James Chaplin Beecher (1828 - 1886)

Born 8 Jan 1828 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Ann Elizabeth (Goodwin) Beecher — married 1 Sep 1853 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts

Husband of Frances Baldwin (Johnson) Perkins — married 18 Jul 1864 in Jacksonville, Florida

Descendants

Died 25 Aug 1886 at age 58 in Elmira, Chemung, New York, USA

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Biography

James, as the son of the famous minister Lyman Beecher, seemed destined for a career as a minister; however, he took his time fulfilling his father's wish. Instead, after graduating from Dartmouth College, James traveled overseas to the Far East as a sailor and officer. Five years later, upon his return, he volunteered to serve his country and became a Colonel for the Union Army. One of his many accomplishments during this time was to lead an African American regiment, the 1st North Carolina Colored Infantry. It was only after the conclusion of the war that James became a Congregationalist minister, serving in this capacity until his death.

Through his life, James had bouts of depression. He received various treatments common during this time for mental illness; however, the treatments were not successful, and after another breakdown, James committed suicide. He was 58 years of age at his death.

He was married twice. His first wife was Ann Elizabeth Goodwin Morse, a widow. James and Anne were married for ten years until Anne's death in 1863. They had no children. Secondly, James married Frances Baldwin Johnson, the daughter of Samuel Collins Johnson and Oliver Spencer. James and Frances adopted three daughters.

The following tribute to James Chaplin Beecher appeared in the 1884 Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the General Association of the Congregations Churches and Ministers of New York. The tribute was likely written by someone who knew him well, probably one of his siblings, and perhaps written by Henry Ward Beecher. The tribute is so beautifully written, and so wonderfully and stunningly conveys the personality of Mr. Beecher, that I decided to quote from the tribute, at length, verbatim. A link to the original source is also included in the sources below.

"In Woodlawn, Elmira, N.Y., beneath the grass of a hillside that watches toward the morning, lie side by side all that could died of the eldest and the youngest of those who called Lyman Beecher, father, Catharine and James."

"James Chaplin Beecher, born in Boston, 1828, was but fifty-eight years of age, when the brain disease which had tortured him for over four years, culminated in delusions so terrifying that he laid down life's burden as too heavy for him to carry longer. His life was not long counted by years, but crowded with varied experiences, among which were not a little work and hardship. One who had seen, borne, done so much, must have felt as if he had lived a century."

"The Benjamin of twelve children, he was fair to see of mornings with his flaxen curls, blue eyes, and little songs. At fourteen, singing still, he was a fascination to younger boys, with his feats of adventure, delightful experiments with powder and a sun-glass, and excursions through barn and forest, exploiting bird-nests and shooting pigeons, squirrels and rabbits where not the paved streets of Cincinnati lie upon the land."

"At sixteen he entered Dartmouth College, where his ability was at once recognized and acknowledged. But, as his curriculum of study did not at times wholly coincide with that of the faculty, strained relations came to pass, causing caution and solicitude. At one time of temporary banishment from the Academic halls he gravely informed a younger kinsman that he was sent away "that his class might catch up with him."

"He was honorably graduated with the class of '48, although suffering at the time from a distress of the brain, for which he was treated by Dr. O. W. Holmes, in the Mass. General Hospital at Boston."

"Upon graduation he at once carried out the desire he had long had, of going to sea. He served as sailor and officer five years, mostly in vessels of the line of swift clipper ships, then in the China and East India trade, the fastest sailing ships the world has known. Once, in the early gold-days of California, the whole crew ran off to the mines, leaving him and the captain the only ones on board. His friends well remember who he loved, this bonny sailor-lad, as he came home from his voyages, his soft golden brown hair, his laughing and tender blue eyes, his beautiful complexion which the bronzing of the sea could not damage, the merry sailor songs he sang and the tales of adventure he could tell."

"Indeed to his raptured nephews and nieces this radiant and rare uncle was a veritable Chevalier Bayard "Sans peur, et sans reproche."

