Marquis James was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 for his works The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston

Sam Houston

Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...

and The Life of Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...

.

Early life and education

Marquis James was born the fifth child of Houstin James (December 18, 1844 – August 18, 1908), a lawyer, and Rachel Marquis (July 14, 1848 – May 22, 1930), a schoolteacher, on August 29, 1891 in Springfield, Missouri

Springfield, Missouri

Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. According to the 2010 census data, the population was 159,498, an increase of 5.2% since the 2000 census. The Springfield Metropolitan Area, population 436,712, includes the counties of...

. Houstin, a Civil War veteran, participated in both the Land run of 1889

Land Run of 1889

The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 was the first land run into the Unassigned Lands and included all or part of the 2005 modern day Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne counties of the U.S. state of Oklahoma...

 and the Land Run of 1893

Land Run of 1893

The Land Run of 1893, also known as the Cherokee Strip Land Run, marked the opening of the Cherokee Outlet to the public. The run happened on September 16, 1893 at noon with more than 100,000 participants hoping to claim land. The land offices for the run were set up in Perry, Enid, Woodward, and...

. While unsuccessful in 1899, Houstin successfully staked a claim southeast of Enid, Oklahoma

Enid, Oklahoma

Enid is a city in Garfield County, Oklahoma, United States. In 2010, the population was 49,379, making it the ninth largest city in Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County. Enid was founded during the opening of the Cherokee Outlet in the Land Run of 1893, and is named after Enid, a...

 in the 1893 run and moved his family there in 1894. Houstin died in 1908, and is interred at Enid Cemetery

Enid Cemetery and Calvary Catholic Cemetery

The Enid Cemetery and Calvary Catholic Cemetery is a cemetery in Enid, Oklahoma that has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1996. Opened in the 1890s, the two cemeteries were designed in the rural cemetery style...

. Marquis James was educated at East Hill School and Central, and graduated Enid High School

Enid High School

Enid High School is a public secondary school in Enid, Oklahoma operated by the Enid Public Schools school district. With a student body of about 1,700 in grades 9-12, Enid High School has about a 65 percent matriculation rate...

 in 1910. He attended one year of college at Phillips University

Phillips University

Phillips University was a private, coeducational institution of higher education located in Enid, Oklahoma, United States, from 1906 to 1998. It was affiliated with the Christian Church . It included an undergraduate college and a graduate seminary...

.

Career

During high school Marquis James helped found the Quill, Enid's student newspaper. He became a reporter for Enid Events at 14. James worked for many of the local papers including Wave Democrat, Enid Morning News, and the Enid Daily Eagle. He also sent Enid related articles to the Wichita Eagle and The Oklahoman. Following high school he worked at various newspapers across the country, including as a rewrite editor for the New York Tribune in 1916.

James served as an Army captain in the First World War, in France from 1917-1919. Following his military service, he became National Director of Publicity for the American Legion

American Legion

The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...

 and worked on the staff at the American Legion Monthly from 1923 to 1932.

Personal life and death

James married fellow reporter Bessie Williams Rowland in 1914. The two collaborated on children's books based on James' Pulitzer prize winning biographies. James divorced Rowland in 1952, marrying Jacqueline Mary Parsons in 1954.
James Marquis died suddenly at the age of sixty-four of a cerebral hemorrhage on November 19, 1955. He was working on a biography of Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington

Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and political leader. He was the dominant figure in the African-American community in the United States from 1890 to 1915...

 at the time of his death. The Public Library of Enid and Garfield County dedicated the Marquis James room to him in 1964 which contains artifacts relating to James' life and career.

Books

• A History of the American Legion
  American Legion
  The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
  
  (1923)
• The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston
  Sam Houston
  Samuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
  
  (1929), for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
  Pulitzer Prize
  The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
  
   in 1930.
• The Border Captain (Volume 1 of the life of Andrew Jackson) (1934)
• They Had Their Hour (1934)
• The Portrait of a President (Volume 2 of the life of Andrew Jackson) (1937)
• The Life of Andrew Jackson
  Andrew Jackson
  Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States . Based in frontier Tennessee, Jackson was a politician and army general who defeated the Creek Indians at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend , and the British at the Battle of New Orleans...
  
   (Combined Vols. 1 & 2 above) (1938), for which he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize
  Pulitzer Prize
  The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
  
   in 1938
• Alfred I. DuPont, The Family Rebel (1941)
• Biography of a Business, 1792-1942 (1943)
• Cherokee Strip: A Tale of an Oklahoma
  Oklahoma
  Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
  
   Boyhood (1945)
• The Metropolitan Life: A study in business growth (1947)
• Merchant Adventurer: The Story of W.R. Grace (completed 1948, published 1993)
• The Texaco Story, The First Fifty Years: 1902-1952 (1953)
• Biography of a Bank: The Story of Bank of America
  Bank of America
  Bank of America Corporation, an American multinational banking and financial services corporation, is the second largest bank holding company in the United States by assets, and the fourth largest bank in the U.S. by market capitalization. The bank is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina...
  
  , with his wife Bessie R. James (1954)

The New Yorker

James also contributed work to The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

, occasionally using the pseudonym "Quid".

Date	Department	Title	Volume/Part	Page(s)	Subject(s)
February 21, 1925	Washington Notes		1/1	24
February 28, 1925	Profiles	Princess Alice	1/2	9-10	Alice Roosevelt Longworth Alice Roosevelt Longworth Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth was the oldest child of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States. She was the only child of Roosevelt and his first wife, Alice Hathaway Lee....
February 28, 1925		Washington Notes	1/2	28
March 7, 1925		Washington Notes	1/3	31
May 27, 1950	Amplification				Casey Jones Casey Jones John Luther Jones was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad... , railroads, folklore
December 3, 1938	That was New York				Astor Place Riot Astor Place Riot The Astor Place Riot occurred on May 10, 1849 at the now-demolished Astor Opera House  in Manhattan, New York City and left at least 25 dead and more than 120 injured... , Edward Z. C. Judson
February 6, 1926	Fiction	Lawndale's winter sports
December 5, 1925	Fiction	Lawndale's fast set
October 3, 1925	Fiction				Crosstown
September 12, 1925	Fiction	Essence of the Campaign
August 29, 1925	Fiction	A Life Briefly Extolled			Quid, an airdale dog.
July 18, 1925	Fiction	Swampscott Correspondence
July 11, 1925		Dayton, Tennessee			Scopes Trial
April 18, 1925	Fiction	This Week's Award			Mayor Hylan

External links

• Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - James, Marquis