Wayne County Biographies



Part of the Indiana Biographies Project



James M. Starr

This gentleman is now a resident of Washington, D.C., but various ties bind him to Richmond, and in Wayne county he has a host of warm friends who will gladly receive this record of his life. He was born in Philadelphia, September 18, 1824, a son of Charles West and Elizabeth (Wilson) Starr. He was only nine months old when his parents came to Richmond, and in the subscription schools of the frontier region he acquired his education. When a young man he traveled through Louisiana, Arkansas and Mississippi as a solicitor for books, but, returning home at the time of his father's death, assumed the management of his estate. He continued the work begun by his father, laying out the land into town lots, erecting residences and selling both unimproved and improved property. Until 1896 he was thus engaged, and his judicious management, wise investments and prudence brought to him a handsome income.

Mr. Starr, however, is a man of resourceful business ability, and his efforts were by no means confined to one line of endeavor. In December, 1856, he rented the Richmond Artificial Gas Works, and, having operated them continuously in the meantime, purchased the plant in 1863. With excellent success he conducted this enterprise until 1893, when he disposed of it to the Richmond Light, Heat & Power Company, of which corporation he is vice-president. In 1886 he purchased with is now known as the Starr piano factory and developed that enterprise to extensive proportions,employing one hundred and fifty or more men. Under the firm name of James M. Starr & Company he carried on that industry until 1893, when he sold out. He now resides in Washington, but spends much of his time in Richmond, superintending his real-estate interests and looking after his other investments.





Mr. Starr has been twice married. In 1847 Lydia Briggs, of Cincinnati, Ohio, became his wife, but her death occurred in 1850, and her little daughter, then nine months old, died two months after the mother. In 1853 Mr. Starr married Miss Sarah J. King, of Richmond, with whom he lived happily for forty-four years, but in 1897 he was again deprived of his wife by death. They had an adopted son, Edward, who died in 1891, at the age of twenty-nine years.

Mr. Starr is a member of the Society of Friends. He was long recognized as one of the most able business men of Richmond, he sagacity and foresight enabling him to make judicious investments, while his diligence, indomitable energy and undaunted perseverance won him a prosperity that numbered him among Wayne county's most substantial citizens. He not only advanced his individual interests but did much toward promoting the general welfare by encouraging trade and commerce. His circle of friends in this section of Indiana is very extensive and embraces those who have been identified with the pioneer epoch and the latter-day progress. His career, both public and private, is marked by the strictest integrity and faithfulness to every trust reposed in him. The record of his life is unclouded by wrong, and he is known as a honorable man and a pleasant companion.

Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana. Chicago. The Lewis Publishing Company. 1899