GUILLIAMS, James A. - Putnam

The long span of the lifetime of James A. Guilliams, 88 years and a few days – came to an end Sunday noon.  He had been sinking several days, having been ill with peritonitis but had become somewhat better Saturday and it was felt by his family that he might recover.  It was the close of the life of an interesting man, one who was a descendant of one of the oldest families of north Putnam and who enjoyed talking of old days in the county as he remembered them himself and as told to him by his father.  The writer first interviewed him for the Daily Banner 10 years ago and from time to time since then, finding him an apparently inexhaustible source of information concerning the history of old Blakesburg where his grandfather settled in the earliest pioneer days and concerning other points of interest in his part of Putnam.  Some two months ago, he was asked for an additional chapter of his reminisces and his reply was: “I am writing the story of my life now and when I am gone you are to have it.”  Sunday afternoon a few hours after Mr. Guilliams death, the writer called at the Guilliams home not knowing he had passed away and received the news of his demise and at the same time, the autobiography which he had prepared.  However, there are a few facts which are not included in Mr. Guilliam’s account of his life: he was the son of Edgecomb Guilliams, and his mother was Ann Fosher who was a daughter of the old pioneer, John Fosher.  The surviving children of Mr. Guilliams are Mrs. Orene Morgan of Poca City, Okla and AE Guilliams of Los Angeles, Calif. Mrs. Edna Graham, daughter of AE Guillism is the only grandchild and she has spent all of her life with the exception of the first 14 months with her grandfather.  She and her husband are the parents of the only great grandchildren, Joan and Archie Lee Graham.  Mr. Guilliams, the deceased was very happy Thursday of last week which was his 88th birthday event and it also the 13th anniversary of his great granddaughter and they celebrated together.

The funeral services for Mr. Guilliams will be held at 10:30 o’clock Wednesday forenoon in the Universalist church at Fincastle.  Some six or eight years ago, Mr. Quilliams (sic) placed upon deposit in a bank in Greencastle a sum of money for the services of the Greencastle band at his funeral, whenever that should occur.  That money has been on deposit there for that purpose and the former managers of the band which is now disorganized have been seeking a way to meet the wishes of Mr. Guilliams in regard to the music he desire.  The autobiography prepared by Mr. Guilliams follows, in full:

