James, Henry, Sr.
James, Henry, Sr.( 1811–82),father of Henry James, Jr., William James, and Alice James, was a lecturer and writer on religious, social, and literary topics. Born of a wealthy and rigidly orthodox family of Albany, N.Y., he revolted against Calvinism and felt that the social order was unjust. An accident that happened to him as a schoolboy resulted in the amputation of a leg, and drove him further upon his mental resources. After his graduation from Union College (1830), he entered Princeton Theological Seminary (1835), but withdrew after two years, finding himself out of sympathy with orthodox theology. On a visit to England (1837) he became influenced by Robert Sandeman, a Scottish opponent of Calvinism, one of whose books he edited (1838). During the 1840s and '50s, James lived in New York, and traveled abroad frequently, until in 1864 he settled in Boston. In the 1840s he was introduced to the doctrines of Swedenborg, and underwent a kind...
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