James Alfred Merritt, CPT (1885-1929)
Photo provided by the University of Colorado Boulder Museum Archives – pictured Captain James Alfred Merritt, Jr. (photo circa 1918)
James Alfred Merritt, Jr. was born December 24, 1885 in Baltimore City, Maryland. Born to James Alfred Merritt, Sr. and Emma Henrietta Wickes. He commissioned as Second Lieutenant on September 25, 1908 after graduating from the Virginia Military Institute.
April 14, 1910, James Alfred Merritt married his first wife Eloise Davis Ringgold. They had one child named James Alfred Merritt III born April 2, 1924 in Denver, Colorado. CPT Merritt was posted at Fort Bayard, New Mexico between 1912 and 1917. Retired as Captain for disability incurred in the line of duty on May 15, 1917. Was placed again on active duty and served at Fort Bayard, New Mexico before being ordered to Boulder, Colorado to command the Army ROTC program at the University of Colorado in December 1917.
James was ill with tuberculosis from his prior posting in the Philippines, and was in and out of hospitals between 1910 and his death in 1929. Fort Bayard was re-commissioned as a U.S. Army medical experiment post – individuals being treated there were generally ill with “tropical diseases”.
December 27, 1917, James married his second wife Hazel Ruth Haynes in Boulder, Colorado. Hazel was from Topeka, Kansas and was born around 1899. They were living at Fort Logan in 1920. Returned finally to retired list July 15, 1920.
May 27, 1921, James married his third wife Leah Rose Bassett from Littleton, Colorado (Arapahoe County). Leah was born in Spring Valley, Nevada on December 10, 1897. Leah was believed to be a nurse.
James Alfred Merritt died on February 24, 1929 at St. Luke’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado while in surgery. He was 43 years old. He was buried at St. Paul’s Kent Churchyard Cemetery, Chestertown, Maryland (Kent County).