Francis Henderson James was born in 1888 to an affluent family in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. He graduated from Louisiana State University in 1912 with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and received his M.S. in Sugar Engineering in 1913. James served in the U.S. Army during World War I. After spending seventeen years in the sugar industry in Puerto Rico, he was employed as chief engineer from the 1930s to 1950s at the Salsburg Sugar Factory on the Helvetia Plantation in St. James Parish, Louisiana. He died in a Baton Rouge hospital of pneumonia and other complications resulting from injuries sustained in an automobile accident on September 2, 1959 in Donaldsonville, Louisiana.
From the description of Francis Henderson James papers, 1869-1973 (bulk 1909-1960). (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 71842866
