Phelan, James C.

James C. Phelan was born in Colorado on October 25, 1867, to Civil War veteran D. F. Phelan and Annie Donahue Phelan. After attending public schools in Colorado and New Mexico, he entered business at age nineteen, running a grocery and butcher store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before operating a successful business in Williams, Arizona, for fourteen years. He married Myrtie Dickinson on September 9, 1893, and the couple raised seven children: Mary, Chris, Roy, Jimmie, Ruth, Bernice, and Leoma.

Moving to California in 1905, Phelan worked three years on a Fresno ranch before transitioning into the automobile industry. In May 1916, he spent $90,000 to construct a state-of-the-art auto establishment, serving as the San Joaquin Valley agent for Maxwell, Mitchell, and Marmon automobiles alongside Kleiber and Maxwell trucks until selling out in August 1919. A staunch Democrat, Christian Scientist, and advocate for good roads, he actively participated in local civic life and fraternal groups like the Woodmen of the World and Knights of Pythias.