Introduction

Biography

James was the son of James Wall­is and Sa­rah Jane Booth, and hus­band of Eli­za­beth Todd (mar­ried 1881).

He and Eli­za­beth emi­grat­ed to Am­er­ica and set­tled in Utah and Id­a­ho.

As a jour­nal­ist, James worked with news­pa­pers in Bear Lake, Pro­vo, Ver­nal and Ne­phi, Utah, and in Mont­pel­i­er, Pres­ton, Soda Springs and Rex­burg, Id­a­ho.

He served two terms as pre­si­dent of the Utah Press As­so­cia­tion, and three terms as pre­si­dent of the Id­a­ho Press Club.

While he pub­lished the Ne­phi En­sign, Wall­is was Ju­ab Coun­ty at­tor­ney.

He at­tend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ne­bras­ka law school and earned his law de­gree from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Ten­nes­see in l906.

He also prac­ticed law in Id­a­ho, where he was Unit­ed States com­mis­sion­er for ten years, and clerk of the Id­a­ho le­gis­la­ture (1907–11).

As a mu­si­cian, he led bands and choirs in most of the com­mu­ni­ties where he lived. He al­so wrote and pub­lished po­et­ry.