Orange Mound Collaborative

The Life of Godfrey and Maggie James in Orange Mound

Oct 09, 2000

Godfrey Fulton James was raised in Orange Mound on (940) David Street right across the street from Melrose Stadium. His father, Rev. Lee James built the house where his mother, Mrs. Clara James, and two other brothers (Lyman and Bill James) lived. Godfrey didn't go to school like most children. Being the oldest, he had to go to work to help his father to make ends meet. His two brothers attended Melrose.

Godfrey decided to go to the CCC Camp at Oglethorpe, Georgia. He served there four years and was then transferred to the CCC Camp in Collierville, Tennessee in 1937. There he met a young lady named Maggie Douglass at the St. James C.M.E. Church. She was later introduced to him by his childhood friend, Parker Joyner who was stationed there. Maggie and Godfrey met, dated and fell in love and got married on March 31, 1938.

Maggie James remembers when she moved to Orange Mound in 1938. There were trolley cars on Park Avenue. People were still coming to town in their wagons and she would sit on the porch and wave to them. They lived at 2702 Park Avenue with his (Uncle "Tom") Mr. Willie Merriweather for a while until Godfrey was transferred to Brighton, Tennessee CCC Camp until it was closed in 1942. The family then returned to Orange Mound and rented a home at 1140 Tunstall. He worked at the Army Depot for one year as a mechanic before he was called into the U. S. Army.

On January 7, 1943, the family brought a home on Enterprise and was there for nine months before Godfrey had to leave for the army. James says, "I've seen Orange Mound and Memphis grow. When we moved on Enterprise in 1943, there were only four houses on the south side of Enterprise." "There was a neighborhood store name Tisdale Grocery Store. Janie Tisdale would let people have food until pay day. She was a life saver for a lot of people in this community. If you couldn't get to the grocery store, they would deliver it," said James. James remembers Dr. Bission, a pediatrician who took care of neighborhood children and Mr. Donald Thomas before he came to the Orange Mound Undertaking Company. Thomas was James' principal at Hickory Hill Elementary School on then Winchester.

James said, later things started to get better. People began to get jobs to help themselves. She remembers burning kerosene lamps and cooking with wood and coal. When the James first brought the house in 1943, it only had four rooms. While they had a toilet in the house and running water, they did not have gas or electricity. After a while, they had gas and electricity and through the years, were able to add four more rooms to the house.

She says the house didn't have locks. You could go off and leave your doors unlocked and when you came back, everything was just like you left it. They felt safe. Her husband would sleep on the front porch when it got too hot.

Godfrey James served in two wars (World War II and the Korean Conflict). After the war the family went to live with him at Ft. Eustis, VA (four years), Ft. Leonard Wood, MO (four years), and in Germany for two years. But they were always glad to come back to Orange Mound and to Melrose School. They came back and settled down in January of 1961 in time for their oldest daughter, Ella Louise, to graduate from Melrose High Schools. Maggie James is proud to say that all 10 of the James children went through Melrose.