James Ferriss

Not to be confused with the American chemist James Ferris or the Canadian politician James Marshall Ferris.

James Henry Ferriss (November 18, 1849 – March 17, 1926) was an American politician and amateur conchologist. According to Henry Augustus Pilsbry, Ferriss was "the fore-most of American landshell collectors... as a collector he has probably never been surpassed."

J. H. Ferriss

Biography

James H. Ferriss was born November 18, 1849, in Kendall Township, Kendall County, Illinois, Ferriss moved to southeastern Kansas in 1869 to stake a claim as a farmer, freighter, and storekeeper. He returned to Illinois in 1872 to work as a reporter and editor of several newspapers in Joliet, Illinois.

A fiery prohibitionist, he purchased and edited the Joliet News in 1877 but was jailed that year for an editorial which offended a local political boss. He moved to Maine after the incident, but returned in 1882 to edit the Joliet News until 1915. He was elected National Chairman of the People's Party in 1904.

Ferriss died at the age of 76 on March 17, 1926.