James Carr (Massachusetts politician)

James Carr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 17th district
In office
March 4, 1815  March 3, 1817
Preceded by Abiel Wood
Succeeded by John Wilson
Member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives
for the District of Maine
In office
1806–1811
Personal details
Born September 9, 1777
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Died August 24, 1818 (aged 39)
Louisville, Kentucky
Political party Federalist
Spouse(s) Betsey Stelle Jarvis
Relations U.S. Congressman Francis Carr
Children Mary, d. August 24, 1818
Alma mater Phillips Exeter Academy, Byfield Academy

James Carr (September 9, 1777 – August 24, 1818), son of U.S. Congressman Francis Carr, was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Maine, then a District of Massachusetts.

Carr was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on September 9, 1777. He attended Phillips Exeter and Byfield Academies, and then went to sea as clerk on the U.S.S. Crescent. He served two years as secretary to the United States Consul at Algiers. He then joined his parents (who had migrated to Bangor, Maine), engaging in mercantile pursuits and serving as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1806–1811) for the District of Maine.

Carr was elected as a Federalist to the Fourteenth United States Congress (1815–1817), the second person from Bangor to occupy that office (following his father).

Carr was drowned in the Ohio River on August 24, 1818. While traveling with his family on a steamboat, his 9-year-old daughter Mary fell overboard just below Louisville, Kentucky, and Carr entered the water in a failed attempt to save her. Neither of their bodies were ever recovered, though a memorial to Carr was erected at Bangor's Mount Hope Cemetery.[1]

Carr was married to Betsey Stelle Jarvis, who migrated to Illinois along with two brothers following the tragedy on the river. The Carrs remained a prominent mercantile and political family in Bangor despite James' death (see Francis Carr)

References

  1. Natalie Park Shutz, The Park Story: Some Descendants of Richard Park of Newton, Mass. (2001), pp. 161-164, 371.

External links

    United States House of Representatives
    Preceded by
    Abiel Wood
    Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
    from Massachusetts's 17th congressional district

    (Maine district)
    March 4, 1815 – March 3, 1817
    Succeeded by
    John Wilson


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