..., Massachusetts, near the Block House Yard on the North River, where his family had carried on ship building for several generations, he inherited the trade of a ship carpenter. He was the son of Major John James and Patience Clapp; he was born September 29, 1790, and baptized June 5, 1791, as Galen Clapp James, in honor of his maternal grandfather. He did not habitually use his middle initial, but it appea...