Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
His family name is Charles Michael James. As an artist-poet, and publisher, Mike is known among the art world and literary circles as C. M. James.
Mike was born in Somerset, Kentucky, a second great-grandson of Rev. Joseph Martin James and Permellia Estepp. He attended Youngstown and Ohio State Universities.
As a poet, artist, and illustrator, Mike founded Fantome Press. He began to publish poets of the Beat Generation. He also published classic American and British poets.
A retrospective of his work as an artist brought the following comment:
“Several of his pictures are offered in different sizes, combinations, and colors, offering surprise after surprise. An element is offered alone and is quite sufficient. Later, admiring a patterned work of almost ornate intricacy, it is amazing and a little disconcerting to find it composed of repetitions of that element.”
The Beat poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote to Mike:
“Dear James – You’ve done a beautiful job of my poems on your tiny press. Please thank everyone involved. Ad thanks for all the copies. I didn’t expect as many.
“Confused–
Lawrence Ferlinghetti”
As a book collector, Mike assembled a vast library of books on the subject of the tattoo.
Poems of William Blake published by C. M. James
CURRICULUM VITAE
Since 1989: Artist in residence, Trumbull Art Gallery, Warren OH
1988 Board of Directors, Trumbull Art Gallery
1988 Kenneth Patchen Literary Festival Committee, Warren, OH
1987 A.A. Degree with an emphasis in painting, Kent State University, Trumbull Campus, Warren OH
1976 Founded Fantome Press
1971 Youngstown State University, graphic design & life drawing
1966-1968 Ohio State University, major in graphic design
1947 Born Somerset, KY on January 20
EXHIBITIONS
1990 One man exhibition: Ohio Historical Society Museum of Labor & Industry, Youngstown, OH
1989-1990 Butler Institute of America Art Area Annual
1990 Performance piece at Picture Show Gallery, Warren, OH
1988-1990 American Cancer Society Annual Art Show, Warren OH
1989-1990 Exhibition: Park Hotel lobby, Warren OH for 6 months
1990 Mahoning Bank Building, Warren OH for 3 months
1990 Installation at Dimitri’s Restaurant, Warren OH
1989 Trumbull Art Gallery Annual, Warren OH (Award for Painting)
1988 Exhibition: Block prints & Fantome Press material, Library of Trumbull Campus of Kent State University, Warren OH
1988 Exhibition: Trumbull New Theater Gallery, Niles, OH
1988 Exhibition: Youngstown Playhouse, Youngstown, OH
1988 One Man Show: Eastwood Mall, Niles, OH
1988 Exhibition: Celebration of the Square Festival in downtown Warren, OH
1986-1988 Trumbull Art Gallery Annual, Warren, OH
1981 “Art of the Macabre” Exhibition, Ashtabula Arts Center, Ashtabula, OH
1973 Butler Institute of America Art 35th Area Artists Annual, Youngstown, OH (Award for Painting)
1973 Group Exhibit: Avalon Inn, Howland, OH
COLLECTIONS
Covellie Enterprises, Warren OH
Jack Gibson Company, Warren OH
The University of California at Santa Cruz Library, Special Collections
I.W.W. (Industrial Workers of the World) Permanent Collection, Chicago, IL
J. Abronovich, New Jersey
William Mullane, Warren OH
Ohio Historical Society, Museum of Labor & Industry
Drs. Joseph & Ann Chester
Trumbull Memorial Hospital
GRANTS & AWARDS
Recipient of Regrat: Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County for feasibility study & model for Labor Memorial for Trumbull County
Award: Trumbull Art Gallery Annual, 1989
Award: Butler Institute of American Art, 35th Area Artists Annual, 1973
Mike’s ARCHIVES are found at the Ohio State University, Rare Books and Manuscripts Library, Identification: Spec.cms.315
“The C. M. James/ Fantome Press Collection consists of documents, publications, videotapes, cassette tapes, correspondence, etc. all relating to the small press owned by C. M. James, The Fantome Press, and the cassette distribution project he ran, called the Underground Culture Vultures. The Fantome Press has been operating in Warren, Ohio since 1976 and publishes original works by various authors including C. M. James.”