James A. Guilliams was born April 21, 1850 near the old town site of Foshers Mills or Blakesburg which at that time was quite a prosperous little town.  His education was very limited as he only attended school in the winter months.  Mr. Guilliams tended his first crop of corn at the age of 10 years with one horse and a double-shover plow.  Since then he had tended 70 consecutive crops.  During the Civil War in 1863 he volunteered at the age of 13 years as fifer and drummer boy.  This company consisted of 100 men, the Captain being Benjamin Hawkins of Carpentersville and Evan Grider of Fincastle as 1st Lt.  Mr. Guilliams taught school at the age of 17 years.  In 1867 the Indiana State Fair was held at Terre Haute, He attended this fair and among the attractions of the grounds was VanAmburg’s Animal Show.  An unruly bear got away from the keeper and climbed a tree some 30 feet high and refused to come down.  Mr. Guilliams came along and Mr. Van Amburg was trying to get some one to climb the tree after the bear.  Mr. Van Amburg or none of the attendants would attempt it.  Mr. Guilliams told Mr. Van Amburg he was not afraid to go up after the bear and the showman said he was just the man he was looking for and would pay him well.  Quite a crowd of people had surrounded the tree, Mr. Guilliams took off his coat and with a __ the show man gave him propel to climb the tree.  The big bear growled and showed teeth.  After a short battle in the trop the bear was driven down.  The showman caught the bear and ? and then asked Mr. Guilliams to name his price.  Mr. Guilliams he’d not take any pay at all.  The first day of Oct 1868, Guilliams was married to Rushey Kyle of Rockville, Indiana being 18 years of age.  They were congratulated by General Hunt? Several other noted men. Gen. Hunger spoke in Rockville that day.  Sept of 1870 Mr. Guilliams’ and wife loaded their possessions in covered wagon drawn by two horses and started west.  After traveling 17 days they landed in Mercer County, Missouri near Princeton the county seat. There they bought 40 acres of land and in the covered wagon until he chopped enough logs to build a ? of round logs.  This room was ? by 14’ with a rock fireplace and a stick and mud chimney.  They had no cook stove at all and the chairs, table and bed they had made by Mr. Guilliams.  This was covered with split log ? and when it snowed the snow would be several inches deep on the roof at times.  The country was ? timbered.  Mr. Guilliams cleared up some land but after having been there two years he sold out and his wife and baby girl boarded the train for Oregon. The Union Pacific Railroad had just been ?.  The train was snow bound in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for a time but they landed safely in San Francisco where they took the ? steamer for Portland, Oregon.  It was on the ocean five days.  At that time there was no railroad in either __ or Washington Territory.  They lived for six months near the __ River one half mile from __ as it entered the Columbia River.  Mr. Guilliams became a day laborer and one day wanting to cross the Columbia River over to Washington Territory he secured a frail skiff and used the river, it being one and half miles wide.  The water was ? but on his return he was caught in a wind storm which came up the __ from the ocean.  He was about __ across when struck by this storm.  In a very short time the __ were churning about furiously and the boat was about to capsize.  He thought to himself that only __ would save him.  He turned the boat down stream meeting the waves.  He succeeded in reaching an island in the Columbia River.  When he reached the island the waves were beating and lashing so that it was some time before he could safely land.  He walked across this island and called over to a man he saw on the mainly to come across and get him.  He also employed this man to get his small skiff over to the mainland.  Mr. Guilliams walked home and came for his boat next day.  After being in this place six months and not being satisfied with the country they boarded an ocean streamer and again came back to San Francisco. They came back to Putnam County, Indiana in 1872 with considerable experience but no riches.  Mr. Guilliams then took up farming and dealing in pure bred stock.  He followed the fairs for 30 years as an exhibitor of hogs, ? and poultry.  He also experiments in formulating a breed of yellow corn.  In 1894 he began locating the remnants of the Tunis breed of sheep.  This breed had been destroyed almost entirely during the Civil War.  He located a small stock of 15 sheep on the Congo River in South Carolina near Columbia which had escaped the ravages of war.  With considerable trouble and expense he succeeded in purchasing and bringing this 15 head of sheep to Putnam County, Indiana.  With this small flock he founded the present breed of Tunis sheep and organized the American Tunis Sheep Breeders Association.  He was almost alone in bringing these sheep from obscurity and placed them before the public.  They were condemned and criticized but Mr. Guilliams believed there was a strain of pure blood in these sheep that no other breed possessed.  Being later assisted by a number of spirited men in his neighborhood and the Tunis breed of sheep has proven a great success and now ranks among the leading breeds in America.  Mr. Guilliams became and was editor of the National Sheepman, a newspaper of general circulation which was printed, published and maintained in Indianapolis, Indiana.  In 1924, Mr. Guilliams took up the study of ethology and aboriginal American antiques and began a collection of Indian and pre-historic relics, such as Indian bows, arrow heads and old historic utensils and tools used by the pioneer people.  With the assistance of his granddaughter he succeeded in getting together one of the finest collections of the kind in the state of Indiana.  That on Aug 15, 1899, James A. Mount, Governor of Indiana appointed Mr. Guilliams as a delegate to  the Farmers’ National Convention at Boston, Mass, held from Oct 3 to 6th, 1899 to represent the state of Indiana.  Mr. Guilliams never used tobacco in any form.  He never used coffee.  In his prime he weighed 160 pounds.  He was a natural musician but did not practice to any extent.  He was a master genius in the art of carving bone into miniature relics, representing different objects and doing his most difficult work at the age of 75 years, with only a pocket knife and file and very seldom using spectacles at his work.  His ancestors’ nationality was German and French.  He wrote a number of historical articles relating to incidents as they occurred in the early settlement of Putnam County, Indiana.  Among them was The Lost Town; The Destruction of our Beautiful Forest and Maple Orchard.  He was a member of the Universalist Church and in politics a Democrat.  He lost his wife by death on Feb 24, 1929 having lived together for 60 years 4 months and 21 days.   -– kbz