Frederic Augustus James
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Biographical information concerning the family of Frederic A. James is taken from History of Shipbuilding on the North River, Plymouth, Massachusetts by Lloyd Vernon Briggs, privately published in 1889 (Chap. XV, pages 261-262). |
| The James family home in South Scituate, Massachusetts, at the time of Frederic James' birth in 1832. |
Frederic Augustus James was born November 27, 1832, to William James of South Scituate, Massachusetts, and Welthea Alden of Duxbury, Massachusetts. William was born March 1, 1789, and died January 14,1854. Welthea was born August 13, 1792. William and Welthea were married March 7, 1816.
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Descendants of William James and
Welthea Alden
10. Hannah Packard James b: September 05, 1835 |
| Frederic James bought a home on Princeton Street in East Boston on January 9, 1855, to which he bought his new wife, Ellen Foster, following their marriage on May 30, 1855, in the Unitarian Church, located on Meridan Street in East Boston, Massachusetts. The wedding ceremony was performed by the Reverend Warren Handel Cudworth (born Lowell, Massachusetts, May 23, 1825; died in East Boston November 29, 1883). At the time of her marriage, Ellen Foster resided in Newton, Massachusetts. Her marriage certificate shows that she was born August 31, 1833. |
The couple had two children: Mary Delano James, born October 7, 1856, and Ellen Foster James, born November 14, 1857. Mary Delano James died on October 26, 1863, while her father was a prisoner of war. Ellen Foster James married James Gurney, Jr. in March of 1886 and had one son, Frederic James. Mother and child both died in August of 1888 (date unknown). After the death of Frederic Augustus James in Andersonville, his widow ran a private school for children in her home on Princeton Street. It was called the Trinity Day Nursery. Mrs. James died in East Boston on June 25, 1909. The James Residence - Princeton
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By occupation, James was a carpenter and shipjoiner in private life. He enlisted in the United States Navy on August 20, 1862, for one year, as a landsman; credit Abington, Massachusetts. He served on the Receiving Ship U.S.S. Ohio and on the U.S.S. Housatonic. His enlistment record describes him as 5"7', blue eyes, brown hair and fair complexion. His ship's number on board the Housatonic was 95. He volunteered for an assault on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, on the night of September 8, 1863. During the attack, he was captured and placed under guard in the Fort on the 9th. From September 10 to the 14, he was in the Charleston City Jail; from September 14 to November 14, in the Richland District Jail, Columbia, South Carolina; and from November 16 to December 28 in the "Crew's Building near Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia. On the night of December 28, he was transported across the street to the Libby Prison, and on December 30, was sent with 14 other seamen as "hostages" to the Confederate Military Prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. He left Salisbury on May 27, and was confined at Andersonville, Georgia, from June 1, 1864 until September 15, 1864, when he died of dysentery and chronic diarrhea. At Andersonville, James received three numerical designations:
You will not find this to be the journal of a warrior; nor of a man of violence; nor a man of strong prejudice. It is, however, unmistakably, the journal of a man, perhaps even of a brave man, depending on your definition of that relative term. James left his home in Boston, his wife and two young daughters, for some reason not precisely established. He joined the Navy probably not from any great personal drive but rather to fulfill a role cast for him by generations of shipbuilders. He offers to history no record of his war experiences -- he was merely "one of a storming party - said expedition was unsuccessful". He is a man of positive principles. He is a Christian, to be sure, and within him there is an ever conscious, comprehensive awareness of the fatherhood of God and the commonness of man under that fathership. He is a husband and longs to return to his wife. He is a father, torn by the news of his daughter's death, yet one who will call it the "chastening providence" of God and will implore His assistance "to bow humbly to His will." He is human, and his humanness is evident in the sincere involvement with the living and the dying of those about him. He is a man energetically dedicated to the task of surmounting the hazards of prison. To this purpose, he will read; and write; and sell; and exercise as per schedule; and wash self and clothing; and cook his meals; and begin each entry of his diary with the theme - " a pleasant day." James possessed great patience - hope tempered by a realistic evaluation of the situation in which he is: "I am admonished that it may not be permitted me to meet again upon earth either my dear wife or our own dear little Nellie." |
