Thomas James (abt. 1804 - 1891)

Born about 1804 in Canajoharie, Montgomery, New York, United States

Husband of Mary Ann (McEntire) Jeffrey — married 12 Nov 1830 (to about 1845) in Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States

Husband of Esther (Jones) James — married 1870 in Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 18 Apr 1891 at about age 87 in Rochester, Monroe, New York, United States

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Biography

Thomas James is Notable.

Thomas was a liberated ancestor.

Thomas James was an abolitionist, minister, civil rights activist, and freedom seeker in New York state.^[1]

Career

African Methodist Episcopal Zion Minister "Rev. Thomas James was more an antislavery lecturer than preacher, and yet he could preach; but he was more ready to fight when he thought of the enormities of slavery. He held a position in connection with the Freedmen's Bureau about the close of the war, in which he distinguished himself by his fearlessness in defending the rights of the freedmen."^[2]

HON. FREDERICK DOUGLASS wrote "My connection with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church began in 1838 ...in New Bedford [Masschusetts]... I joined a little branch of Zion, of which Rev. William Serrington was the minister [then] Rev. Peter Ross. After him came Rev. Thomas James. I was deeply interested not only in these ministers, but also in Revs. Jehill Beman, Dempsy Kennedy, John P. Thompson, and Leven Smith, all of whom visited and preached in the little schoolhouse on Second Street, New Bedford, while I resided there."

Name

Thomas James was born into slavery c. 1804 in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York. He was called "Tom" as a child and "Jim" as a young man. When he was ordained in 1833, he used those names to create his formal name of Thomas James.

Birth Year

In his memoir, Thomas James says his birth year is 1804 and that his mother and older siblings were sold by Asa Kimball when Tom was eight, i.e., 1812. However, Asa Kimball's 1810 census^[3] shows only 2 enslaved people in his household. They could be Tom and his younger sister. If so, then Asa had already sold Tom's mother, older brother and older sister, and so perhaps Tom was either younger than 8 when his family was sold away, or he was born before c. 1803.

Possible Birth Registration - In the NY Registration records for enslaved people is a birth registration^[4] for brothers Jack (b. 24 Jan 1799) and Tom (b. 30 Jun 1802), a son of Cate. Their enslaver was Frederick Visscher (1741-1809). The town was Johnstown, Montgomery County, which is about 15 miles northeast of Canajoharie. This could be a record for Archibald and Thomas, if Visscher sold the family to Asa Kimball when Tom was young.

Early Life

He wrote: "I was the third of four children, and we were all the property of Asa Kimball, who, when I was in the eighth year of my age, sold my mother, brother and elder sister to purchasers from Smithtown, a village not far distant from Amsterdam in the same part of the state. My mother refused to go and ran into the garret to seek a hiding place. She was pursued, caught, tied hand and foot and delivered to her new owner. I caught my last sight of my mother as they rode off with her. My elder brother and sister were taken away at the same time. I never saw either my mother or sister again.

Long years afterwards my brother [Archibald James] and I were reunited, and he died in this city [Rochester, New York] a little over a year ago [Sep 1884]. From him I learned that my mother died about the year 1846 in the place to which she had been taken. My brother also informed me that he and his sister were separated soon after their transfer to a Smithport master, and that he never heard of her subsequent fate. Of my father I never had any personal knowledge, and, indeed, never heard anything. My other sister, the youngest member of the family, died when I was yet a youth."^[5]

Slave Owners

(please add links when profiles are identified)

1. possibly Frederick Visscher until c. 1804
2. Asa Kimball 1804-1819
3. Cromwell Bartlett c. 1819
4. George Hess c. March - June 1821 ^[6]

