Daniel Willis James
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Daniel Willis James (April 15, 1832 – September 13, 1907) was the son of an American merchant who with his cousin, William Earl Dodge Jr., transformed Phelps, Dodge & Co. from a predominantly mercantile business into one of the largest copper producers in the world.


Biography

James was born in
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England, the son of American merchant, Daniel James, who was domiciled in England. His mother, Elizabeth Woodbridge (Phelps), died in 1847 and two years later his father remarried. In that same year James moved to New York to further his education and work in the family business of Phelps, Dodge. The company was run by Anson Greene Phelps and three of his sons-in-law: In New York William Earl Dodge Sr. and James Stokes, and in the UK Daniel James. The primary trade was importing metals to America and exporting cotton to the UK. They had subsidiary interests in lumber, property, railroad and manufacturing. By the time Phelps died in 1853 James had a 5% share in the business. As the years progressed, this increased until he and his cousin, William E. Dodge Jr., were the sole partners. In 1880 the president of the Detroit Copper Mining Company at Morenci, William Church, asked Phelps, Dodge for financial assistance. The partners appointed Dr James Douglas to inspect the mines and give his opinion on the viability. He reported back that Morenci had potential and was even more enthusiastic about the Bisbee area. The partners asked Douglas to work for them and gave him the choice of a flat fee or a 10% interest in the mining operation; Douglas took the latter. Despite early setbacks the mines eventually became highly productive and highly profitable. Transportation to and from the mines was a problem so the partners built their own railroad called the
El Paso and Southwestern Railroad The El Paso and Southwestern Railroad began in 1888 as the Arizona and South Eastern Railroad, a short line serving copper mines in southern Arizona. Over the next few decades, it grew into a 1200-mile system that stretched from Tucumcari, New ...
. They next purchased the El Paso and Northeastern Railroad to secure delivery from their coal mines in Dawson, New Mexico to their smelting plants. Eventually they had more than 1000 miles of track. By 1906, Phelps, Dodge & Co. had wound up their old mercantile business to concentrate on the production of copper and copper wire. James served on the board of other large U.S. corporations, including the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...
, the Arizona, El Paso and Southwestern Mining Company, and the
Ansonia Clock Company The Ansonia Clock Company was a clock manufacturing business founded in Ansonia, Connecticut, in 1851 and which moved to Brooklyn, New York (state), New York, in 1878. The company has produced hundreds of different clock models, including Gingerb ...
.New Jersey Historical Society. ''Proceedings of the New Jersey Historical Society.'' Trenton, N.J.: New Jersey Historical Society, 1909. He also served as vice president and director of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in
Bisbee, Arizona Bisbee is a city in and the county seat of Cochise County, Arizona, Cochise County in southeastern Arizona, United States. It is southeast of Tucson, Arizona, Tucson and north of the Mexican border. According to the 2020 United States census, ...
. According to one historian, James was "a genuinely good man of impeccable character, a secret philanthropist, whom Charles Parkhurst said loved everything in the universe 'from God down to the newsboy.'" He donated the Union Square Drinking Fountain in New York. In 1885, his family built a summer home in
Madison, New Jersey Madison is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Morris County, New Jersey, Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 16,937, an increase of 1,092 (+6.9%) from the 2010 United ...
, and James there built a park and a free library, believing the latter would be "a means of public enjoyment and benefit." James married Ellen S. Curtiss, with whom he had a son, Arthur Curtiss James. James died at the
Mount Washington Hotel The Omni Mount Washington Resort is a historic luxury resort hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, United States, near Mount Washington. It was designed by Charles Alling Gifford. In 1944, it hosted the Bretton Woods Conference, which establi ...
,
Bretton Woods, New Hampshire Bretton Woods is an area within the town of Carroll, New Hampshire, United States, whose principal points of interest are three leisure and recreation facilities. Being virtually surrounded by the White Mountain National Forest, the vista from B ...
, in September 1907, one of the hundred wealthiest Americans, having left a large fortune estimated at $26 million (
U.S. dollar The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...
s). Included were bequests to charities and religious institutions of $1,195,000. The library James built in Madison, New Jersey, is the home of the Museum of Early Trades and Crafts.
Williston, North Dakota Williston is a city in and the county seat of Williams County, North Dakota, United States. The 2020 census gave its population as 29,160, making Williston the sixth-most populous city in North Dakota. The city's population nearly doubled betwe ...
, was named for him by his friend, railroad magnate
James J. Hill James Jerome Hill (September 16, 1838 – May 29, 1916) was a Canadian-American railway director. He was the chief executive officer of a family of lines headed by the Great Northern Railway, which served a substantial area of the Upper Midwest ...
.


References


External links


James Library Building, Museum of Early Trades & Crafts, Madison, New Jersey.Union Square Drinking Fountain (James Fountain), New York City
*. {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Daniel Willis 1832 births 1907 deaths Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery Amherst College alumni Businesspeople from Liverpool English emigrants to the United States Williston, North Dakota Phelps Dodge 19th-century English businesspeople