NOTE:  "James William Sinnock worked at shoemaking with his father during school vacation. In the fall of 1855 he was received on trial in the Illinois Conference of the Methodist Church and was appointed as junior preacher on the Perry Circuit. As circuit preacher he moved all over central Illinois. In 1884 he was superannuated on account of illness in the family when he moved his family to Raton, New Mexico where he served a number of charges for many years. He still lives at Raton."                quote from his brother, Thomas' family history written about 1910

JW moved with his family as a twenty year old from their home in Sedlescombe, East Sussex to their new home in Payson, Illinois. After raising a family in central Illinios as a cirtcuit preacher, JW moved his family to west for the health reasons. The move came shortly after their daughter, Adah, and her husband, William Darling, both died of tubulosis in Illinois, tragically just months after their marriage. Because his wife Mary Baker and other daughter Emma had also been diagnosed with tuberculosis, JW decided to move his remaining family to New Mexico where, as was commonly believed in the day, the clear, dry desert air would be good for his wife and daughter. However, soon after they arrived in Raton, Emma died of the dreaded disease in September 1884, just one year after her sister died back in Illinois, adding to the family tragedy.

JW is a brother of George, Sam Jr., Mary Ann, Harriett and Charles Wesley; son of Sam and Mary Lindfield Sinnock. He has eighty-eight known descendants, 62 from son Charles Wesley including grandsons Robert Letton, Charles Burton, Burton Summers Letton, and James Marion.