James Ernisse, the oldest businessman in Redlands, in the painting and decorating line, was born in Rochester, N.Y., in 1849. After receiving an education in the common and high schools, he went into business with his father, who was a painter and decorator. Later he conducted a brokerage business in New York City for five years, but returned to Rochester and remained there until he came to Redlands in the fall of 1887. Mr. Ernisse was married at Rochester in 1874, to Miss Sarah J. Edgar, a native of Troy, N.Y.
When Mr. and Mrs. Ernisse came to Redlands, they expected to remain here only temporarily. They were unfortunate enough to lose a carload of bric-a-brac and light furniture, that they had forwarded from the East, in a fire at the Santa Fe depot in Los Angeles, but this accident did not deter them from remaining. They built a residence on what is now on Grant street, and have lived there ever since. There was a firm of painters and decorators in Redlands when Mr. Ernisse came here, but they remained only a year after that time, and there was another who came and left soon after his arrival. Thus he has the distinction of being the only man of his craft who has survived from the first the numerous changes of a growing western town. He has furnished and applied, or caused to be applied, both the outer dress and the interior decorations of a very large proportion of the principal buildings, both residences and business houses, in this city. He has also set a great deal of plate glass.
Mr. Ernisse is still actively engaged in business, and is prepared to undertake contracts for any work in his line, for outside painting, interior decorations, calsomining, glass setting, or any similar work. His shop and residence are both on Grant street. He can furnish many unquestionable references in support of his long established reputation for honest and tasteful work, in the best style of his art.
(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 71)
