Jim was born in the small mining town of Alma, Colorado in 1883, the first of Edwin E. and Mary (McCormick) DeCoursey's six children. He grew up in Alma, where his father was in the mining business, among other things. In April 1901, when he was 17 years old, the family moved back to Leavenworth, Kansas, where his father had grown up and where his grandfather James had a dairy and stock farm. He went to college in Leavenworth and then went on to law school in Kansas City. Instead of becoming a lawyer, however, he ended up starting a creamery business that grew to be one of the largest in the Kansas area. Jim was married twice, the first time to Julia McManus in 1911. They had four children, one of whom died in infancy. Julia died in 1923. Five years later he remarried to Jennie Mathews, with whom he had two children, one of whom died as an infant.

Related Items:
Obituary for his grandfatherJames W. (De)Coursey.
Pictures of his parents and siblings.
More information on Jim and his family in The DeCoursey Family.
Links concerning Colorado and the life of the DeCoursey, McCormick, Kilduff and Bishop families there.
The DeCoursey Creamery Co. page, a collection of things pertaining to the company.
Biographies from 1918 and 1952.
James' birth and death records.
Obituaries for his wife Jennie and children Edwin M., Mary Agnes "Aggie" and Sister Mary Edwin.

Unknown Kansas City newspaper
Thursday, 20 January 1955, p. 10

Mr. DeCoursey had been in ill health eighteen months, suffering high blood pressure. He was taken to the hospital January 4.

Services will be held at 7:45 o'clock Saturday at the Butler chapel and at 8:15 o'clock at St. Peter's Catholic cathedral. Burial will be in Mt. Calvary cemetery. The rosary will be said at 8:15 o'clock Friday night at the chapel. The family will receive friends from 7 o'clock until 10 o'clock this Thursday and Friday nights.

Wide in His Interests.
Organizer and president of the creamery company which bears his name, Mr. DeCoursey branched in to other private fields but never curtailed civic interests.

He was president of the chamber of commerce in 1924 and one of the first presidents of the Community Chest associations. He served as a director in the Y. M. C. A. campaign when funds were raised for a building in Kansas City, Kansas.

In World War II he headed four U. S. bond campaigns and served on a draft appeals board. In the post-war period he was active in the campaign that culminated in the new hotel.

Opened Dairy in 1906.
The DeCoursey interests were in a corporate realignment at the time of his death, reflecting the remarkable growth of his holdings from the day in 1906 when he opened a dairy in a rented room at 330 North Seventh street, with a capital that included $300 of his savings and $2,500 he had borrowed from his father.

Mr. DeCoursey was a vice-president and organizer of American Dairies, Inc., a tax corporate structure for fourteen plants in Mid-Western states, and currently that legal entity is being blended into Foremost Dairies, a national corporation, in which the DeCourseys will be considerable stockholders.

Into Business by Chance.
Born in Colorado, with a childhood background at Leadville and Alma, Jim DeCoursey was no happier than his father, the late Edwin DeCoursey, when the doom of free silver was sounded in the consecutive defeats of William J. Bryan. They moved to his grandfather's 320-acre farm near Leavenworth.

Mr. DeCoursey went to St. Mary's College, now a Jesuit seminary.

An academic foundation laid in several years at the college, Mr. DeCoursey went to Kansas City, Kansas and studied law nights at the old Kansas City School of Law. Also, he found a practical education in the law office of McAnany & Alden.

It was during this period that circumstances changed his plans. Regular visits to soda fountains uncovered the fact that no ice-cream was made in Kansas City, Kansas. Horse-drawn deliveries from Kansas City were uncertain.

His grandfather had launched in Leavenworth the second creamery in Kansas. The Leavenworth creamery was changing to modern refrigeration and had 10-gallon freezers available and these formed the nucleus of his equipment in his own concern.

Join in the Partnership.
Three brothers, Ed, Will and Frank, joined with Jim in the family partnership. Ed is deceased and Will has retired from many of his interests.

Mr. DeCoursey was a alternate delegate to the Democratic national convention in 1924 and delegate in 1928.

Mr. DeCoursey became a candidate for mayor in 1917 and said he was relieved when the voters chose another candidate.

