Introduction

Biography

James was the son of James Cal­vin Gar­ri­son and Dia­na Kyle, and fa­ther of Win­fred Gar­ri­son.

In 1861, he en­list­ed to fight in the Am­eri­can ci­vil war. Wound­ed at the Bat­tle of Pea Ridge, Ar­kan­sas, in March 1862, he avoid­ed cap­ture by Con­fed­er­ate forc­es and ob­tained life-saving me­di­cal treat­ment.

After the war, Gar­ri­son st­udied at Ab­ing­don Col­lege, Ab­ing­don, Il­li­nois, and be­came af­fi­li­at­ed with the Dis­ci­ples of Christ.

He was a pas­tor, pub­lish­er, mis­sion­ary, and ed­it­or the rest of his life. He be­gan his ed­it­or­ial ca­reer with J. C. Rey­nolds, work­ing at The Gos­pel Echo, which ev­en­tu­al­ly be­came the Chris­tian-Ev­an­gel­ist, where he was an ed­it­or for 45 years.

Among his ven­tures was the found­ing of Gar­ri­son Park be­tween Lake Mi­chi­gan and Pent­wa­ter Lake. His re­pu­tation was so high that in 1909 he was chos­en key­note speak­er at the Cen­ten­ni­al of the Dis­ci­ples of Christ in Pitts­burgh, Penn­syl­van­ia.

In 1914 he sold his pub­lish­ing com­pa­ny to R. A. Long and moved to Los An­ge­les, Ca­li­for­nia.

Works

• Loving Voic­es, with Simp­son Ely, Charles H. Hump­hrey & Ro­bert G. Staples (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Chri­stian Pub­lish­ing, 1887)
• The Old Faith Re­stat­ed (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Chris­tian Pub­lish­ing, 1891)
• Christian Un­ion: A His­to­ri­cal Stu­dy (St. Lou­is, Mis­sou­ri: Chris­tian Pub­lish­ing, 1906)
• Christ the Way (St. Louis, Mis­sou­ri: Be­tha­ny Press, 1926)