Churchman, James

Born: 1808-XX-XX Pennsylvania

Died: 1869-XX-XX

Flourished: Nevada City, California

Born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a Quaker family, James Churchman studied law under David P. Brown before moving to Illinois and becoming acquainted with Abraham Lincoln. After losing a race for a seat in the U.S. Senate, Churchman relocated to Iowa and married there in 1845. He moved again six years later to California, being forced to take the last portion of this move over land when his boat wrecked on the coast of Mexico. He quickly set up a new law practice in Nevada City, California, dealing mostly with legal issues of miners who moved to the area during the 1849 California Gold Rush.

Churchman spent his early years as a Democrat in Illinois before switching to the Republican Party while in California. He served as one of California's delegates to the 1860 Republican National Convention and supported Lincoln as the party's candidate for president. Although politically active, Churchman never sought office while in California. Instead of running for office, he sought an appointment to a U.S. consulate. President Lincoln appointed him consul to Chilé. After his term ended, Churchman made a failed attempt to find more gold in Bolivia, then moved to Austin in the Nevada Territory. He died of mountain fever in Nevada.

Oscar T. Shuck, Bench and Bar in California: History, Anecdotes, Reminiscences (San Francisco: Occident, 1889), 3:361-62, 364.