James V. Mansfield was born in Dudley, Massachusetts in 1817 to farmers Jera and Lucretia Mansfield. The family claimed to be related to Lord Mansfield who rid England of Slavery. James’ ability as a medium started at an early age when he began seeing spirits. He suffered from a sickness during his teen years and was thought to be close to death seven times. He was an avid reader during his sickness, but never received any schooling until after he recovered at the age of twenty. He attended an academic school for about six months, studying English. After that, he became a clerk at a country store until he was 22.
James married Mary Hopkinson in 1847 and they had three children. They endured many financial struggles, and he was impelled at times to travel in search of work. He taught penmanship in Virginia and the Carolinas before returning to the store where he worked for several more years.
After moving to Boston, James became a prominent member of the Spiritualist movement. He was listed in the fourth Annual Spiritualist Register in 1860, provided spirit communications through letter writing, and earned the title, “spirit postmaster.” Those who wished to communicate with the departed could have a séance with him in person or mail a letter to the spirit in care of Mansfield. In the latter case, he would provide answers to unopened letters. He granted sittings if they didn’t interfere with his regular work. After some time, he became so popular that he decided to make mediumship his business.
James left Boston to travel, visiting the major cities in the eastern United States. Then he went to the Pacific coast and remained there for three years. While he traveled, he wrote home to his wife. His letters to her totaled over 16,000 pages. From 1866-1869, he also responded to 31,000 letters, 21,000 which were written and sent free, without any payment or any demand for payment. According to the Banner of Light, “As the answers he sent are written very coarsely on printing paper, postage stamps form no inconsiderable item in these expenses, sometimes as high as twenty cents being put upon one letter….”
Mansfield was both admired and disdained for his “talents.” He also referred to himself as a “test medium,” providing free communications for skeptics. In 1885, he was studied by the University of Pennsylvania’s Seybert Commission, which was established to investigate spiritualist phenomena. After observing him, Dr. Horace Howard Furness of the Commission concluded in the official report that he was at best a charlatan.
Others stood by him. In the Banner of Light, 7 November 1885, Vol. 58, No. 8 it stated, “Of the many whom we have personally known to have tested his mediumship, we can refer to a no less experienced and accurate an observer then Rev. John Pierpont, who frequently, during his earth-life, held private seances with Mr. Mansfield and received such undoubted evidence of his mediumship as to go far toward firmly convincing him of the truth of Spiritualism.”
James Mansfield died 1899 in Ipswich, Massachusetts at the age of 82. He wrote to Mr. Jay Chaapel, “I have been trying to live for the last half century to make the world better from my having lived in it, but if so it remains to be seen….Forty-six years have I labored for Spiritualism, and have never rusted. I have written 700,000 communications in 15 different languages on paper five inches wide to three and a half feet in length, which, if pasted together, would have extended twice around the globe. My public labors have ended, though with few exceptions, I do write for packages from abroad occasionally. I have lost the sight of my right eye, have but partial use of my right arm, and my lower limbs have become almost useless from paralysis. I am 82 years old, have no fear of death and have been looking forward for the change the last ten years.”