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WILLIAM C. JAMES, M. D. In the history of Springfield and Greene county in connection with the medical profession, the name of Dr. William C. James must necessarily occupy a prominent place, for although he was summoned from the field of action in the prime of life, through a number of years he was one of the representative general practitioners of the Queen City of the Ozarks, progressive, enterprising and capable. Such qualities as he possessed by nature always win success sooner or later, and to Doctor James they brought a satisfactory reward for his well directed efforts and at the same time won and retained the high esteem of his fellow citizens by his honorable record and obliging nature. He was one of the native sons of the Golden state, a class that has done so much in the general development of the Pacific coast country, but few of whom have found it to their advantage to remove from the far West and cast their lot among Missourians.
Doctor James was born near Napa City, in the Sacramento Valley, California, November 7, 1858. He was a son of William H. and Lucy A. (Wade) James, both parents being Southerners, the mother going from the South to California when a child and there grew to womanhood and married. William H. James, who was in his earlier years a merchant, but later studied and practiced medicine remaining in California many years, finally removing to southwest Missouri., where he became a well-known physician. His family consisted of seven children, five of whom are still living, namely: J. T., J. B., Dr. E. F., Mrs. J. P. Hubbel, Mrs. Mary Burford, Dr. William C., of this memoir, and Lucy, who is deceased.
Dr. William C. James was young in years when he came to Missouri with his parents. He received a common and high school education in Carthage, this state, later attending medical college at Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was graduated with the class of 1880, later taking a post graduate course in New York City. He began the practice of his profession at Marshfield, Webster county, Missouri, in the early eighties, but remained there only a short time when he removed to Springfield, where he remained until his death, maintaining an office on Commercial street, and was regarded as one of the leading general physicians of the city, especially popular on the north side, and he was successful from the first his practice gradually increasing with the yearsand he was a man who kept well up with the trend of his profession, and although always busy, found time to keep up his studies.
Doctor James was married August 8, 1883, to Georgia A. Rush, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of James L. and Frances, C. (Nichols) Rush, the former a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch ancestry, and the mother was born in Webster county, Missouri. She met an unfortunate death in the great cyclone that devastated the town of Marshfield, Missouri, in 1880. James L. Rush came to Missouri when young and settled in Marshfield. He was a lawyer and became one of the leading members of the Greene county bar. Politically, he was a Democrat and was quite active in politics. His family consisted of nine children, six of whom are still living, namely: J. N., Mrs. G. A. James, William H., James L., Margaret and H. B. Mrs. Georgia A. James grew to womanhood in Marshfield and received her education in the schools of that place. She is a member of the Catholic church, and she has a comfortable home on Benton avenue, Springfield.
To Dr. James and wife four children were born, three of whom are still living, namely: Frances C., born July 18, 1885, is deceased; James R., born on October 7, 1890; William L., born on August 16, 1898; and Margaret, born October 24, 1901.
Dr. James was a member of the Greene County Medical Society, the Missouri State Medical Association, and the American Medical Association. Politically he was a Democrat but was never an office seeker. Fraternally, he belonged to the Masonic Order. The death of Doctor James occurred January 5, 1908.
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