Timeline and Census Records

• c. 1804 - born in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, New York.
• 1810 - Asa Kimball's 1810 census^[7] shows only 2 enslaved people in his household. They could be Thomas and his younger sister. If so, then Asa had already sold Tom's mother, older brother and older sister, and so perhaps Tom was either younger than 8 when his family was sold away, or was born c. 1801 or 1802.
• c. 1812 (or possibly before 1810)- mother and older brother and sister sold
• c. 1819-1821: Asa Kimball dies, Tom was sold to Cromwell Bartlett. (Asa dies intestate - his will is probated in 1822, no inventory is included).
• 1820 Census shows no slaves in the households of Cromwell Bartlett or George Hess, which implies Tom had already left or Asa had not yet died or Tom lived in a different place.
• 1819-21 Mar - Tom was traded to Bartlett's father-in-law, George H. Hess of Fort Plain NY. (Tom is with Hess for only three months before escaping.)
• 1821 Jun - Tom escaped enslavement and went west along the Erie Canal to Canada
• 1819-21 summer - worked in Canada digging the Welland Canal
• 1819-21 fall - worked as a wood chopper for a farmer named Rich, residing near Youngstown, NY.
• 1820-22 Spring: went to Rochesterville and found a home with Lawyer Talbert. Performed chores for him and for Orlando Hastings
• 1823 - became a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Society on Ely Street
• 1825 - Erie Canal opened
• 1825 (after) - New Name: Jim. He worked in the warehouse of the Hudson and Erie line, and found a home with its manager, Mr. Pliny Allen Wheeler. Jim was taught to read by Mr. Freeman, who had opened a Sunday-school of his own for colored youths, on West Main street (then Buffalo street).
• 1828 - Jim started a school for colored children in Rochester
• 1829 - Jim started preaching in Rochester NY
• 1830 Nov 12 - Jim married Mary Ann McEntire
• 1830 - Jim bought a site and built a small church in Rochester, called the AME Zion Church.
• 1831 Nov 3- daughter Sarah Elizabeth James was born
• 1833 May - Rochester NY - Jim adopts the name Thomas James when he was ordained minister in May, 1833, by Bishop Christopher Rush, of the A. M. E. Zion Church. ^[8]
• 1833 Oct 19 - son John Theodore James born
• 1833 - Rochester NY - Began holding abolitionist meetings, bought a printing press to share their message
• c. 1833-34 traveled western NY to hand out copies of "The Rights of Man". Well-received in Warsaw and Perry. Arrested in Pike.
• 1834 - fall - attended the first Anti-Slavery State Convention at Utica.
• 1835 Syracuse NY - The Zion M. E. Church. — (Colored.) — This society was organized in 1835, by Rev. Thomas James, of Rochester, N. Y., who was then missionary to the western part of the State. ^[9]
• 1836 Jan 17 - daughter Catherine Ann James is born
• 1837 Dec 31 - son Wesley James is born
• 1838 - Ithaca, where James helped the existing congregation build a church.
• 1840 Census: the Thos James household is in Rochester, New York. ^[10]With five adults, 2 people between 10 and 23, and 3 young children, there is likely a mix of several families.
  • 2 free Colored Males - Under 10 - possibly John (7) and Wesley (3)
  • 1 Free Colored Males - 10 thru 23 - ?
  • 2 Free Colored Males - 24 thru 35 - Thomas James (age 36) and ?
  • 1 Free Colored Females - Under 10 - possibly Catherine (Age 4)
  • 1 Free Colored Females - 10 thru 23 - possibly Sara Elizabeth (age 9)
  • 3 Free Colored Females - 24 thru 35 - probably wife Mary Ann (age 29) and ? and ?

• c. 1840 - worked at Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York
• New Bedford, Massachusetts, where Thomas James ordained the future abolitionist Frederick Douglass as a preacher
• 1841 Rochester City Directory shows Thomas James (African Preacher) living at 12 Edinburgh. ^[11] Thomas said his wife Mary Ann died this year, though she is also listed in the Jeffrey-McEntire family bible as the mother of Emma Jean, who was born in Oct 1846.
• 1843 Apr 30 - daughter James, Catherine A. (7 years old, of Edinburgh Street), died in Rochester
• 1844 Feb 5 - son Wesley (age 6) died in Rochester
• 1841-1844 - pastor of AME church in Syracuse NY
• 1844 - listed in the Rochester City Directory as Reverend Thomas James
• 1845 (or so)- daughter Eliza Jane is born in NY City. Mother unknown.
• 1850s - worked in Boston
• 1856 - Rochester NY
• 1862-1865 - Louisville, Kentucky, rescuing slaves and counseling freed people. the Rochester city directory for 1864 shows him at h. Zion Church, Favor [st]
• 1866 - Rochester, living at Cady St, north of Frances