In 1933 Mr. DeCoursey was chosen to succeed Frank M. Holcomb, a member of the first board of public utilities, who had been elected a county commissioner. He served for twelve years. Other interests included vice-president and director of the Riverview State bank; board of directors of the Kansas City Public Service company; director of the Employers Reinsurance company and the Pyramid Life Insurance company, and director of General Metals company, Wichita.

Mr. DeCoursey is survived by his wife, Mrs. Jennie DeCoursey of the home, 408 North Seventeenth street; two daughters, Miss Mary Agnes DeCoursey, a medical technician at Placentia, Calif., and Sister Mary Edwin, a teacher at the St. Mary college, Xavier; two sons, Edwin M. DeCoursey, Tulsa and James H. DeCoursey, jr., navy, and two brothers, Frank C. DeCoursey, 528 Ohio avenue, and Will DeCoursey, Anaheim Calif.

Unknown Leavenworth, Kansas? newspaper
Thursday, 20 January 1955

J. H. DeCoursey, Kansas City, Dies

James H. DeCoursey, who bought equipment from his grandfather's dairy in Leavenworth to start his own dairy in Kansas City, Kas., died Wednesday afternoon at Providence Hospital in Kansas City. Mr. DeCoursey, 71 years old, was a business, civic and political leader in Kansas City.

Mr. DeCoursey came to his grandfather's farm near Leavenworth about 1900 from Colorado. His grandfather had begun the second creamery in Kansas. Regular visits to soda fountains in Kansas City revealed the fact that no ice cream was made in Kansas City, Kas., and that horse drawn deliveries from Kansas City, Mo. were uncertain.

The Leavenworth DeCoursey creamery was changing to more modern refrigeration about that time. Mr. DeCoursey bought 10-gallon freezers from his grandfather's dairy and opened his creamery in Kansas City in 1906.

Through the years the Kansas City and Leavenworth DeCoursey companies merged interests. Since 1928 the DeCoursey company has been a division of American Dairies, Inc. Mr. DeCoursey remained as president of the division and active in the management.

He is survived by the widow, Mrs. Jennie DeCoursey, of the home; two daughters, Miss Mary Agnes DeCoursey, Placentia, Calif.; and Sister Mary Edwin, a teacher at Saint Mary College; two sons, Edwin M. DeCoursey, Tulsa, Okla.; and James H. DeCoursey Jr., U.S. Navy; and two brothers, Frank C. DeCoursey, Kansas City, Kas.; and Will DeCoursey, Anaheim, Calif.

Funeral services will be at 7:45 a.m. at the Butler Funeral Chapel, and 8:15 a.m. at the St. Peter's Catholic Cathedral in Kansas City. The rosary will be said at 8:15 p.m. Friday night at the chapel.

Unknown Tulsa, Oklahoma newspaper
Jan 1955

FATHER OF TULSAN DIES IN KANSAS CITY
James H. DeCoursey Sr., 68, of Kansas City, Kans., father of Edwin M. DeCoursey, 1735 E. 15th st., died Wednesday in a Kansas City hospital.

Mr. DeCoursey was president of the DeCoursey Creamery Co. in Kansas City. He had been a resident of that city for 60 years.

Other survivors include the widow, of the home; a son, James H. DeCoursey Jr., U. S. Navy; and a daughter, Sister Mary Edwin, Sisters of Charity, Leavenworth, Kans.

Funeral arrangements are pending in Kansas City.

The Tulsa Tribune (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Thursday, 20 January 1955

James H. DeCoursey
Services for James H. DeCoursey, 68, Kansas City, Kan., president of the DeCoursey Creamery Co., and father of Edwin M. DeCoursey, 1735 E. 15th St., will be held Friday in Kansas City, Kan. Burial will be there.

Mr. DeCoursey died Wednesday afternoon in a Kansas City, Kan., hospital after a long illness. A native of Leavenworth, Kan., he had lived in Kansas City about 60 years. His creamery firm had stations in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.

The Tulsa son, former president of Pure White Dairy Co. here, now is with the Bettes Co., real estate firm with offices in the Kennedy Building.

Also surviving are his wife, another son, James H. DeCoursey Jr., in the Navy in the Pacific, and two daughters, Sister Mary Edwin of the Sisters of Charity, Leavenworth, and Mary Agnes DeCoursey, Placentia, Calif.