"A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of the City of
Seattle and County of King, Washington." New York and Chicago: Lewis Publishing
Co., 1903.  p. 669.
 
GEORGE JAMES

     George James is the senior member and manager of the Variety Iron Works
Company, iron founders and manufacturers. This business was established by Mr.
James in 1889 and has been under his control since that time. In 1899 it was
incorporated, Mr. James continuing as manager. The enterprise has become one of
the most representative of the industrial interests of the northwest. All the
products of the factory are of a superior grade, both in casting and
manufacturing.
    The width of the continent separates Mr. James from the place of his birth,
for he is a native of New York city, born on September 17, 1858, of a family of
English lineage. Alfred James, his father, was a native of England, but becoming
a lover of civil liberty he joined a charter movement in England and because of
this was obliged to leave his native land and come to America. He was married in
London to Miss Martha Porch, whose father was a celebrated artist; the one child
born to them in London. Adrian Rienzie, is now in New York city. Thirteen
children were added to the family circle in America's metropolis, where for a
number of years the father was a prominent merchant tailor. He was ever a lover
of liberty and opposed to oppression in every form, and the first Cuban
rebellion was planned in his house, and he became a filibuster and went to Cuba
in 1869. Their ship, the Hornet, was captured by the United States authorities
while coaling at Wilmington, North Carolina, and he then returned home, where he
died from the effects of a surgical operation made necessary by ill health. Of
the fourteen children in his family eight are now living, and his wife also
survives him in the seventieth year of her age.
     George James was educated in New York and learned his trade in that city,
after which he engaged in business there and later in Chicago. He arrived in
Seattle in October, 1889, with seven and a half dollars in his pocket. He had
not enough money to bring his wife and two children with him from Chicago, but
he had earned enough within six weeks in this thriving city of the northwest to
send for them, and it was a happy meeting when they reached him in his new home
on the Pacific coast. He had been married in 1877 to Miss Mary McCastland.
Charles, George and Maude were born to them in Chicago, Fred, who was born in
Chicago, is dead, and Minnie, born in Seattle, is also deceased. His good wife,
who passed with him through all the early trials and was ever an able assistant,
departed this life on October 17, 1900. This had been a happy married life,
covering a period of twenty-three years, and her loss was most deeply felt by
husband and children.
     Mr. James' path to success in this city was not a flowery one, although it
started out in a promising manner. He secured a position with a firm in Ballard,
but not long afterward his employers failed, and he then began work for the
Washington Iron Works, but was forced to leave because he was not a resident
molder, although he was a member of the union, their opposition being because he
was an eastern man. He then found a man who had a little shop in the woods, and
there he began the manufacture of iron specialties in plumbing goods. The next
seven months was a hard struggle, but at the end of that time a gentleman bought
out Mr. James' partner, and the Dwyer Manufacturing Company was organized. After
they had conducted this for twenty months, they built the present plant on the
tide flats. In 1894 Charles Mulcahey purchased the interests of the Dwyer
Brothers, and with Mr. James' interests organized the Variety Iron Works, and
under this arrangement it grew in volume as the city increased in population. J.
B. C. Lockwood finally purchased Mr. Mulcahey's interest, and the business was
then enlarged, and under the direction of Mr. James they branched out into the
manufacture of machinery and did jobbing work. The shop was equipped for a heavy
class of work and success attended the enterprise. A little later Mr. Lockwood
sold his interest to Charles Fleehart, and after some months Mr. James purchased
the latters interest. Some time later he sold a half interest to the Puget Sound
Machinery Company, and the business was incorporated with J. H. Perkins as
president, Thomas Green as secretary, and Mr. James as manager. From the time of
the incorporation the business of the house has steadily increased in volume,
and they now manufacture all kinds of the heaviest work in iron, and have placed
machinery in many of the leading business blocks of the city and a number of
sawmills in the state and furnished the iron construction for many of the county
bridges. Their trade extends all over the state and even into other states. Mr.
James has prospered with the growth of the enterprise and with the growth of the
city, and as his financial resources have been enlarged he has made judicious
investments, until he now owns considerable city property, including various
tide-land lots and residences. The company's plant, which is located on the tide
flats at 1241 to 1245 Utah street, covers two full lots, and is one of the best
equipped in the northwest.
     Mr. James is a member of the Modern Woodmen of the World and of the
Manufacturer's Association. He is an expert molder, thoroughly reliable in
business, a good citizen, and is deeply interested in the welfare of Seattle.
His career is certainly a creditable and honorable one, for in the face of
opposition, meeting untold difficulties and obstacles, he has steadily advanced,
and to-day stands among the prosperous men of the northwest, enjoying success
and also the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.


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Submitted to the Washington Biographies Project in September 2007 by Diana
Smith.  Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family
mentioned above.