• 1868 June - elected general superintendent and missionary agent by the General Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Congregation.
• 1870 - married Eliza Jones Hazgood, possibly in Pennsylvania
• In 1870, the James family lived in Rochester NY.^[12]
  • Thomas James Age 57
  • Hester James Age 32
  • Eliza Hegnard Age 6

• In 1875, the James family lived in Rochester NY.^[13]
  • Thomas James Age 66
  • Esther James Age 35
  • Eliza James Age 9
  • Ida James Age 4
  • Thomas James Age 1

• 1878 - Ohio: missionary preacher for the colored churches
• 1880 - Kansas: Topeka Relief Association
• In 1880, the James family lived on Tremont Street in Rochester NY.^[14]
  • Thomas James Age 60, black, minister
  • Ester James Age 37, black, born in VA
  • Eliza James Age 14, black, born in TN
  • Ida James Age 9, black, born in NY
  • Thomas James Age 6, black, born in NY

• 1882 - Lockport, NY, served as minister to a congregation
• 1884 - retired to Rochester, still traveled and preached
• 1884 August -brother Archibald James died in Rochester
• 1891 Apr 18 - died at his home on Tremont Street
• 1891 Apr 21 - buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester NY

Wives and Children

In his memoir, Thomas wrote: "In 1829 I married in this city a free colored girl, and by her had four children, two of whom are now [i.e., c. 1886] married and living at the West. My first wife died in 1841."^[15]

The records transcribed by Laura Marie Jeffrey from the McEntire-Jeffrey family bible list these children in a group:

1. Sarah Elizabeth James, born 3 Nov 1831
2. John Theodore James, born 19 Oct 1833
3. Catherine Ann James, born 17 Jan 1836
4. Wesley, born 31 Dec 1837

These three appear elsewhere in the transcription.

1. Mary Jane James, born 29 Sep 1840
2. Nancy Ann, born c. 1839 (she uses the name Mary before 1860, and may be the same person as Mary Jane James)
3. Emma Jean, born c. 1841 (actual birth date Oct 1846), raised by Elizabeth (née Fox) McEntire Gordinier, who is the mother of Mary Ann McEntire.

Records from Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester NY show that at least two of these children died young:

• James, Catherine A. (of Edinburgh Street), buried 30 Apr 1843 (age 7) from Ulcers. Buried Pub, Lot/Row 2, Grave 21.
• James, Thomas's child [Wesley] (of Edinburgh Street) - buried 5 Feb 1844 (age 6) from inflammation of the Brain, buried Pub, Lot/Row 2, Grave 49

Mount Hope Cemetery opened in 1838; before then burials in Rochester were likely in Brighton Cemetery. If Sarah or John died before 1838, they could be buried there. Unfortunately, written records for Brighton Cemetery were destroyed in a fire in 1867.

During the Civil War, Thomas James traveled with daughter Eliza Jane James, who later married Benjamin Thomas. His daughter Eliza was born c. 1843-1845, according to her census records and death certificate, and (according to her children's marriage certificates) she was born in Rockaway Beach, New York City, New York. Thomas may have met Eliza's mother while traveling.

SECOND MARRIAGE In his memoir, Thomas wrote: "Sixteen years ago [1870] I married again. My wife was a slave, freed by Sherman at the capture of Atlanta and sent north with other colored refugees. I first met her in the state of Pennsylvania. She is the companion of my old age. Two children--my daughter, who is in the fifteenth year of her age, and my son, who is verging on his twelfth year--are the comfort and joy of our household."^[16]

In 1870, Thomas married Esther A (nee Jones) Hazgood, and they had two children: Ida and Thomas. Esther's family lived in Pennsylvania after the US Civil War. Esther's daughter Eliza Hazgood took her stepfather's name and became known as Eliza James. She is sometimes confused with her stepsister Eliza Jane (James) Thomas.

