James Alexander Ventress

James Alexander Ventress (1805–1867) was a lawyer, inventor, plantation owner, and state legislator in Mississippi.

[1] He was born in Tennessee and moved to Mississippi with his family as a child.

He studied at a school in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, an academy in New Orleans, and then in Europe for several years.

He pursued scientific research, was an avid reader and book collector, and an inventor.

[3] W. P. S. Ventress, his son, followed him into state politics.