James Parsons Major was born into a family of twelve
children, in Frome, Somerset, England, on 13 May 1818. When he was fifteen, the
whole family emigrated to the United States.
While the young James initially found employment as an
assistant cashier at Lord & Taylor’s in New York, it wasn’t long before his
father started pushing him towards a long-held dream of becoming an
engraver. An apprenticeship was arranged
with the French engraver August Halbert. Halbert’s firm mainly dealt in the
engraving of sheet music, and that is how Major was employed as well. He was a
bright pupil and soon displayed a fine talent for the art of engraving, surprising
everyone when he soon was able to finish assignments without the proprietor’s
supervision.
You will find James Parsons Major's database HERE.
In 1836, Halbert managed to find himself and Major a
position with Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Co in New York, where Major became an
engraver of stamps and banknotes. He ended up being the superintendent of the
engraving department of both that firm and its 1858 successor, the American
Bank Note Company.
An article in The Stamp Lover of 1937 lists a number of stamps which may well have been engraved by Major, such as the 1845 New York post office stamp and the first United states stamps of 1847, with Major having owned die proofs of these which he stipulated should never leave the family, but there is no conclusive evidence.
In that same article, he is linked to the stamps of Canada (1851,1855,1859), New Brunswick (1860) and early stamps of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Then there are a number of South American issues which may well have been engraved by Major, such as 1862 Costa Rica, 1862 Nicaragua, 1867 Salvador, Brazil, Chili and Mexico.
Unfortunately, the 1865 24c Newfoundland stamp is so far the only one which can be added to Major's database with a degree of certainty.
Major’s brother-in-law was the stamp engraver Alfred Jones.
Major passed away in 1900.
You will find James Parsons Major's database HERE.