James Eather 1838 1935

The second son of James and Mary Ann Eather nee Hand was James born at Agnes Banks in 1838 who in 1863 married his first cousin Sarah, daughter of Robert Eather.

Although a teetotaller, James made his mark as a publican at South Bowenfels, Lithgow and Rooty Hill. At South Bowenfels, on the Bathurst-Sydney Road, he conducted the Glasgow Arms Hotel until 1882 and then, from 1886 onwards, the Royal Hotel, in a handsome two-storey stone building which still stands. In the intervening period, he kept the Cosmopolitan Hotel at Lithgow.