James Lyon Langworthy

Background

James Lyon Langworthy was born on January 20, 1800, in Windsor, Vermont, United States. His earliest American ancestor was probably Andrew Langworthy, who, according to tradition, emigrated from Essex, England, in 1634, and settled in Rhode Island. James was one of the eleven children of Stephen Langworthy, a physician, and Betsy (Massey) Langworthy.

A few years after his birth the family moved to St. Lawrence County, New York, and about 1815 to Erie County, Pennsylvania. Three years later, after a leisurely journey toward the farther West, they settled at Edwardsville, Ill. , in the St. Louis region. Here the mother and one of the sons died. The family then moved north to Diamond Grove, near Jacksonville, where the father remarried.

Education

Young James Langworthy appears to have picked up a fair education.

Career

About 1819 James Langworthy went to Saint Louis, where for three years he worked in a mill. In 1824 his adventurous spirit led him to ascend the Mississippi to the lead mines in the Galena neighborhood. With several other prospectors, he opened the mines at Hardscrabble, near Hazel-green, Wis.

In 1827 James Langworthy served in the brief campaign against the Winnebagos, and in the same year was joined by his brothers, Lucius Hart and Edward, and later by another brother, Solon Massey. Becoming deeply interested in accounts of the rich lead mines across the river, he visited them in the spring of 1829; and though white men had been excluded therefrom by the Foxes after the death of Julien Dubuque in 1810, he seems to have been permitted to make a brief exploration.

In the spring of 1830 the Foxes, frightened by the Sioux, temporarily abandoned the location, and James Langworthy, with his brother Lucius, at once crossed the river and began active work. Others followed, and on June 17 a committee of which James was the head drew up a miners' agreement. The Indians soon returned, and under orders of General Atkinson, the miners were compelled to leave.

In 1832 came the Black Hawk War, in which James Langworthy and his three brothers saw service, followed by the cession by the Indians of a large strip of the eastern part of present Iowa. Though the date of June 1, 1833, had been set for the opening of the lands, James Langworthy and two of his brothers, with a number of other miners, at once reinvaded the region. A detachment of soldiers was sent to the scene and on the promise of Lieut. Jefferson Davis that the location claims of each prospector would be respected on the formal opening of the territory, the miners peacefully withdrew.

They returned on the first of June, headed by James Langworthy and two of his brothers, Solon arriving a year later and the father some time afterward. In the early forties, with his brother Lucius, he constructed the military road from Dubuque to the new territorial capital, Iowa City. Through all the early years of Dubuque, James Langworthy was a leader, indefatigable in efforts making for the development of the town, and perhaps its most prominent citizen. Though Lucius was the first sheriff of Dubuque County, Edward a member of the constitutional convention of 1844, and both of them members of the territorial legislature, James seems not to have cared for political distinction.

Achievements

• James Langworthy was responsible for the drawing of the agreement regulating the claims of miners and the amount of labor necessary to hold a claim. It was the first civil regulation in the history of Iowa. From his permanent settlement in Dubuque in 1833, he contributed greatly to the prosperity of that city.

Connections

On March 17, 1840, James Langworthy was married to Agnes Miln, a native of Edinburgh, Scotland.

Father:

Stephen Langworthy

Mother:

Betsy (Massey) Langworthy

Spouse:

Agnes Miln

Brother:

Lucius Hart Langworthy

(1807-1865)

Brother:

Edward Langworthy

(1808-1893)

Brother:

Solon Massey Langworthy

(1814-1886)

References

• Hudson, D., Bergman, M., & Horton, L. (Eds.) The biographical dictionary of Iowa
  2009