There is not a biography of James Simpson in the biography section of the
book, but on page 629 is the following:

  James Simpson, Esq., from whom this township derived its name, was a native of
Virginia.  He was one among the number of a family of five boys and seven girls.  
He came here in 1832 with his mother, Mrs. Sarah Simpson, a widow, her own 
children, and a large family of negroes.  James Simpson was for a long time the 
most prominent man of the vicinity.  He entered and improved a handsome farm of 
680 acres, which was sold after his death, to Mrs. Hannah Lynn, 600 acres, and 
John H. Davis, eighty acres.  Mrs. Hannah Lynn now owns and resides on the old 
farm.  Mrs. Lynn paid $6,000 for the 600 acres in 1866.  James Simpson and his 
affectionate mother both departed this life in the year 1861.  Mrs. Simpson had 
long been a faithful member of the Southern M.E. Church, and the circuit-rider 
made her home one of the preaching points before churches were built.  James 
Simpson remained a bachelor till the day of his death.  In habits he was 
strictly temperate.  In politics he always affiliated with the Democrats and 
when the war of secession broke out in 1861 he was a warm southern sympathizer, 
and on account of his declining years he never lived to see the Union restored.  
The only society to which he belonged was the Good Templars.  He was a man of 
considerable means and fair education and always enjoyed his bachelorhood either 
in hunting or reading.  Although peculiar, yet dignified and self-possessed as 
old bachelors generally are, he was kind and liberal towards his fellow 
creatures, and truly felt with Pope:

"Good nature and good sense must ever join; To err is human, to forgive divine."

  He took considerable interest in the introduction of fine stock from Kentucky 
to his neighborhood, and was one of the leading men in the agricultural and 
county fair interests.  At an early day before railroad facilities were 
available he went to Kentucky and brought back a large lot of the best blooded 
cattle and horses.  One of his fondest enjoyments was the chase.  Very different 
from the early hunters, in the respect that he would not keep any noisy dogs 
about him, and instead of the common yelping hounds he kept his pack of favorite 
gray hounds, which afforded him great pleasure.  Although his hunting had not 
the picturesqueness of a Walter Scott Chase, yet the loveliness of the beautiful 
prairies, stretching away unbounded over which in perfect freedom gamboled the 
wild deer, was to him a "happy hunting-ground.:  His fleet gray hounds took in a 
deer almost at his desire, and his table was always spread with venison and the 
delicacies of that day.  Since we can not say he had a wife and family upon whom 
to bestow affection, it may be truly said of 'Squire Simpson that he loved his 
gun and dog.  For some time he was justice of the peace and hence the title 
'Squire.  Several years ago there were but three families of the dense 
settlement but what were intimately related to the Simpsons.

The following families belong to the Simpson extraction: Browns, Ramseys, 
Youngs, Shepherds, Collins, Fosters, Herndons, Roberts, Roaches, Hamleys, 
Cheathams, Offutts, Profitts, Mulkeys, and Colberns.

  Strange as it seems, there is not one living to perpetuate the name Simpson.  
Wm. Simpson, a brother, was a negro slave dealer and was murdered for his money 
by a man named Hoe in Kentucky.  The last one that lived was James B. Simpson, a 
nephew and a captain in the rebel army during the war of 1861.  He returned 
after the war, kept hotel a short time in Warrensburg and afterwards died near 
Columbus in this county.  With his death the family name became extinct.