Wilkins, James P.

James P. Wilkins, popularly known as “Big Jim,” was born in Halifax County, Virginia, near South Boston, on May 1, 1878. He was the son of H. F. Wilkins and Rebecca Jane (Hyte) Wilkins, coming from a line of old-time Virginians. After growing up in Virginia and attending the common schools, he arrived in California at twenty-one years of age. He spent his first year working for wages near Fowler before renting land, eventually purchasing a ranch and building a successful agricultural career in Fresno County.

In Fresno County, James became a self-made rancher and a joint owner with his brother, George F. Wilkins, of several valuable properties, including a 100-acre vineyard and orchard near Fowler and the 120-acre old Ducy ranch. On December 3, 1907, he married Florence M. Joy in Fresno, a native of the city whose father, Alexander Cartwright Joy, was a 1853 California pioneer and whaler. Together, the couple had four children: Kathryn Rose, Ralph Cartwright, and two children named Miles Linwood and an unnamed infant who both died in infancy. An active proponent of cooperative farming, he held stock in the California Associated Raisin Company and the California Peach Growers, Inc., establishing himself as a generous host and influential community member.