James Alton James

James was born on September 17, 1864, in Jefferson, Wisconsin.

He spent two years at the Platteville Normal School, and then, after teaching high school for two years to pay for the university, entered the University of Wisconsin, where he graduated as valedictorian with an LL.B.

[citation needed] He was superintendent of schools in Darlington, Wisconsin, 1888–90; professor of history at Cornell College, Iowa, 1893–97.

He was head of the history department for over two decades and was also the chairman of the graduate student work at the university from 1917 to 1931.

James died on February 12, 1962, in Evanston, Illinois.