James J. Spelman (Madison County)

State House: 1870-1875

Born: January 18, 1841 in Norwich, CT
Died: May 25, 1894 in Jackson, MS

Appointed major in the Madison County militia in 1873.

“Born in Norwich, Connecticut, Spelman was educated in public schools there and in New York City. On the eve of the Civil War, he worked as a correspondent for the Anglo-African in New York and contributed to other black newspapers… He came to Mississippi in 1868 as an employee of the Freedmen’s Bureau and a correspondent for the New York Tribune. With James D. Lynch, he published the Jackson Colored Citizen, around 1868-70.”
(Eric Foner, Freedom’s Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders during Reconstruction, 1993)

Links:
Wikipedia entry on James J. Spelman
National Convention of the Colored Men of America, 1869

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Signature of James J. Spelman from an 1874 petition to Governor Ames

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Hinds County Gazette, 7 Jun 1871

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Times-Picayune, 12 Apr 1872

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New National Era, 3 Apr 1873

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Clarion-Ledger, 2 Oct 1873

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Petition to Governor Ames, 12 Feb 1874

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American Citizen, 8 Aug 1874

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Clarion-Ledger, 4 Mar 1875

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Chronicle-Star, 13 Mar 1875

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Canton Mail, 13 Mar 1875

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Canton Mail, 10 Apr 1875

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Canton Mail, 5 Jun 1875

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The American Citizen, 1 Apr 1876

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Clarion-Ledger, 15 Sep 1880

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Weekly Democrat, 2 Sep 1885

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Weekly Commercial Herald, 25 Sep 1885

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Clarion-Ledger, 16 Nov 1887

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Weekly Democrat, 6 Feb 1889

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Yazoo Herald, 6 Jun 1890

James J. Spelman