LUCY MARIA JAMES, of New Bedford, first Regent of the Captain Thomas J Kempton Chapter, Daughters of the Revolution, was born in Fairhaven, Mass., March 1, 1841, daughter of William and Maria Hartson (Caswell) James. She was married August 10, 1865, to Henry B. James, of New Bedford, son of John, .Ir., and Sylvia (Kempton) James.
John James, Sr., father of John and William, came as a sailor boy from England in 1805 or 1806. He married April 24, 1808, Sally Dunham, of Dartmouth, Mass., where he bought land and became a resident, but continued for some time to follow the sea. During the War of 1812 the vessel he was in was captured by the English, officers and crew being held as prisoners. On reaching Ireland he escaped, but was recaptured and imprisoned in Cork. The date of his release is not given in the family record. His son William was born in Dartmouth in March, 1816.
Mrs. James's mother was the daughter of Daniel Caswell, a soldier in the War of 1812, and his wife, Sally Elliot, and grand-daughter of John and Betsey (Cain) Elliot. John Elliot was a Revolutionary soldier, who was wounded at the battle of Saratoga. He was born in East Taunton, Mass., where he died in 1843 at the age of ninety-six years.
The parents of Mrs. James moved to New Bedford, Mass., when she was an infant, and she received her education in the public schools of that city. At the age of ten years she was in great demand as a correspondent for those who could not write.
Mrs. James has acted on the principle that study should be a part of the every-day home life. The poor, whom she has often visited in their homes, have been instructed by her teaching;s and aided by her generous con- tributions. Her mother early encouraged her in this laudable mission of helpfulness to others. During the Civil War she offered her services as an army nurse, but nu^t with disap]K)intment, as she was too young to perform official tluty in the hospitals. Many a soldier, however, was provided with comforts and luxuries through her zealous efforts at home in their behalf. When a Relief Corps auxiliary to William L. Rodman Post, No. 1, G. A. R., was formed in New Bedford, Mrs. James enrolled her name on its charter list. From the date of its institution, Sep- tember 11, 1885, to the present time she has devoted her best efforts to the patriotic and charitable work, of the corps. Installed as its president in January, 18S7, she filled the office so successfully that she was re-elected in 18S8 and 1889, and again in 1891 and in 1901. During the intervening years she served successively as senior vice-president, treasurer, and chaplain, willingly taking any position in which she could advance the in- terests of the corps. Mrs. James has served on committees in many department con- ventions, and has been a delegate to national conventions. She has served as deixartment aide by the appointment of seven deiiartment presiilents, and has also served on the staff of two national Relief Corps presidents. She took the lead in organizing the liristol County Association, an<l was its first chajtlain. She was elected president in October, 1890, and served one year, at the close of which she presented to the Association a beautiful gavel. Mrs. James joined the order of King's Daugh- ters in 1887, working independently for the sailors until 1900, when she joined the Unity Circle, K. D., of New Bedford. In 1890 she was instrumental in forming the Ca})tain Thomas Kempton Chapter of the D. R., of New Bedford. Of this chapter she was ap- pointed the first Regent, and continues in the office, having been annually re-elected.
When the Spanish-American War began, and the volunteer Aid Association of Massa- chusetts was formed, Mrs. .lames gave her efforts to the cause. She worked as secre- tary of a connnittee representing Corps No. 53, and assisted in organizing the New Bedford branch of the Adluntcer Aid Associatidu, which accomplished a grand work. This branch forwarded several hundred dollars' worth of hosjiital su|)plies to the soldiers and sailors, and contributed in aildition three hundred dollars toward fitting out the hosjjital shij), "Bay State." which was sent to Cuba by the A'olunteer Aid Association of Massa- chusetts to convey the sick antl wounded to their homes. Mrs. James acted as advisory connnittee during all this work in New Bedfonl, rec(>iving the respect and regard of the society, whose members often referred to her as " our Mrs. Livermore." When the war ended, and active work was over, the money remaining in the treasury of the New Bedford branch was placed in charge of four trustees, of whom Mrs. James was one. Several barrels of com- fort bags, reading matter, and so forth, have been forwarded by her on behalf of the trustees to Porto Rico, Manila, and to the navy. The wives and children of several soldiers have also been cared for at home.
