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James Smith Bush
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| James Smith Bush | |
| Born | June 15, 1825 Rochester, New York, USA |
|---|---|
| Died | November 11, 1889 Ithaca, New York, USA |
| Other names | James Smith |
| Spouse | Harriet Fay |
James Smith Bush (June 15, 1825 – November 11, 1889) was an attorney and Episcopal priest and an ancestor of the Bush political family.
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James Smith Bush was born in Rochester, New York to Obadiah Newcomb Bush and Harriet Smith (1800–1867), Rev. Bush was married to Harriet Fay, with whom he had three sons and one daughter. He was father of business magnate Samuel Prescott Bush, grandfather of US Senator Prescott Bush, great-grandfather of US President George H. W. Bush and great-great-grandfather of Pres. George W. Bush.
He entered Yale University in 1841, the first of what would become a long legacy. He received a law degree in Rochester and took the bar in 1847. His first wife, Sarah Freeman, lived in nearby Saratoga Springs; they married in 1851, but she died 18 months later during childbirth. This prompted Bush to study divinity with the rector of the Episcopal church there. Ordained a deacon in 1855, he was appointed rector at the newly organized Grace Church in Orange, New Jersey.
In 1859 he remarried to Harriet Fay. In 1865-66 he traveled to San Francisco via the Straits of Magellan on the ironclad monitor USS Monadnock with Commodore John Rodgers, with international goodwill stops along the way. In 1867 he was called to Grace Church (later Cathedral) in San Francisco, but troubled by family obligations, only stayed five years. In 1872 he took a call from Church of the Ascenscion in Staten Island. In 1884 he retired from leading churches to Concord, Massachusetts, and in 1888 left the Episcopal Church altogether and became a Unitarian. The stress of this separation caused him health problems for the remainder of his life. He moved to Ithaca, New York, where he died.
According to the book The Faith of George W. Bush:
- "...a child named James who was born so sickly the doctor told his mother, 'You better knock him on the head, for if he lives he will never amount to anything.'"
- "... James fell hard in love with a woman of renowned beauty, Sarah Freeman, and she agreed to marry him. Their happiness did not last long, however, for she died of fever a mere eighteen months after the wedding."
James Smith had died on November 11th 1889 in Ithaca, New York at the age of 64.