"But blood tells, Heredity is powerful. In his merriest, wildest days he used to say: "Oh, I shall be a minister. That's my fate. Father will pray me into it."

"Leaving the sea in the year 1853, he for a while engaged in mercantile business in the city of Boston, making his home with his brother Edward. At this period he had earnest and sober communings with his father, which resulted in a more decided Christian experience and a change of life's purpose. As the result of this, he spent two years at Andover in preparation for the ministry."

"Before the completion of his full course, he was urgently invited to take the charge of the Seaman's Bethel at Hong Kong, China. He was ordained to the ministry and took charge of this work in 1856. His experience as a sailor eminently qualified him for this position, which he filled for five years. On one of his coastwise voyages as chaplain, between Hong Kong and Sanghae the ship was wrecked on the Prata Shoals, and all hands got ashore on a waterless island of sand, where they faced slow death for four days, ere help and rescue most unexpected came. During his term of service in China, his manliness won universal recognition, from the highest English and American officials, civil, naval and Military, down to the lowest stranded sailor or cooley in distress. His 'chop' or Bethel was at once a home, a hospital and a church."

"He returned to the United States just at the breaking out of the Civil War. His eager, active and patriotic spirit burned for a part in the fray. The position of Chaplain of the First L. I. Regiment of N.Y. was offered and accepted. (He later was commissioned) Lieut. Col. and Col. of 1st N.C. Colored Vols., afterward 25th Regiment U.S.C. Troops, a regiment which he raised organized, armed and led to the end of the war, and by every man of which, he is yet remembered with enthusiasm and love. "

"For nine months after his army life, he served the Park Church, Elmira, most acceptably during the absence of his brother Thomas. For the five years from 1867 to 1871 Mr. Beecher was the loved and honored pastor of the Congregational church in Owego. Four more years of active service he gave to the church at Poughkeepsie, where he was eminently successful, esteemed and loved."

"In 1875 he purchased a tract of land in the unbroken forest in Ulster Co. Included in the purchase was a lovely little mountain lake, fourteen miles from a post office, and twenty-one from railroad and telegraph wire, near which he made his home and called it Lakeside. The first winter he spent here alone, being joined by his wife and adopted children in the spring. "

"In 1881 Mr. Beecher moved to Brooklyn and took charge of the Bethel Mission of the Plymouth church. The work he did there was most valuable and beautiful. It was congenial, and he enjoyed it, but it was very hard and exhausting, as it appealed so incessantly to his sympathies, and he saw so much sorrow and suffering that he could not relive. At last he broke down altogether. Symptoms of serious mental aberration appeared. All was done that love and skill could suggest, but the shadowing horror upon him, as real to him as if it had been true, darkened down to the tragic ending."

"Mr. Beecher's handsome and attractive person, courteous manners, genial and witty conversation, naturally made him a leading spirit, and popular companion his whole life through. Unconsciously and and without striving to do so he called forth the love of others in a wonderful way. In all the frequent changes of his life, as seaman's chaplain in China, in the war from the grade of Chaplain to Brigadier General, at Owego and Poughkeepsie, as self-appointed home missionary in Ulster county, as Beth pastor in Brooklyn, and finally as invalid in Sanatoriums, many came to know him, and all who knew him, loved him. Young men and old men, men sturdy and rough as well as cultivated and refined, all found in him a quick and ready sympathy. It is rare to find a man loved by men as he was."

Sources

• The Schlesinger Library Beecher Stowe Family Papers Digital Collection houses thousands of documents relating to these families and is available for research online. The collection includes hundreds of documents relating to James Chaplin Beecher and Frances Beecher Perkins.
• James Chaplin Beecher Tribute which appeared in the Minutes of the Annual Meeting of the General Association of the Congregations Churches and Ministers of New York, 1884, page 66.
• Find A Grave memorial #32299749.
• Burial: Section H, Lot 101, Woodlawn Cemetery, Elmira, Chemung, New York, USA