James Mason Cloward, a son of Jacob and Ann Pluck Cloward was born on October 17, 1826 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. His was a family of eight children, five boys and three girls. His father, Jacob Cloward, was a blacksmith by trade, but later in life took up farming as an occupation.

In his youth James became a Mormon when the rest of the family was baptized in June of 1842. They disposed of their belongings at a loss and joined the Saints in Nauvoo. The family was well acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and heard him when he made his wonderful speech stating that his sword would not be sheathed until his people had justice or he would give his life.

James was a close friend of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum. He was present when the Prophet made his speech telling the people he would be glad to give his life that the people might have the truth again. He saw the Prophet and Hyrum then they were taken to the Carthage jail. His mother was with him and told him he would never see the Prophet alive again. He remembered going to the building and seeing the bodies of the two great men lying side by side in the coffins. He also remembered the great sorrow it was to the saints in the death of the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum. James remembered the transfiguration when the mantle fell upon Brigham Young after the Prophet's death.

From the time of the death of their Prophet in 1844 there was little peace for the Latter-Day Saints, for the mobs ran rampart in Nauvoo, persecuting the saints. One black night the mob came to the home of Jacob Cloward and ordered him either to deny the Prophet and his brother Hyrum, or to leave their home. Though taking his wife and children and leaving their home, at the order of the mob was a very difficult thing to do, Jacob Cloward could not deny his testimony of the restored church through the Prophet Joseph Smith. After the mob ordered the Cloward family from their home, they were forced to stand and watch their home burn to the ground. Thinking that the mob had little mercy for his family, and not being able to watch the way his family was being treated, he angrily left the scene of the burning of his home. His family thought that the mob had killed him, but he later came back. Because of the severe persecution of his family Jacob Cloward suffered a nervous breakdown, which ended in his death in 1851, in Provo, Utah.

After the expulsion from Nauvoo the Jacob Cloward family went to Garden Grove, Iowa, which had been designated as a supply station for the saints who were moving west. James' brother Thomas P. Cloward was with President Brigham Young when he first came into the Salt lake Valley. Thomas P. Cloward's name is on the north side of the monument at Main Street and South Temple Street in Salt Lake City, Utah. James was ordained a Seventy in 1850.

The Jacob Cloward family stayed in Garden Grove for about five years, until July, 1851, at which time they left to follow their friends and associates who had left for the Rock Mountains. A daughter of the family, Charlotte R. Cloward, eight years older than James, had married Elias Harmer, a young widower who had lost his wife and two infant sons through death in Nauvoo. Charlotte and her husband left at this time so they might be of help to the Clowards in their trek.

James Cloward was married to his first wife Mary Ann Baum in 1852 and to his second wife, who was a plural wife, Adelia Redden in 1857. He went to the Endowment House in 1861. He and his family lived in Provo, Utah during the Indian trouble. He was mustered into the Utah Militia April 1, 1866 where he served until November 1, 1866. He came to Sanpete Valley where he belonged to Captain John Iron's company of the Utah Militia. He enlisted again in May of 1867 and was in the service for another seven months.

He was a mayor of Moroni City and was a member of the City Council and also on the Board of Health. He lost his first wife, Mary Ann Baum on April 24, 1886. James was accidentally killed on his way to Sanpete from Emery County on May 27, 1889, and was buried in the Moroni Cemetery in Moroni, Utah on May 30, 1889.

James was a loving husband, a devoted father and a true friend to those with whom he came in contact. In Utah he lived in Provo and Pondtown and finally settled in Moroni.
Family of James by his first wife, Mary Ann Baum:

Elizabeth Ann Cloward Kump born June 28, 1853 in Payson

Sarah Jane Cloward Davis born May 12, 1855 in Provo

Susanna Cloward Gustine born July 30, 1857 in Provo

James Albert Cloward born November 19, 1860 in Provo

Mary Melissa Cloward Ames born June 7, 1869 in Pondtown

John William Cloward born April 8, 1866 in Moroni

Violate Cloward Anderson born April 17, 1870 in Moroni

David Edward Cloward born July 21, 1878 in Moroni

Family of James by his second wife, Ellen Adelia Redden:

George Grant Cloward born November 9, 1857 in Provo; died Sept. 20, 1916

Amelia Ellen Cloward Redden born August 3, 1860 in Provo

Martha Laura Cloward born January 20, 1865 in Payson; died Nov. 25, 1920, Ogden