Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013,
                           All Rights Reserved
                          U.S. Data Repository

    Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page:
                <http://www.us-data.org/fineprint.html>

Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/
=========================================================================
U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced
in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization.
Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain
the consent of the transcriber prior to use.
Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so.
=========================================================================
Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded.
===========================================================================
Biographical History of Cherokee County, Iowa
W. S. Dunbar & Co., Chigago - 1889

[page 464-465]

    JAMES ARCHER, one of the leading business men of Cherokee, Iowa,
    is a pioneer of the town, having established the first lumber
    yard at New Cherokee in the autumn of 1870.  He is a man of var-
    ied and wide business experiences, and has been an important fac-
    tor in the upbuilding of his town and county, where he is one
    of the most highly respected citizens.  A man engaged in legiti-
    mate business for a long term of years is entitled to a notice
    in the local history of his county, and especially is this true
    of one like JAMES ARCHER, whose business career covers a longer
    unbroken period than that of any other man now a resident of
    Cherokee.  His first shipment of lumber to the place consisted
    of sixteen car-loads, and he brought with him $1,400 with which
    to pay the freight.  So great was the demand for lumber that
    within a few days he had collected $2,000 for lumber sold. There
    being no banks or express office here at that time he handed the
    money over to J. P. FARLEY, then superintendent of the Construction
    Railway Company, who took it to Dubuque where he deposited it for
    Mr. ARCHER.  From the 18th of July, 1870, to January 1, 1871, he
    sold a million feet of lumber, having in his employ four men who
    were kept constantly at work.  In the fall of 1870, he began buy-
    ing grain, using a small warehouse in which to to store the surp-
    lus wheat, oats and corn, which in the following spring he sold
    to new-comers for seeding purposes.  So great was the demand for
    corn that Mr. ARCHER imported several carloads.  In the fall of
    1871 he shipped ten cars of home-grown wheat to Chicago, the first
    shipped from Cherokee County.  Freights were at that time very high,
    the cost of one car-load of shingles being $102; the freight to-day
    would not exceed $55.  In 1872 he erected the first grain elevator
    here in Cherokee; it was 24x36 feet, having a capacity of 10,000
    bushels.  In 1881 he built a second elevator, used solely for flax-
    seed, which he handles in large quantities.  Mr. ARCHER is a native
    of Scotland, born in the city of Dundee, June 16, 1829. He emigrated
    to America with his parents, WILLIAM K. and ANN (PENN) ARCHER, in
    1842.  They settled near Rockford, Illinois, on Government lands,
    the father paying Government price for 200 acres.  JAMES received
    a good common-school education in his native land, but attended
    school in Illinois only three months.  He remained at home until
    October, 1861, when he was married to Miss ARMINDA STEPHENS, a
    daughter of WILLIAM H. STEVENS.  After their marriage they lived
    in Illinois until the winter of 1863, when they removed to Fayette
    County, Iowa, locating on a farm which he worked for two years.
    Then they removed to Waverly, Bremer County, Iowa, where Mr. ARCHER
    was engaged in the grain and lumber business for two years.  He then
    came to Cherokee as before stated, in 1870.  Here his life has been
    one of activity and business success.  Politically he is a Republican,
    and has always been willing to work for the good of his chosen party.
    He has not unfrequently been honored by local offices. He served on
    the City School Board for ten years, and was a member of the Board
    of County Supervisors one term.  He has also been a representative
    in judicial and Congressional conventions.  Mr. and Mrs. ARCHER are
    the parents of three sons: GEORGE H., who is living on a farm four
    miles west of Cherokee, GUY S. and ELMER S.

===========================================================================