James Creighton Odiorne

James Creighton Odiorne (June 4, 1802 – February 5, 1879) was an American businessman and writer.

Odiorne was born in London, England on June 4, 1802. His father, George Odiorne, was a merchant from Boston, Massachusetts, and while spending two years in England for purposes connected with his business, he married as his third wife Maria, daughter of Rev. James Creighton, an intimate associate of John Wesley. The family came to America in the summer of 1802. Odiorne prepared for college at Phillips Academy in Andover, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale College in 1826.

He married Susan Elizabeth Warren on June 25, 1828. She was from Framingham, Massachusetts. Also in 1828 Odiorne became a partner with his father in the iron and nail trade in Boston. He retired from that business nine years later in 1837. On Jan. 9, 1851 his wife died in Boston. In 1857 Odiorne moved to Framingham. He continued to spend the winters in part in Boston, where his wife died on Jan. 9, 1851. On June 8, 1870 he married Frances M. Meacham of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He died suddenly, in Wellesley, Massachusetts on February 5, 1879, while on the railroad on a journey from Framingham to Boston.

After his retirement from business he indulged his tastes for historical and scientific studies, and also gave considerable attention to the law. In 1830 he took a deep interest in the movement against the Free Masons, and published a volume of 300 pages, entitled Opinions on Speculative Masonry. In 1832 he assisted in the formation of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and for many years he served as its treasurer. He was also an active member of the American Statistical Association, and of the Boston Society of Natural History. In 1875, he published a Genealogy of the Odiorne Family which was 222 pages long.

Of the four sons and two daughters by his first marriage, three sons and one daughter survived him.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Yale Obituary Record.

External links

• Books by Odiorne