James De Wolf is a Dutch American who became prominent in his later years as a public servant in both State and Federal politics, and as an entrepreneur in cotton manufacturing. In his early years he was active in the Revolutionary War as a sailor, and was twice captured by the British. Following his naval service, he also was successful as a sea captain and trader. Unfortunately, in those early years, De Wolf was also engaged in abhorrent slave trading activities. But because of his positive contributions, including extensive public service in his later years, De Wolf deserves to be selected as a prominent Dutch American.
De Wolf’s major public service contribution was his service as a United States Senator from Rhode Island, from March 4, 1821 to October 31, 1825, as a Crawford Republican. He resigned from the United States Senate before his full term was up, probably because of his other, mainly business interests. His other more extensive public service contribution was in the Rhode Island State House of Representatives. De Wolf served there during the periods from 1797 to 1801, from 1803 to 1812 and from 1817 to 1821. During his membership in the Rhode Island House of Representatives, he also served as its speaker from 1819 to 1821. Later, well after his United States Senate service, De Wolf again served in the Rhode Island House of Representatives from 1829 to 1837, the year he passed away. So in total he served about 25 years in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
During the Revolutionary War, when De Wolf was clearly quite young, probably just in his early teens, he served as a sailor on a private armed vessel. He participated in several naval encounters and was captured twice, but apparently quickly released, probably because of his rather young age. Towards the end of the Revolutionary War, when De Wolf was not even twenty years old, he became a captain of a ship, and it was during that period that he reportedly did engage in the slave trade.
In the War of 1812, De Wolf apparently fitted out one of his ships as a privateer. There is no knowledge if his ship had any encounters with the enemy. Also in 1812, De Wolf became a pioneer in cotton manufacturing, and built the Arkwright Mills in Coventry, Rhode Island.
De Wolf passed away in New York City on December 21, 1837. He is interred in the De Wolf private cemetery, Woodlawn Avenue, Bristol, Rhode Island.
REFERENCES
De Wolf, James, [1764-1837], http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000295
|
