Our History: Featured Alumni/ae: James, Rorer A., 1887

Congressman from Virginia

Born near Brosville, Virginia, Rorer Abraham James was instructed by private tutors before attending Roanoke College. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington in 1882 and from the Law Department of the University of Virginia in 1887. He was admitted to the bar in 1887 and commenced practice in Danville, Virginia. He became owner and editor of the Danville Register in 1899 and later purchased the Danville Bee. He served as member of the Virginia House of Delegates in the years 1889-1892 and in the Senate of Virginia from 1893 to 1901. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1920, as chairman of the fifth district Democratic committee, and as chairman of the Democratic State committee. He served as head of the Virginia Military Institute Board of Trustees.

James was elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-sixth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of U.S. Representative Edward W. Saunders, and reelected to the Sixty-seventh Congress (June 1, 1920-August 6, 1921). He died on August 6, 1921, in Danville, Virginia and was buried in Green Hill Cemetery.