The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 1008 

HORACE P. JAMES.

Horace P. James, president of the Yakima Fruit Growers' Association, was born in
Weybridge, Vermont, in the year 1855, the width of the continent thus
separating him from his birthplace. He is a son of Samuel and Susan (Payne)
James, both of whom were representatives of old colonial families. In the
maternal line he traces his ancestry back to those who aided in winning
independence in the Revolutionary war. Samuel James was a farmer by occupation
and both he and his wife have passed away.

Horace P. James, reared in the Green Mountain state and guided by the best New
England traditions of teaching, made wise use of his time, talents and
opportunities in his early life, attending the Middlebury College, from which
he was graduated, and afterward entering the theological school of Oberlin
College, Ohio, conducted under the auspices of the Congregational church. He
completed his course there by graduation in 1879, and having been ordained to
the ministry, secured his first church at Corinth, Vermont, in 1880. There he
remained for six years, when in 1886 he accepted a call to the ministry of a
church at Cooperstown, North Dakota, where he spent two years. In 1888 he
arrived in Colfax, Washington, and was pastor of the Congregational church at
that place for twelve years. He removed to Yakima in 1900, at which time he
assumed pastoral duties in connection with the Congregational church of this
city, which he served for six years. In 1906 he became identified with fruit
production and shipment, purchasing a fruit ranch four miles west of Yakima. He
invested in sixteen acres of wild land and now has ten acres in bearing apple
and pear orchards. He was one of the organizers of the Yakima Fruit Growers'
Association in 1910 and for the past two years has been its president. This
company has a large warehouse and cold storage plant in Yakima and another at
Zillah. which is one of the largest in the northwest. These two represent an
investment of one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The company
likewise has warehouses throughout the valley, including ten besides the two
large plants already mentioned, and in the year 1917 the company handled over
twelve hundred carloads of fruit, while in 1914 they handled as many as two
thousand, two hundred and fifty-three carloads. They are among the largest
wholesalers of fruit in the valley and their shipments are made under the brands
of Blue Y and Red V. They employ about one hundred people during the busy season
and the business was conducted as a cooperative concern until 1918, when it was
reorganized on a stock basis, Mr. James becoming the president, with E. L.
Porter as secretary, Austin Woodyard as treasurer and C. H. Hinman as manager.
This has been one of the largest and most successful organizations of the kind
in the valley and Mr. James has taken a most active and helpful part in building
up the fruit industry in this part of the state.

In 1881 Mr. James was married to Miss Achsa Hayward of Weybridge, Vermont, a
daughter of Judge A. D. Hayward. They have two children. Laura Susan, the elder,
became the wife of Harvey Young, of Yakima, and has two children. The younger
daughter, Julia Lucile, residing in New York, is a graduate of Whitman College,
pursued a library course at Columbia College, and is now librarian in the
National City Bank of New York.

Mr. and Mrs. James hold membership in the Congregational church, taking an
active and helpful interest in its work and upbuilding. Mr. James is a life
member of the Commercial Club, one of three thus identified with the
organization, and he served as its secretary from 1906 until 1911. He has been a
most thorough and earnest student of conditions which have to do with the
commercial progress of his section of the state and especially with the
development of the fruit raising and shipping interests and his work in this
connection has been far-reaching and beneficial. His splendid qualities as a
business man and as a citizen number him among the representative and honored
residents of the valley.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in January 2008 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.