James H. Wolfe (d. ca. 1836)

James Harnett Wolfe was born between 1780 and 1800, probably at Templeathea, in western County Limerick. He was the son of Maurice James Woulfe and Hanora Harnett Woulfe. Wolfe’s siblings included Richard (b. 1802), John Harnett (b. 1807), Edmond, Timothy, Mary, Patrick Maurice, and Catherine.

Family oral history—contained in a letter written by Jane C. “Dollie” Woulfe and dated August 1956—suggests that James Wolfe “had intended to go into the Church and had acquired a good knowledge of the classics. He changed his mind, however, and left for the United States in 1824.”

Other sources relating to his brothers’ attempt to claim his estate suggest that he immigrated in 1819, establishing a school, or working as a teacher, in Virginia. He remained there for about twelve years. According to Dollie Woulfe’s letter, he then moved west to Monticello, Iowa. Although many Wolfes later settled in Iowa, evidence conclusively indicates that James Wolfe actually moved to Monticello, Lewis County, in northeastern Missouri. The county, named for the Virginia explorer Meriwether Lewis, was established in 1833; a log courthouse was completed in Monticello, named for Thomas Jefferson’s home, in June 1834.

On October 16, 1835, Wolfe made five purchases totaling more than 505 acres of land from the U.S. government in Palmyra, the seat of neighboring Marion County, in northeastern Missouri and bordering the Mississippi River. By 1836, the estate’s estimated worth was $9,000.

According to the Aunt Dollie letter, Wolfe “had, throughout, kept in communication with his kinfolk in Cratloe and one, at least, of his letters is extant. Then the letters suddenly stopped.”

Wolfe’s brothers Richard and John Wolfe traveled to the United States to inquire after his whereabouts in 1836. In a letter home dated December 26, 1836, John Wolfe writes that “Brother James Wolfe died in the state of Mississippi the first [of the] year he went to Natchez. The fine learned man. There is nothing grieves Richard [and me] more than to say that we cant see, hear or find our brother alive on his Estate after the bold stroke we made in going to him five thousand miles from home.” A century later, on May 13, 1939, the letter was published in the Limerick Leader newspaper.

Dollie Woulfe’s letter speculates that Wolfe was murdered: “He had been drowned in the river and there had been a suspicion of foul play.” Whatever the case, his brothers took title to James Wolfe’s land and settled in Missouri. James Wolfe never married or had children.

Top of the page: Plat map of Lewis County from Standard Atlas of Lewis County, Missouri (1916)

Selected Sources

J. D. H., “Written Over a Century Ago; Interesting Letter from West Limerick Exile,” Limerick Leader, May 13, 1939.

Letter from Dollie Woulfe to Sr. Mary Caelan (Helen Woulfe), August 1956.

Letter from John H. Wolfe to his family, December 26, 1836; rough transcription.