James Key Witcher was born in Smith County Tn., he son of Booker Witcher and Sally LNU. He married 1st to Mary LNU, and they were the parents of two daughters, Nancy Anne and Martha "Patsy" Witcher. Mary died in 1836, and James married Jane Teel. They had two children born in Smith County, but due to a local depression, probably caused by bad crops, they moved to Perry Co. Il. where they were enumerated in the 1850 census. By 1851 James was paying taxes on a stud horse in Denton Co. Texas, where his B/I/L, Peter Teel, had moved to before 1850. He began moving south and by the time of the 1860 census, he was enumerated in Hamilton Co., Texas. In 1860 there were only 500 plus whites in Hamilton, and Indian raids were not unusual. One of his daughters was at the school house when it was raided, and only by hiding under the school house floor were she and others able to escape being killed or kidnapped, though others were not so fortunate. James and his sons were ranchers by occupation and sometimes drove long horn cattle to the rail heads in Kansas for sale and shipment to the East. After the War ended in 1865, folks from all over began moving into Texas ,looking for free or very cheap land, which was plentiful. These newcomers were mostly farmers and the struggles for water and grazing rights vs farming and fencing rights became a problem. There are numerous mentions of the Witchers and others in the Hamilton County Court Records. By 1872, the strife became a problem for all concerned. Since the newcomers had more mouths to feed and bought more supplies that the ranchers, the merchants were in sympathy with with the farmers. In September 1872 James and his son, Adam Teel Witcher Sr. were trying to find a person with whom they had had a previous altercation, and when they found him, gunshots ensued. Adam was wounded in his shoulder, and James and Adam being heavily outnumbered, mounted their and rode away. The Sheriff began looking for them and after a few days captured them. After holding them under heavy guard the Hamilton County Jail for a few days, the Sheriff later said " I thought things had cooled off". And so he withdrew all the guards except one. On Sept 23, 1872, a masked mob ( their identities probably known to all) disarmed the single guard, took James and Adam out, and shot and killed both of them. One shot to kill James and seven shots to kill Adam. After the killing, the families of James left Hamilton County. Adam's wife didn't, and she died in 1873, leaving three young orphan sons. James burial place is unknown. As someone once said " The victors write the history books". The written histories, one of which referred to James as "Old At", tended to make the Witchers appear to be bad people, but they were fighting for for their very way of life, as well as the welfare of their families.
James was my (Ron Holley's 2nd great-grandfather)