century association biographical archive

Earliest Members of the Century Association

View all members

James F. Dwight

Army Officer/Public Servant

Centurion, 1866–1899

Full Name James Fowler Dwight

Born 30 January 1830 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Died 22 September 1899 in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Buried Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium, Middle Village, New York

Proposed by James C. Carter and Augustus R. Macdonough

Elected 5 May 1866 at age thirty-six

Seconder of:

Century Memorial

Colonel James F. Dwight came of a distinguished and brilliant family in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, and died at the home of his fathers in that picturesque town after an illness of several months. He was a man of forcible character, born to command, and capable of the warmest friendships. He was an Assistant United States District Attorney, under Theodore Sedgwick, from his admission to the Bar until 1861. He served with distinction in the cavalry force in the Southwest, with Colonel Waring, for four years during the War, and was Colonel of the Fourth Missouri Cavalry when mustered out of service at its close.

He was appointed by Chief-Justice Chase one of the Registers in Bankruptcy, an office which he filled during the continuance of the Bankrupt Law. On its repeal he retired from business, and thereafter lived at his Stockbridge home.

He was devoted to The Century and his many friends here, and took an active part in all its gatherings. His last appearance here was at the Twelfth Night Celebration of 1899, into which he threw himself with all the vigor and enthusiasm of a boy. His portrait, by John Ehninger, as the soldier, “bearded like the pard” in the “Seven Ages of Man,” the relic of an old-time Twelfth Night, will long keep his memory green.

Henry E. Howland
1900 Century Association Yearbook