“Memorial and Biographical History of Dallas County,” published:  
Chicago;  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1892.

JAMES SWEARINGEN THATCHER, who has been a resident of the State of 
Texas since 1872, was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1848, and is a son of N. W. 
and Sarah B. (Swearingen) Thatcher.  The father was a native of New London, 
Connecticut, and was a druggist.  He lived in Chillicothe, Ohio, until his death.  
The mother, who was from one of the oldest families of Virginia, died in 1886.  
James is the oldest in a family of seven children.

Until he was fourteen years of age he attended the common schools of his own 
State, and then entered the Navel Academy at Newport, Rhode Island, by 
appointment of President Lincoln.  He was admitted October 1, 1862, and 
resigned February 23, 1865, to enter the merchant service, sailing to Japan and 
China.  This was novel and delightful experience, but he finally resigned the 
position to enter Kenyon College, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1871 with the 
degree of A. B.  He was then employed by the Atlantic & Pacific railroad, but later 
took a position in the machine-shops at Springfield, Missouri.  Leaving this work 
he was employed on the preliminary survey up the Arkansas and Canadian rivers 
for a branch of some road.  After this was finished he came to Texas, in January, 
1872.  With the experience he had had in surveying he was not long in finding 
work on the Houston & Texas Central and Texas & Pacific railroads surveys.  In 
1874 he came to Dallas city, and May 1, 1880, he was elected City Civil 
Engineer.  He was elected a second time to the office, and then had a private 
office.  From 1886 to 1888 he again filled the office, and then retired from civil 
life.  He has been busy in getting out plans and executing work on his own 
account, and has met with great success. It was under his direction that the 
Ennis reservoir was constructed, and he has recently been engaged in putting in 
the water works at Cisco, Eagle Pass, Gatesville and Beaumont, Texas.  All the 
local engineering of the cable road in Dallas has been under his charge, and has 
been executed with great skill and promptitude.


Mr. Thatcher was married in January, 1887, at St. Louis, Missouri, to Miss 
Gertrude J. Adams, a native of Ohio, and a lady of high mental attainments.  
They have one son, Edwin A. H., born October 28, 1887.  Politically, Mr. 
Thatcher adheres to the principles of the Republican party, but he is conservative 
in his opinions, and casts his vote according to his impressions of the fitness of 
the candidates.  He is one of the deepest and most logical reasoners on political 
questions, and carries conviction with his arguments.  He is a member of the 
I.O.O.F., of the I.O.R.M., and the Knights of Pythias.  He also belongs to the 
Theta Delta Chi fraternity, and is a member of the Episcopal Church.

Submitted by: L. Pingel