Death

He died on April 18, 1891, in Rochester, New York. HIs death was reported in newspapers across the USA and in England.^[17]

He was buried on 21 April 1891 in Mount Hope Cemetery (plot Range 1 Lot 367½ NW Part).^[18]

Research Notes

Emma Jean McEntire Gordinier may be the daughter of a different Mary Ann McEntire within the family, because Emma appears in the 1850 census at age 3 and in the 1885 census as 9 years old, living with Elizabeth Fox Gordinier (Mary Ann's mother). This Emma has a birth year of about 1846, which is five years after Thomas says his wife died. Emma's death certificate says her father's name was Wilkerson.

Eliza Jane Thomas may be the daughter of a woman Thomas did not marry, since Eliza was born in 1843-45 in another part of the state, and Mary Ann is said to have died in 1841, and Eliza is not mentioned in the McEntire-Jeffrey family bible. This is seven, or possibly eight, children, which is more than the four children that Thomas cited, and two of them (Emma Jean and Eliza Jane) were born after he says his first wife died. Possible explanations:

• He dictated his memoir, and numbers may have been incorrectly transcribed when it went to print.
• Eliza Jane's mother was not his first wife
• he was not counting children who died very young
• he and Mary Ann separated or divorced, but (as was common in the 1800s) the breakup of the marriage was ascribed to death. But Mary Ann lived past 1841
• Some of the children of Mary Ann listed in the family bible were not children of Thomas James

His two children who were "married and living at the west" in 1886 may have been Emma Jean (Gordinier) Jeffrey (1867-1925) of Winona, Minnesota, and Nancy Ann Thompson, living in Canton, South Dakota.

Sources

1. ↑ Article on Wikipedia
2. ↑ Hood, J. W. (James Walker), 1831-1918. One Hundred Years of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church; or, The Centennial of African Methodism: Electronic Edition. https://docsouth.unc.edu/church/hood100/hood.html
3. ↑ Year: 1810; Census Place: Canajoharie, Montgomery, New York; Roll: 29; Page: 78; Image: 00048; Family History Library Film: 0181383
4. ↑ https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15052coll5/id/24584
5. ↑ James, T. & Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection. (1887) Wonderful eventful life of Rev. Thomas James. Rochester, N.Y.: Post-Express Printing Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90898306/.
6. ↑ Judith Wellman and Kelly Yacobucci Farquhar, Uncovering the Underground Railroad, Abolitionism, and African American Life in Montgomery County, New York 1820-1890, Montgomery County Historical Society, p. 145. [1]
7. ↑ Year: 1810; Census Place: Canajoharie, Montgomery, New York; Roll: 29; Page: 78; Image: 00048; Family History Library Film: 0181383
8. ↑ Online Library → Dwight Hall Bruce → Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y., from its settlement to the present time → online text (page 61 of 110)
9. ↑ Online Library → Dwight Hall Bruce → Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y., from its settlement to the present time → online text (page 61 of 110)
10. ↑ Year: 1840; Census Place: Rochester Ward 3, Monroe, New York; Roll: 298; Page: 326; Family History Library Film: 0017193
11. ↑ https://www.libraryweb.org/rochcitydir/images/1841/1841coloredpopulation.pdf
12. ↑ Year: 1870; Census Place: Rochester Ward 8, Monroe, New York; Roll: M593_969; Page: 405B
13. ↑ New York, U.S., State Census, 1875, Monroe County, Rochester
14. ↑ Year: 1880; Census Place: Rochester, Monroe, New York; Roll: 863; Page: 407C; Enumeration District: 090
15. ↑ James, T. & Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection. (1887) Wonderful eventful life of Rev. Thomas James. Rochester, N.Y.: Post-Express Printing Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90898306/.
16. ↑ James, T. & Daniel Murray Pamphlet Collection. (1887) Wonderful eventful life of Rev. Thomas James. Rochester, N.Y.: Post-Express Printing Company. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90898306/.
17. ↑ Northern Echo DARLINGTON, DURHAM, ENGLAND, Wednesday, May 6, 1891, found on newspapers.com
18. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23570464/thomas-james

• Youtube: "Rochester's Rich History: Rev. Thomas James: Abolitionist Preacher in 19th Century America" by Cheryl Sampson, 22 Feb 2022