed for several years by this railroad in the capacity of timber inspector.
N.L. abandoned his steam mill on James Island in 1908, and established a larger mill and lumber yard on south Central Ave. He developed this new mill until it covered two whole blocks, extending from Burton St. on the north to Gage St. on the south and from Church St. on the east to Central Ave. on the west, with South St. cutting through the center of his property.
Carl Burdick described this mill and some of the employees as follows: “The office was at the N.W. corner of Church and South Sts. This was a small wooden frame building with an upper floor that was never used except for storage. The entrance was on Church and there was a small office with a counter to carry on billing and sales work. In the rear there was a private office area for N.L. James. Rena Gibbs was the office girl here for many years. George Sinnett was yard foreman and straw boss of the place. He used this office area, too. Just north of this office was a long shed-like building of one story that was for storage and was later the showroom for N. Leslie, the sons, auto firm. Leslie was the younger son, and he sold some of the first autos in town. Next to the north was another tall two-story frame building that had a basement where the milling machines were run by the Sinnett family (father and son team) for years. This place gave off quite a noise when they were running the planers and saws. The next building along Church was the old blacksmith shop. This was a busy place over the years and with horse shoeing there was always other metal work going on. Here we watched the drill presses, the sparks from the heated metals and heard the hiss of the hot iron going into the tank (barrel) of water to temper it again. This was a good place to learn many things as a youngster. North on Church was a small two-story frame house that was rented out over the years. Art Miller, who worked here, used it for a while. The S.W. corner of the block was vacant and used to pile wood for winter sales or other items for sale. West on Burton and about the middle of the block was a big wooden barn-like building used for storage space. There was a north roadway into the yard to the west of this shed. West almost to the corner of Central and Burton was a long shed running south into the yard. The north end of this was the cement shed. The rail spur ran on the east side of the building for carloads of cement coming here. Casper Romeis was usually around here beating the dust out of cement sacks and bailing them for shipment back to the mills. South of this shed and attached to it was a long, covered area of sectional bins which held the fuel such as coal or coke for winter use. This entire line of sheds covered about 150 feet to the south of Burton. Behind the blacksmith shop a few feet was another busy place, the wagon shop. Here, Mr. Smith made wagons for the firm to sell. This man was the father of Henry Smith the baker and of younger boys we played with. We thought this was quite a place when they could actually construct a wheel for a wagon and finish it up by painting and stripeing the finished job. Just south of this building was another small storage shed. South of these buildings and in line with the office building was a long shed where the fancy molding was kept. This was a one-story frame building with sliding doors along the south side which were locked at night. At the very west end of this building always stood a large pile of bundled lath. Just south and starting at Church St., there was a large vacant corner used for storage of wood etc. South of this and on Church was long lumber shed that had a second story area for finished lumber. Like Doc’s (Krouskop) sheds this lumber was passed up to the workman on the balcony above. This shed also had long doors on the sides about eight inches wide that could be opened to dry lumber. This was like a to***co shed. South of this building on Church were several small opened sided sheds where they piled heavy rough plank and timbers that couldn’t walk away too easily. South on the N.W. of Churchand Gage Sts. was a large area where they piled rough lumber etc. About the middle of this block to the west and on Gage was a small dump used by the yard. On the N.E. corner of Central and Gage was a long low lumber shed that ran north along the railroad track. This held various semi rough lumber, and it set down lower than the street. There was a roadway entering the yard here from the south or from Gage St. A wagon could drive right up close to this to load or unload lumber. There were roads on both sides of this building, and they had to go up a grade to the street as this side of the block was a bit lower than the rest. The railroad went thru this yard to the east of this big shed and to the cement shed to the north. It also ran along the street on Central Ave. to the stopper on Burton St. All that might be said of this firm was that N.L. with his white goatee could walk very fast and George Sinnett with his big beer-belly stomach could only move at a snail's pace”.
N.L. James was also actively involved in politics. He filled various positions of a public nature; he served as a member of the town and village board, and village treasurer. He represented Richland Center on the county board of supervisors, on which he also served as chairman of that body. He served as a member of the state assembly in 1873, and again in 1875, was state senator from his district in 1885 and 1887, and he was a delegate to the state Republican convention in 1876 and a delegate to the Republican national convention in 1880. While serving in the assembly it was N.L. that fathered the bill that gave women the right to vote in school elections in 1885.
N.L. James, in addition to his business and political life, also was involved with several fraternal organizations. He was made a Mason in the lodge at Richland Center, in 1868, and a Royal Arch Mason and Knight Templar at Madison in 1873. In 1893 he joined the Wisconsin consistory and took the Thirty-second degree. He was a member of the Tripoli Shrine in Milwaukee and also had membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in Milwaukee.
A couple of other interesting firsts that involved N.L. James in Richland Center include that he received the very first telegraph message in Richland Center on Aug. 1, 1874, sent from Lone Rock by his brother William, and in June of 1894, the N.L. James home was among the first to have electric lights installed.
Norman Leslie James passed away on November 22, 1918, at the age of 77.
Norman L. James had long been recognized as one of the leading citizens of Richland County, and he so managed his various business interests as to not only contribute to his material well-being but also to develop the natural resources of the community in which he lived. He was one of the most active and successful of the businessmen of the county and was enterprising and public spirited and generally liked throughout the county.
In preparation for the future, N.L. James composed his will several years in advance of his death, which recommended in addition to providing for his wife and family that the business be continued in his name and that George Sinnett be retained as foreman of the retail, N.L. James Jr. in charge of the Hardwood Lumber Yard, Mabel L. James the bookkeeper and financier, and Henry Clarson the farm.
Georgiana James passed away on May 26, 1925, one day prior to her 78th birthday.
Georgianan James was interested in those things which have to do with building a community and a nation. She was a charter member of the Woman’ Club and continuously served as an officer for ten years. She was deeply interested in suffrage and gave of her time and energy that there might be equal suffrage. She wrote a suffrage column “Woman’s Kingdom” for the Rustic for ten years. She was a member and a tireless worker in the W.C.T.U. and was always found to be tried and true, and for thirty years had a large part in the activities of this organization. Many unfortunate souls found help and comfort because of her thoughtfulness and generosity.
Perhaps a bit eccentric, Georgiana James was a strong admirer of England’s Queen Victoria, and wore clothes patterned from the queen’s.
The home of Norman and Georgiana was purchased by the Methodist Church in 1951, and it was torn down in 1953 to construct the new Trinity Methodist Church.
Photos-RC History Room
