James Vyvyan, a well known and highly respected farmer of Raymond Township, was born on the 7th of May, 1856, in the Township where he still resides, his present home being near Franksville. He is a son of William and Matilda (Greggs) Vyvyan, both of whom were natives of England, but they were married in Yorkville Township, Racine County, Wisconsin, where William Vyvyan established his home in 1842. He was empty handed when he crossed the Atlantic to the New World, but he hoped that he might find in this country the opportunities which would bring him substantial success, nor was he disappointed, for as the years went on his labors and energy brought him substantial reward and he became one of the prosperous agriculturists of his locality. In the early days he hauled hay from Raymond Township to Milwaukee with oxen and sold it for two dollars per ton. He encountered many hardships and difficulties and experienced the privations incident to pioneer life. but with marked courage he worked on and his persistency and energy at length brought their reward. He became the owner of three hundred acres of land and thus was numbered among the substantial agriculturists of his community. His political support was given to the Republican Party and his religious faith was indicated by his membership in the Yorkville church. Both he and his wife have now passed away. In their family were eight children, five of whom survive, as follows: Elizabeth, who is the wife of Joseph Hay, a retired resident of “Union Grove; John, who follows farming in Yorkville Township: James, of this review; Henry, who conducts a garage at Union Grove: and George, living in Franklin Township, Milwaukee County.
James Vyvyan attended the district schools, but his educational opportunities were somewhat limited. He began life as a -farmer and for some time rented land, but during that period practiced economy as well as industry and at length was able to purchase a farm. It was in 1892 that he invested in the sixty acres of land in Raymond Township upon which he now resides and through the intervening period of twenty-four years he has given his time and energies to the improvement and development of the property, his labors bringing about a marked transformation in its appearance. He has tiled the land and thus enhanced its productiveness and annually, as the result of the care and labor which he bestows upon the fields, he harvests good crops. He keeps Durham cows of good grade and in all branches of his farm work gives indication of a progressive, modern spirit.
On the 12th of January, 1886, Mr. Vyvyan was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Kearney and they have become parents of five children, namely: Rose, who is employed as a stenographer and bookkeeper in Milwaukee; Frank, who is in the service of the Milwaukee Corrugating Company in Milwaukee; Leo, who pursued his education in the district schools; Nora, who is a dressmaker living at home; and Mary, also yet under the parental roof. Frank Vyvyan, the second named, completed a district school education by graduation in 1906 and wedded Miss Louise Schleuzig, a native of Milwaukee and a daughter of Rudolph Schleuzig.
Mr. and Mrs. James Vyvyan are members of the Catholic Church and in his political views Mr. Vyvyan is a democrat. Sixty years’ residence in Racine County has made him widely known as a representative of its agricultural interests and he has gained many friends among those whom he has met in social relations.