Personal life
On July 28, 1840, James was married to Mary Robertson Walsh (1810–1882), the sister of a fellow Princeton seminarian, by the mayor of New York, in his bride's house on Washington Square. The couple lived in New York, and together had five children:
William James (1842–1910), a philosopher and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States.
Henry James Jr. (1843–1916), an author considered to be among the greatest novelists in the English language who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, 1912, and 1916.
Garth Wilkinson "Wilkie" James (1845–1883), who married Caroline Eames Cary.
Robertson "Bob" James (1846–1910), who married Mary Lucinda Holton (1849–1922).
Alice James (1848–1892), a writer who became well known for her diary published posthumously in 1934 with a more complete version published in 1964.
James's marriage was a happy one, and when Mary James died on January 29, 1882, his will to live seemed to die with her. His work on yet another volume flagged, and he fell into a state of indolence. He rallied briefly after visits from his sons, called to his side by his daughter, Alice. But he suffered a relapse after Henry Jr. and William left on excursions to Europe. His famous sons never saw him alive again. He died on December 18, 1882, at his residence on Vernon Street in Boston.
On the same day, his son Henry's boat docked in New York on his way back to see his father. William James, in London at the time, was kept from full knowledge of his father's decline in order not to interfere with a much needed vacation; when he learned that his father was on his deathbed, four days before his final demise, William James wrote a moving letter that his father never read. In it, the famous psychologist wrote:
In that mysterious gulf of the past into which the present will soon fall and go back and back, yours is still for me the central figure. All my intellectual life I derive from you; and though we have often seemed at odds in the expression thereof I'm sure there's a harmony somewhere, & that our strivings will combine. What my debt to you is goes beyond all my power of estimating,—so early, so penetrating and so constant has been the influence. ... Good night my sacred old Father. If I don't see you again—Farewell! a blessed farewell!
Henry Sr. made Henry Jr. the executor of his estate, which caused resentment from his eldest son William. Under the terms of his will, Wilkie received a smaller share of the estate than his siblings, because his father felt that he had advanced enough money to him in his lifetime which had been lost in failed business ventures. However, Henry, Alice and Bob felt badly about Wilkie, who suffered from a heart condition and rheumatic fever after injuries incurred in the Civil War, so they decided to redistribute the estate equally. William strongly disagreed with this, arguing that it was easier for Alice and Henry to forfeit a larger share of the estate to Wilkie because they did not have families of their own to support. The matter had not been resolved when Wilkie died in November 1883, less than a year after his father.
