James A. Works, attorney, Vevay, was born in Owen County, Ky., September 8, 1820, and received but a common school education. His parents, Andrew and Rachel (Ireland) Works, were born in Kentucky also. His father died in 1824. His mother with eight children moved to Ohio County in 1829. Mr. James A. Works worked upon a farm at $4 per month to assist his mother in supporting the family, which moved to Cotton Township in 1840, where the mother died in 1867. Mr. Works began the practice in Ohio County, and continued the same in connection with farming in this county. He moved to Vevay in 1865, and has ever since devoted his entire talent to law. He was prosecuting attorney from 1856 to 1863 for Ohio and Switzerland Counties, and township clerk during his residence in Cotton Township. He was married, March 27, 1837, to Miss Phoebe Downey, who was born in Ohio County September 2, 1819. By this union six children were born: Lewis F., November 22, 1839; Esther J., September 11, 1842; Eliza O., December 22, 1844, died April 12, 1860; John D., March 29, 1847; James A., August 22, 1851; Lydia A., January 3, 1855. Mr. Works is one of the most successful lawyers of the Vevay bar. Of keen perception, and with an excellent yet peculiar command of language, his pleas are a rare combination of wit and oratory, and exceedingly powerful in their influence upon the minds of a jury.
Source: History of Switzerland County, Indiana 1885. Chicago, Illinois: Weakley, Harraman & Co., 1885
Transcribed by: Sheila Kell