Background
Carr, James was born on September 9, 1777 in Bangor, Massachusetts (now Maine). Son of Francis Carr.
Carr, James was born on September 9, 1777 in Bangor, Massachusetts (now Maine). Son of Francis Carr.
He attended Phillips Exeter and Byfield Academies, and then went to sea as clerk on the United States.S. Crescent.
He served two years as secretary to the United States Consul at Algiers. 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. 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).
Member Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1806-1811. Member United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts, 14th Congress, 1815-1817.