William James Family

William James Family. William, Margaret, John, Martha, George, and Anna. , In 1874, the Children's Aid Society (CAS) created the Family Emigration Program to expand their Placing Out Department. The object of the program was to help destitute families get a new start outside the city while keeping the families intact. Families that took part in the program all had job opportunities or relatives/friends in the West but could not afford the cost of moving. Many of these families were recommended to the CAS by preachers, employers, or friends. , On March 14, 1879, a company of families was sent west to Fort Scott, Kansas: the James family (made up of William, Margaret and four children), the Taylor family, and the Andersons. The men were all carpenters who had struggled to find enough work in New Jersey. The families had friends in Lincoln, Nebraska, and hoped that relocating there would provide better job opportunities, By the 1880 census, the James, Taylor, and Anderson families were next door neighbors living on farms in Sherman County, Nebraska., By 1900, William and Margaret James had added three more children to their family and had moved on from Nebraska to Cheyenne, Wyoming. William was a gifted builder who became a well-known contractor in Cheyenne and landed big construction jobs. In 1904, William was the contractor for a "Magnificent Stone Block" four-story building built in downtown Cheyenne. The local paper applauded his efforts and the beauty the building added to the capital city., William and Margaret's children also found success out west. Their daughters became milliners and their sons ran a cigar and notions store. William was a contractor until he was seventy years old, and then ran a boarding house until he passed in 1921., Sponsored in loving memory of Dean Johnston by his family..