Marquis James, journalist/author.  Although Marquis James was born in Springfield, MO, he made Enid, Oklahoma, and the old Cherokee Strip, famous. He graduated in 1909 from Enid High School, and began college at Oklahoma Christian (later Phillips) University. Marquis James was born the fifth child of Houstin James (December 18, 1844 – August 18, 1908), a lawyer, and Rachel Marquis (July 14, 1848 – May 22, 1930), a schoolteacher, on August 29, 1891 in Springfield, Missouri.  Houstin, a Civil War veteran, participated in both the Land run of 1889 and the Land Run of 1893.  While unsuccessful in 1899, Houstin successfully staked a claim southeast of Enid, Oklahoma in the 1893 run and moved his family there in 1894. Houstin died in 1908, and is interred at Enid Cemetery.  Marquis James was educated at East Hill School and Central, and graduated Enid High School in 1910. He attended one year of college at Phillips University.

During high school Marquis James helped found the Quill, Enid's student newspaper.  He became a reporter for Enid Events at 14.  James worked for many of the local papers including Wave Democrat, Enid Morning News, and the Enid Daily Eagle.  He also sent Enid related articles to the Wichita Eagle and The Oklahoman. Following high school he worked at various newspapers across the country, including as a rewrite editor for the New York Tribune in 1916.
James served as an Army captain in the First World War, in France from 1917-1919. Following his military service, he became National Director of Publicity for the American Legion and worked on the staff at the American Legion Monthly from 1923 to 1932.

James married fellow reporter Bessie Williams Rowland in 1914. The two collaborated on children's books based on James' Pulitzer prize winning biographies. James divorced Rowland in 1952, marrying Jacqueline Mary Parsons in 1954.  James Marquis died suddenly at the age of sixty-four of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 19, 1955. He was working on a biography of Booker T. Washington at the time of his death. The Public Library of Enid and Garfield County dedicated the Marquis James room to him in 1964 which contains artifacts relating to James' life and career.

Some of his books include:

•    A History of the American Legion (1923)
•    The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston (1929), for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1930.
•    The Border Captain (Volume 1 of the life of Andrew Jackson) (1934)
•    They Had Their Hour (1934)
•    The Portrait of a President (Volume 2 of the life of Andrew Jackson) (1937)
•    The Life of Andrew Jackson (Combined Vols. 1 & 2 above) (1938), for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1938
•    Alfred I. DuPont, The Family Rebel (1941)
•    Biography of a Business, 1792-1942 (1943)
•    Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma Boyhood (1945)
•    The Metropolitan Life: A study in business growth (1947)
•    Merchant Adventurer: The Story of W.R. Grace (completed 1948, published 1993)
•    The Texaco Story, The First Fifty Years: 1902-1952 (1953)
•    Biography of a Bank: The Story of Bank of America, with his wife Bessie R. James (1954)

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