IJAMS, BASIL G. (1804-1874). Basil G. Ijams (Ijames), farmer, soldier, and public official, was born in North Carolina in 1804 and arrived in Texas on February 8, 1835. He joined Stephen F. Austin'sqv army at Gonzales in October 1835 and participated in the siege of Bexar.qv At the battle of San Jacintoqv he was second lieutenant of the Second Regiment, Fifth Infantry, Texas Volunteers, under Capt. Thomas H. McIntire. After the Texas Revolutionqv Ijams settled in Colorado County, where, on May 1, 1838, he married Louisa Cunningham. They had five children. The county census of 1840 records that Ijams held title to 410 acres, acted as agent for an additional 1,822 acres held by his wife, and served as administrator of the estate of Robert Cunningham.qv In 1860 Ijams's real estate holdings were valued at $45,000; he was thus one of the most prosperous residents of the county. By the late 1860s a steam-powered gin and millhouse stood on his property west of Columbus. On February 1, 1841, he became district clerk. On December 30, 1842, President Sam Houstonqv appointed him notary public for Colorado County. In November 1845 Ijams was secretary of a meeting at Columbus to nominate James Pinckney Hendersonqv for governor. On July 13, 1846, he was elected county probate judge. He served single terms as county coroner in 1850, county treasurer in 1854, and county commissioner in 1862. From 1859 to 1866 he was postmaster in the community of Cuba. He died in Colorado County on October 4, 1874.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Colorado County Historical Commission, Colorado County Chronicles from the Beginning to 1923 (2 vols., Austin: Nortex, 1986). Sam Houston Dixon and Louis Wiltz Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Houston: Anson Jones, 1932). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938-43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970).
Charles Christopher Jackson
