‍
It all began with a great-grandfather & professional baseball.

‍Burton Hulon (B.H.) James was born in Coopertown, Tennessee on July 7, 1884, where he quickly grew into an energetic child with a passion for baseball. In 1908, that passion paid off when—at just 14 years old—he was invited to begin his dream career in the pro leagues.

Burton began his run by playing for teams in St. Louis, Nashville, & New Orleans before making his way to Texas. There, he spent the majority of his career with the Texas League, playing first for Austin & Galveston before landing in Waco.

In Waco, Burton shone as the star right fielder for the Waco Navigators, where he quickly earned the nickname "Jesse James" due to his talent for swiftly stealing bases & the speed of his catch-and-release, consistently robbing hitters of the opportunity to make it to base.

As with many great baseball stories, someone fell in love.

‍Burton met Estelle, my great-grandmother, in Springfield, TN while working a shift at his part-time job with a local general store. When Estelle visited the store to shop for dinner ingredients, the two bumped into each other. And, whether or not you believe in it, it had certainly been one of those times where a strong case could be made for love-at-first-sight.

After a respectable length of time devoted to courtship, the young couple soon married before launching into what would come to be over a decade of traveling city-to-city in the name of professional baseball.

However, when Burton's baseball career neared its end, talks of settling down began to pepper their way into conversations. After lengthy discussion, the couple quickly realized that there was only one place they felt they could ever call home: Estelle’s family farm in Adairville, KY.

When it was time to bring it home, no place called like Adairville.

When Burton & Estelle were given the opportunity to buy the family farm in 1919, Burton officially retired from baseball and took the family home to Adairville, KY. From there, he went on to collect a series of careers including: opening & operating B.H. James Grocers from 1921 to 1939; working as the Director of the Eastern Dark Fired Tobacco Association from 1933 to 1959; and serving as Vice President & Director of the First National Bank in Adairville from 1944 to 1959. On top of all that, Burton was elected as a Logan County, KY Magistrate in 1931, where he served until his death in January of 1959.

So, here's to a great man who served his family, friends, & community with the same enthusiasm that catapulted him into his wildly successful baseball career.

May we all take inspiration from a life devoted to the courageous pursuit of love, laughter, & the American Dream.