William Hartford James (October 16, 1831 – February 1, 1920) was a Republican Nebraska politician best known as the acting governor of Nebraska. He was also a member of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Board of Regents during his tenure as governor. James was born at Marion, Ohio. He attended the public school and Marion Academy for two years and worked on the family farm. He began studying law on his own, and in 1853, James moved to Des Moines, Iowa, and joined a law firm. He was admitted to the Iowa

Bar Association A bar association is a professional association of lawyers as generally organized in countries following the Anglo-American types of jurisprudence. The word bar is derived from the old English/European custom of using a physical railing to separ ...

in 1855 and moved to

Sergeant Bluff Sergeant Bluff is a city in Woodbury County, Iowa, United States. It is part of the Sioux City, IA– NE– SD Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 5,015 at the time of the 2020 census. History The city was named in honor o ...

to start his own legal practice. He married Louisa Epler and they had four children.

Career

In 1857, James moved to Nebraska and staked a homestead claim in

Dakota County Dakota County may refer to: *Dakota County, Minnesota in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area of east-central Minnesota *Dakota County, Nebraska Dakota County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of th2020 United States Census the populati ...

. He soon became active in local politics, serving as

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and County Attorney for Dakota County. In 1864 President Abraham Lincoln appointed James as register of the Dakota County Land Office. After serving as register of the Dakota County Land Office for five years, James then ran on the Republican ticket and was elected Secretary of State in 1870. In 1871, with the impeachment of Governor David Butler, James became Acting Governor of Nebraska until January 13, 1873. He was a member of the University of Nebraska board of regents from 1871 to 1873.

Later life

After serving out his term as acting governor, James returned to his legal practice. In 1877, he was appointed register of the Colfax, Washington, Land Office. He held that position until his death in 1920. He is interred in Colfax, Washington.

References

External links

* * at the Nebraska State Historical Society
The Encyclopedia of Nebraska

World Trade Press

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, William Hartford 1831 births 1920 deaths Republican Party governors of Nebraska Secretaries of State of Nebraska People from Marion, Ohio Washington (state) Republicans