Daniel Willis James

Who was Daniel Willis James?

Daniel Willis James was born in Liverpool, England, the son of a merchant, Daniel James. James's maternal grandfather was Anson Greene Phelps of Phelps, Dodge, and Company. He attended Amherst College and wed Ellen S. Curtiss, with whom he had a son, Arthur Curtiss James.

James eventually headed Phelps, Dodge and Company, and served on the board of other large U.S. corporations, including the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, the Arizona, El Paso and Southwestern Mining Company, and the Ansonia Clock Company. He also served as vice president and director of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company in Bisbee, Arizona.

Williston, North Dakota, was named for him by his friend, Northern Pacific Railway owner James J. Hill.

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, and James there built a park and a free library, believing the latter would be "a means of public enjoyment and benefit."