His death certificate and gravestone give his date of birth as 7 July 1855, but he was recorded in the 1860 census as age 7, and in the 1870 census as age 19. The reported age in 1860 was probably low, since that census also records his brother George as 9, and George was listed as age 2 in the 1850 census. So James was probably at least 8 in 1860, possibly 9.