A man of faith  - God is his companion and his protector

Struggling to survive - a daily challenge against the hardships of prison life

Prison environment - responding to the people and places around him

Frederic James married Ellen Foster on May 30, 1855, in the Unitarian Church located on Meridan Street in East Boston, Massachusetts in a ceremony performed by the Rev. W. H. Cudworth.  At the time of her marriage, Ellen resided in Newton, Massachusetts.  Her marriage certificate states that she was born August 31, 1833.

Frederic and Ellen James took up residence at 39 Princeton Street, East Boston. The couple gave birth to two children, Mary Delano James born October 7, 1856, and Ellen Foster James, born November 14, 1857.

Mary Delano James died of a brain tumor on October 27, 1863, while her father was a prisoner of war.  Ellen Foster James married James Gurney, Jr., of East Boston, in March 1886, and had one child, Frederic A. Both mother and child died in August 1888

After the death of Frederic James in Andersonville in 1864, Mrs. James ran a private school for children in her home on Princeton Street.  It was called the "Trinity Day Nursery".  She died in East Boston on June 25, 1909. In the second clause of her will, Ellen James declared the following:

"...To Benjamin F. Merritt, my old desk and the care of my late husband's civil war journal, and at his death, to go to the Loyal Legion."

Ellen James' sister-in-law Welthea Alden James  was married to Benjamin Merrit.  It is possible that it is their son, Benjamin F. Merritt, Jr., who was mentioned in Ellen James' will and who became the recipient of the Andersonville Prison diary.

James also has a reference to each of his daughters in his diary:

March 14, 1864:  he received a letter from his wife dated February 21 bringing him the news of the death of their daughter Mary on October 27, 1863.  James states that his wife had written four letters to him concerning the death of the child, but none of the correspondence ever reached him prior to the letter of February 21.   

March 19, 1864: James makes a specific reference to his other daughter: "Worked a little on my hair chain which I am making for our little Nellie."

1864

1864

The first letter James received from home following his capture and imprisonment is from his wife received in Columbia, SC. He notes in his diary... " two from my wife of Sept. 5th & 18th, the last one having been written after having been informed by a note from Chas. H. Freeman of the "Housatonic", of my capture"

While in prison, James received a number of letters written by a variety of people, most of which came from his wife, another from his mother dated Sept. 11, and another from his sister Welthea and also one from another sister, Hannah, of North Conway, NH.  

Following the death of Victor Bartlett on March 25, 1864, James was given a letter written to the seaman by his father from Plymouth, Mass. James answered the father's letter and continued a brief correspondence with him.

James corresponded with Capt. Charles Kendall after the latter was paroled from prison.  Both Kendall and James were from East Boston, Mass.

James received no mail while in Andersonville Prison but did write one letter on June 6, though it remained in his possession.  "Wrote a letter to my wife but did not mail it, as I cannot ascertain when the mail is to leave."

While in Andersonville, James wrote and received a few "notes" from fellow prisoners, namely Richard Tinker and Joseph Connaton.

A man of faith  - God is his companion and his protector

Struggling to survive - a daily challenge against the hardships of prison life

Prison environment - responding to the people and places around him