James Percy was my paternal great-grandfather. He was born in Glasgow, Scotland and brought by his parents to New York City as an infant. From that early start, he led a varied and interesting life.

The following is an excerpt from “A memorial and biographical history of the counties of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Ventura, California by Mrs. Yda Addis Storke, Chicago, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1891, housed at the New York Public Library, digitized by Ancestry.com. James was nearing the end of his life when Mrs. Storke interviewed him for inclusion in her treatise.

James Percy

James Percy, a gentleman who was thrown upon his own resources at an early age, who has participated in the exciting adventures of the hunter, who has experienced the changing fortunes of the miner, and who is now a well-to-do citizen of Saticoy, Ventura County, is deserving of mention in a work of this character. A sketch of his life will be found of interest, and it is as follows:

Mr. Percy was born in Scotland, August 16, 1850. He is one of a family of four sons, and his parents, John and Rebecca Percy, both English people, came to America and settled in New York the year following his birth. The father was a brick-layer and a contractor and builder. When the subject of this sketch was five years old, his father started to California, via Cape Horn, and died while en route. Young Percy was also deprived of a mother’s care at an early age, her death occurring when he was twelve years old. He then made his home with Mr. Sells, in Iowa, for three years, after which he started out in life for himself, and worked on a farm in Iowa until he was twenty-one. At that time he went to Wyoming and was employed on a stock ranch one year. He then turned his attention to the exciting business of trapping beaver and hunting buffaloes. This he followed two years, being in partnership with Mr. Stephen Stone. They found a market for their game in Denver, and when the meat was not worth shipping, they hunted for the hides, selling them for from $1.50 to $3.00 each. During the two years they spent in hunting, they killed 1,300 buffaloes; and it was estimated that there were between 2,000 and 3,000 men engaged in the business at that time, 1872 and 1873. Beavers were quite plenty on the South Platte from Greeley, Colorado, to Julesburg, same State; and they caught 150 during one season, and sold the hides for $1.50 to $5.00 each.

Mr. Percy next turned his attention to mining, in both Utah and Arizona, and was engaged in that business six years, sometimes making and sometimes losing money. He has been in all the mining excitements of the coast, his principal interest being in quartz mines. In the fall of 1874 he was working on the McCracken mine, having had the first contract on that celebrated mine; and, while working, a ladder broke and he fell fifty feet, which resulted in a broken ankle and his being laid up at San Francisco a year for repairs. Upon his recovery, he prospected in the Tombstone district, Arizona, and there located some good mines, among the rest the Burleigh mine, for which he was paid $30,000, being in partnership with his brother Hugh at this time. The parties to whom they sold the mine were afterward offered $100,000 for the same, and refused it.

After selling the mine, Mr. Percy went East, and, in 1881, was married to Miss Cora DeNice, a native of Iowa. He returned to Arizona with his bride, and engaged in the cattle business, in company with his brother Hugh. After continuing in that business six years, he sold out and came to Ventura County, California. He purchased seventy-five acres of land adjoining the town site of Saticoy, and is here engaged in agricultural pursuits. He has twenty-five acres devoted to apricots, five to prunes, and ten to oranges, lemons, apples, and a variety of other fruits.

Mr. Percy has three sons, and his brother, referred to in this sketch, also has three sons. Mr. Percy is a Republican and cast his first presidential vote for Mr. Harrison. Previous to this time he had lived in the Territories, and consequently had no opportunity to vote for President before.