John Hough James
John Hough James (1800-1881) was an American lawyer, banker, railroad builder, scientific farmer and stockbreeder, legislator, politician, editor, lecturer and writer.
During his life, Levi was a shopkeeper, a merchant of river commerce, a bank director and a prominent citizen in the developing city of Cincinnati.
He embraced the sweeping changes that were taking place during his lifetime and he used the accelerating rate of communication and the expanding reach of transportation to strengthen connections between himself and his environment.
The significance of James' interaction with his classmates, correspondents, club members, family and friends is that he deeply engaged the literature of his age in the development of his relationships, professional life and personal lifestyle.
As a discussant he analyzed the information he read, and as an author he expressed his own conclusions and observations, thus contributing to the ongoing literary conversation.
Noted historians and educators, David Thelen and Roy Rosenzweig have said their subjects "built narratives that enabled them to shape the courses of their own and others' lives."
This is illustrated in relation to James, himself, by his first diary entry: 1 January 1821 - With the beginning of a New Year- I commence a journal of ephemeral events.- a kind of record of my hours of application and of rest - to look at in after days.- trusting that the contemplation of what I have done may serve to remind me of what I can do and the consideration of what I have not may stimulate me to what I should do.
He experimented with numerous other enterprises including mule breeding, silk production, real estate speculation, railroad and canal building, river shipping and more.
Although he seems to have been very financially successful throughout his entire life, James was central to many failed business ventures in banking, canal building and railroading.
From early political conversations with William Henry Harrison, John Hough James was a staunch Whig and an outspoken campaigner for his party.
His tremendous interest in obtaining and providing education, his enthusiastic participation in dozens of business ventures, his intense political engagement and his perpetual correspondence made him a landmark in the development of a modern American.
Throughout all of this activity, he maintains his intellectual relationship with Abigail, he promotes inclusiveness as a feature of his personal philosophy and his religion, and he demonstrates an unusual, if limited, degree of gender-blindness in his dealings with a variety of other people.