During the past forty-two years Mrs. James has contributed poems, essays, notes of travel, items of news, to various periodicals. She is a charter member of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society, and has devoted nmch time to historical and genealogical research, Init amid all her varied interests has not neglected her home duties.
Henry B. James, to whom she was married, in 1865, as mentioned above, is a descendant through his mother, Sylvia Kempton, of I"-phraim' Kempton, Sr., who came to Plym- outh some time between 1627 and 164)5, and .settled in Scituate, wJiere he died in May, 1645. h'phrainr Kempton, Jr., who came over with his father ami was his partner in l)usiness in Scituate (see Plymouth Colony Reconls, vol. ii.), married in January, 1646, Joanna, daughter of Thomas Rawlins. The line was continued through their son Ephniim,' who married Mary Reeves; Ephraim,' married Patience, daughter of Elder Thomas^ Faunce; William,' married Mary Brewster; E])hraim," married Ann Nye; I'^lijah,' married Lucy Hay
den; George,8 married Rebecca Weeks; to Sylvia,9 who married John James, Jr., and was the mother of Henry B. James.
Mr. James is the author of a volume entitled "Memories of the Civil War." In it he says: "I have often wondered how it happened that I, born of Quaker stock on my mother's side, should have had such a natural leaning toward scenes of adventure and conflict. It may well have been that I inherited it from the paternal side of the house." He adds, speaking of his grandfather, John James, Sr.: "During my childhood I often listened to his tales of warfare and bloodshed, and longed to be a man, that I might fight and avenge the wrongs inflicted on my devoted country in its earlier days. As I read of the War of the Revolution, I wished that I might have lived in those stirring days and done my part in creating the American nation." Mr. James desired to enlist among the first volunteers of the Union after the fall of Fort Sumter, but his father would not then consent. He enlisted November 2, 1861, just after his twentieth birthday, in Company B, First Battalion, afterwani the Thirty-second Massachusetts Infantry. He was mustered into the United States service November 27, 1861, and on December 3 was sent with his company to Fort W^arren, Boston Harbor, ' to guard prisoners of war, among them being General Buckner, Commodore Barron, Commissioners Mason and Slidell, and the Mayor and Chief of. Police of Baltimore. On May 25 Company B left Fort Warren for Washington. On July 4 the battalion of which this company was a part was assigned to the brigade of General Charles Griffin, division of General Morell, in Fitz John Porter's command, afterward known as the Fifth Army Corps. Mr. James was engaged in thirty-eight battles — Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, the Wilderness, and others. He was commissioned Sergeant in February, 1864, was wounded in a skirmish on the Boydton plank road March 30, 1865, and was in the Armory Square Hospital in Washington from April 2 to May 26, when he* was transferred to White Hall, on the Delaware River. He was able to leave the hospital July 6, and received an honorable discharge in Boston, July 18, 1865.
Mr. James is a past Senior Vice-Commander of William Logan Rodman Post, No. 1, G. A. R., of New Bedford, and has the esteem of all his comrades.
Mr. and Mrs. James have had four sons and one daughter, namely: Franklin Elliot, born May 29, 1869; W'illiam Edgar, born February 18, 1871; Clarence Henry, born February 7, 1872; Percy Clifton, born February 2, 1875; and Isabel Agnes, born October 19, 1881, died in infancy. The four sons were educated in the public schools of New Bedford, graduating from the high school, and are now in business in New Bedford. They are members of John A. Hawes Camp, No. 35, Sons of Veterans, of New Bedford. Franklin Elliot James married August 10, 1890, Helen E., daughter of Charles H. Giflford, the celebrated marine artist. They have one child, Isabel Ethel; born December 13, 1896. William Edgar James married June 3, 1896, Grace Eaton Thompson, of New Bed- ford. They have one child, Miriam Earle, born September' 4, 1902. Clarence Henry James married June 24, 1896, Mary Eleanor Gibbs, of New Bedford, who died April 20, 1899, leaving one child, Marjorie Campbell, born July 7, 1897.
Percy Clifton James married February 1, 1896, Nellie May Benjamin. They have had four children, namely: Lucy Marion and Marion Leonard, who both died in infancy; Sylvia Kempton, born November 21, 1899; and Lucy May, born April 3, 1903.