Norman L. James

James was born November 29, 1840 in Deerfield, New Hampshire. He received a common school education, and came to Wisconsin with his family, eventually settling in Richland Center.

With his little brother David, James entered the United States Army in 1861, joining Company F of 16th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment, upon the outbreak of the American Civil War. He participated in the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, and was discharged in 1862.

James served as a member of the town and village board, and village treasurer. He was first elected to the Assembly for Richland County's first Assembly district (the Towns of (Towns of Buena Vista, Henrietta, Ithaca, Orion, Richland, Rockbridge, Westford and Willow) in 1872 as a Republican; he did not seek re-election, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Joseph McGrew. He was elected again in 1874, with 776 votes to 659 for Democrat V. G. Harter. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1875, and was succeeded by Democrat J. L. R. McCollum.

James served as a delegate to the 1880 Republican National Convention. He was elected state senator for the 28th District (at that time consisting of Iowa and Richland Counties) in 1884 (Republican incumbent William Meffert was not a candidate), receiving 4,712 votes, against 4,291 for Democrat George Crawford and 573 for Prohibitionist John Lee. He served as chairman of the standing committee on railroads.[1] He was not a candidate for re-election in 1888, and was succeeded by another Republican, Robert Joiner

James was described in the Wisconsin Blue Books as a merchant and a hardware merchant. He testified in a Congressional hearing that he manufactured lumber, and sold lumber at retail.

In 1911, he testified before the United States Senate about his involvement in the election of Isaac Stephenson to the Senate from Wisconsin. He described himself as a longtime friend and supporter of Stephenson, whom he had met when they were both delegates to the 1880 Republican National Convention, and with whom he often went fishing. He testified that the only money he had been paid from the campaign was reimbursement for expenditures he'd made in support of Stephenson's election. He testified that while he was not (as had been inquired) "a man of some means," nonetheless "... I have always taken an active part in politics. That is, I have always had some man as a candidate that I was interest in." [2]

James' brother, David Goodrich James, was a member of the Senate from the same district from 1909 to 1912. His niece Ada James became a noted suffragist.

He died in Richland Center on November 25, 1918.[3]