He was the son of George and Sarah Atkinson. He married Miriam Rader, daughter of George Rader of Nicholas County.
He served as Justice of the Peace and was a deputy sheriff under Robert H. Early, John Slack, Sr., and John Slack, Jr. He was Sheriff in 1861-62.
He was also a carpenter and architect as well as entrepreneur. According to W.S. Laidley, "[H]is parents were not wealthy, but they raised their family on a farm" and James was "hale and hearty, stout...with plenty of good sense." In 1840, Atkinson and companions loaded a barge with poplar lumber and started for New Orleans as a speculative venture. They "built houses, furnishing the material, and it was two years before [Atkinson] reached home again."
Following a dinner at his daughter's home on Elk River, Atkinson slipped to the cellar where the cider jugs were stored. Unfortunately, "near the cider there had been set a glass of caustic soda, or lye, and he helped himself to a glass and by mistake took a swallow of this deadly soda, and the wonder was that it did not kill him at once... he afterwards became but a living skeleton." After two years, in Laidley's words, Atkinson "gave up the struggle."
His son, George W., became tenth Governor of West Virginia and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sources:
De Gruyter Julius Allan. The Kanawha Spectator. Charleston, W. Va.: Jarrett Printing, 1953.
Laidley, W. S. History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Pub., 1913.
He served as Justice of the Peace and was a deputy sheriff under Robert H. Early, John Slack, Sr., and John Slack, Jr. He was Sheriff in 1861-62.
He was also a carpenter and architect as well as entrepreneur. According to W.S. Laidley, "[H]is parents were not wealthy, but they raised their family on a farm" and James was "hale and hearty, stout...with plenty of good sense." In 1840, Atkinson and companions loaded a barge with poplar lumber and started for New Orleans as a speculative venture. They "built houses, furnishing the material, and it was two years before [Atkinson] reached home again."
Following a dinner at his daughter's home on Elk River, Atkinson slipped to the cellar where the cider jugs were stored. Unfortunately, "near the cider there had been set a glass of caustic soda, or lye, and he helped himself to a glass and by mistake took a swallow of this deadly soda, and the wonder was that it did not kill him at once... he afterwards became but a living skeleton." After two years, in Laidley's words, Atkinson "gave up the struggle."
His son, George W., became tenth Governor of West Virginia and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sources:
De Gruyter Julius Allan. The Kanawha Spectator. Charleston, W. Va.: Jarrett Printing, 1953.
Laidley, W. S. History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Pub., 1913.
He was the son of George and Sarah Atkinson. He married Miriam Rader, daughter of George Rader of Nicholas County.
He served as Justice of the Peace and was a deputy sheriff under Robert H. Early, John Slack, Sr., and John Slack, Jr. He was Sheriff in 1861-62.
He was also a carpenter and architect as well as entrepreneur. According to W.S. Laidley, "[H]is parents were not wealthy, but they raised their family on a farm" and James was "hale and hearty, stout...with plenty of good sense." In 1840, Atkinson and companions loaded a barge with poplar lumber and started for New Orleans as a speculative venture. They "built houses, furnishing the material, and it was two years before [Atkinson] reached home again."
Following a dinner at his daughter's home on Elk River, Atkinson slipped to the cellar where the cider jugs were stored. Unfortunately, "near the cider there had been set a glass of caustic soda, or lye, and he helped himself to a glass and by mistake took a swallow of this deadly soda, and the wonder was that it did not kill him at once... he afterwards became but a living skeleton." After two years, in Laidley's words, Atkinson "gave up the struggle."
His son, George W., became tenth Governor of West Virginia and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sources:
De Gruyter Julius Allan. The Kanawha Spectator. Charleston, W. Va.: Jarrett Printing, 1953.
Laidley, W. S. History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Pub., 1913.
He served as Justice of the Peace and was a deputy sheriff under Robert H. Early, John Slack, Sr., and John Slack, Jr. He was Sheriff in 1861-62.
He was also a carpenter and architect as well as entrepreneur. According to W.S. Laidley, "[H]is parents were not wealthy, but they raised their family on a farm" and James was "hale and hearty, stout...with plenty of good sense." In 1840, Atkinson and companions loaded a barge with poplar lumber and started for New Orleans as a speculative venture. They "built houses, furnishing the material, and it was two years before [Atkinson] reached home again."
Following a dinner at his daughter's home on Elk River, Atkinson slipped to the cellar where the cider jugs were stored. Unfortunately, "near the cider there had been set a glass of caustic soda, or lye, and he helped himself to a glass and by mistake took a swallow of this deadly soda, and the wonder was that it did not kill him at once... he afterwards became but a living skeleton." After two years, in Laidley's words, Atkinson "gave up the struggle."
His son, George W., became tenth Governor of West Virginia and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Sources:
De Gruyter Julius Allan. The Kanawha Spectator. Charleston, W. Va.: Jarrett Printing, 1953.
Laidley, W. S. History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and Representative Citizens. Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Pub., 1913.
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