James Mattias Van Huss, older brother of John Finley Van Huss (my wife's great grandfather), was the son of Valentine Worley VanHuss (1818–1908) and Lucinda H. Campbell (1818–1870); grandson of Matthias Van Huss and Elizabeth Worley.
Jamers was born 9 September 1845, on a farm, just east of Elizabethton, Carter County, Tennessee. The farm is still there, and a small family cemetery.
Unmarried and 25 years old, James left Tennessee in 1870 (therabouts), along with his parents and several brothers. Another branch of the Van Huss family remained in Tennessee and relatives can be found there today.
One imagines that they came by covered wagon, traveling a route close to US 50 that went through Jefferson City, Sedalia, and eventually Kansas City, before settling for a short while in the rolling hills of south Johnson County, Kansas. There James' mother Lucinda died, whether by illness or accident is unknown. Fairly quickly, the family moved on to Butler County and the several brothers took up homestead claims or purchased land near Beaumont, Kansas.
In 1875, James married Elmetta Lucinda Gifford. The marriage produced eleven children.
It could be that James and his wife settled in Glencoe Township, on 480 acres a half a mile west of Beaumont and just north of US400. There is a stone foundation left and the markings of a well and a pump. Hickory Creek begins to form here and there is a man made lake on the property now.
I say could be because I need to go to the county register of deeds to confirm that he purchased the property indicated on the 1885 Atlas of Butler County, Kansas.
By 1900, James (at the age of 55) and Elmetta were living in Grant County, Oklahoma. James died 6 July 1908, Hawley, Grant County, Oklahoma.
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