James was the youngest son of Josiah Taylor, Sr and was born in Texas about 1825. A newspaper reporter in the Stockton Journal described him as a young man of prepossessing personal appearance who followed gambling for a living. He joined the rush for California gold and was killed in Stockton, CA on September 5, 1852 by William Turner. Turner was tried for murder twice, sentenced to hang, his brother petitioned for clemency and the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. The Governor pardoned him two years later.