John Hough James

John Hough James (1800-1881) was an American lawyer, banker, railroad builder, scientific farmer and stockbreeder, legislator, politician, editor, lecturer and writer. James was a pioneer in the development of western banking and transportation. Early life James was born in Waterford, Virginia to Levi James and Rachel Hough. Levi was the son of Joseph James, born on board a ship traveling from Wales to America. During his life, Levi was a shopkeeper, a merchant of river commerce, a bank director and a prominent citizen in the developing city of Cincinnati. Rachel Hough was the daughter of John Hough and Lydia Hollingsworth and was descended from the large and prominent family of Samuel Hough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. John Hough James spent his early childhood in Northern Virginia. When he was thirteen, his family moved to the rugged frontier of southern Ohio, landing at Cincinnati November 4, 1813. In Cincinnati, Levi James became a trustee of Lancaster Seminary school which John Hough and his brother David Allen James attended. Levi and other parents of children needing further education helped form Cincinnati College. John was in the first graduating class, eventually earning a Master's degree from the school. He married Abigail Bailey, the daughter of Revolutionary War printer Frances Bailey, in 1825 and the couple moved to Urbana, Ohio. They had four children including a son, John Henry James who served as a Union soldier in the Civil War. Literary life