James McMillan Shafter (May 27, 1816 – August 29, 1892) was an American lawyer, politician, and pioneer of Wisconsin and California.

Through another brother, Hugh, he was an uncle of U.S. Army major general William Rufus Shafter, who was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for actions in the American Civil War.

[3] Born in Athens, Vermont in 1816, Shafter attended public schools and then graduated from Wesleyan University ni 1837.

[7] In the fall of 1852, he was the Whig Party nominee for United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district, but he lost that election to Democrat John B.

[4][9] In 1857, a complex real estate litigation resulted in the Shafter firm winning a victory for their client of 75,000 acres of farm land at Point Reyes in Marin County.

[17] In 1889, Governor Robert Waterman appointed Shafter as judge of the San Francisco County Superior Court to fill the vacancy from the resignation of Jeremiah F.

[1] In 1845, James McMillan Shafter married Julia Granville Hubbard (September 11, 1821 – February 11, 1871) in Montpelier, Vermont, who had studied at Troy Female Seminary.