Since suffering a stroke in 1993, Mike has retired from writing and publishing.
___________________________________________
UPDATE: April 16, 2018
C.M. James has two works of art in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. See “bird” and Ephemera.
Stray Leaves Daily
Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealog
VIDEO of the Clay County Board of Commissioners bestowing honor upon our James colleague & friend Charlies Broomfield. Recognition begins at 2:00 min. mark.
Congratulations Charlie!!
We have hints from the Clay County Archives in charge of James Farm in Kearney, Missouri, that a road leading to the farm will be renamed Charles Broomfield Rd. Charlie was a Clay County Commissioner who took an active role in arranging the sale and transfer of James Farm from the James family to Clay County.
Cant say that I understand the significance of this.
Do you have the address of Jesse & Frank James Cabin in Paseo Robles, California?
SLAVE TRADERS AMONG OUR JAMES FAMILY . . . For a decade Stray Leaves has been researching this most distressing discovery. Finally, it’s time to bring this story to light. There’s much to report. The entire story will take time to tell. As we begin, we are also compelled to reconcile what this history means for us. More specifically for those who are now known to descend from these slave traders, whom it can be assumed never knew of this element of their ancestry, but also for the James family as a whole. The resolution will not come easy.
Forks of the Road Slave Market – Violence In Silence
ericjames.org
“Just at the Forks, where the Washington and Kingston, or Palatine roads converge, stood a low squatty frame building used during the winter monthsI ran a DNA test on all the James names I could find in these stories and didn't get 1 DNA match. My DNA is closer to Jesse than that James line is. I am looking into it being through Robert Thomason (step grandfather of Jesse Woodson James) and Julia Ann Singleton (Aunt to Jesse Woodson James).
I am a descendant of Betty G Woodson.
Waterproof, La in Tensas Parish to be more exact.
Tensas Parish. J. G. James and M. Kerrigan.
The King family. Descendants of Viking slayers. archive.org/stream/Kingswood/Kingswood%20reduced_djvu.txt
"In the middle of 1864, Captain Jason W. James was on scouting duty in the southern part of Madison Parish. About eight o'clock one morning he and his company arrived at the Plantation home of Hr. Joshua James on Roundaway Bayou, who also owned the Ione Plantation in Tensas Parish." You will have to read the rest. I am not posting it here. 😲 😲 😲 sites.rootsweb.com/~lamadiso/articles/ward/chap05.htm
And I do believe this James line is connected to Lucille Ball.
And speaking of slave traders. Nicholas Trammell is mixed in with the Carrigans somehow. www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/trammell-nicholas
And I am a descendant of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas. Wife of Captain Edmund King.
I am also showing DNA matches to the James grandparents of Jesse Woodson James and all 8 of his great grandparents. This is what I need help figuring out. All of my James DNA matches will be in the replies to this comment. In this screenshot they are all the white ones
The sons of Colonial Edmund King.
I am a descendant of Mary Joicy who was widow Woodson, mother of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas.
By the way I am not a Kerrigan by DNA. I am a Carrigan. Civil War name change. Descendant of William Michael Carrigan and Nancy Holt. Nancy Holt was the daughter of Michael Holt III and Rachel Rainey. youtu.be/IsK2eSTVW8A
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Where does Lucille Ball fit?
FIND-A-GRAVE BLUNDERS LEAVE JAMES FAMILY HOWLING . . . Can you spot the errata in this Find a Grave post for the grandfather of Frank & Jesse James? The most glaring deception is the photograph!
History tells us the photograph was invented about the time John M. James was dying. Neither history, nor the administrator of this posting, Charlotte Raley McConaha, can tell us is how photographic technology made its way from France to the distant American frontier to take a photo of John M. James, months before his demise.
Another imprecise miscalculation in this post is the attribution of the middle name “Martin” to John M. James. The name never has been proved by evidence. To guess the name is unreliable and wrong.