JAMES C. COLLYER, Under Sheriff of the County of Fresno, dates his birth in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, in 1858.  His father, Robert Collyer, a farmer by occupation, moved to Pulaski County, Missouri, in 1862, and died there in 1865.

James received his education in the high schools of Jefferson City and St. Louis, Missouri.  In 1877 he went to Washington Territory, and on Puget Sound was engaged in lumbering in various capacities for about three years.  In Portland, Oregon, he was married, June 11, 1880, to Miss Julia C. Cornell, a native of New York State.  They settled in Lewisville, Washington territory, where he carried on a lumber business for a period of two years.  At the end of that time he came to California and settled in Madera, Fresno County, being in the employ of the Madera Flume & Trading Company, spending his winders in Madera and his summers at the mills in the mountains.  He was assistant bookkeeper for the company, and in other ways looked after their interests.  In January, 1888, he moved to Fresno to accept the appointment of Deputy Sheriff, under J. M. Hensley, and at this writing occupies that position.

Mr. And Mrs. Collyer have had four children, Alfred, Percy and Norma, and Ernest, now deceased.

He is a member of Madera Lodge, No. 280, F. & A. M.



Memorial and Biographical History of the Counties of Fresno, Tulare, and Kern, California.  Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1891

Transcribed by Liz Brase 2006 ©).