Died
In this village, on Tuesday, the 18th inst., of Consumption, Mr. James Wells Ransom, aged 23 years. Kalamazoo Gazette February 29,1840 page 3

Died in this village on the 19th [sic]ult., after a severe and protracted sickness with the intermittent fever, Mr. James W. Ransom, aged twenty-three; the youngest son of the late Ezekiel, and brother of the Honorable Epaprio. Ransom. Mr. Ransom was, from his childhood, of that class of persons who inspire confidence and secures the attention of all who see, and the affections and lasting remembrance of all with whom they associate. In childhood he was comely in form and mild in manners, in youth graceful and unassuming; and dignified and grave in manhood. He received his early education chiefly in the schools of his native village, West Townshend, Br; where he sustained well his part among numerous youthful competitors, as a scholar; and in final obedience and social affection he had no rival; his love of order and peace, whether in the youthful circle of the seminary or around the quiet fireside of home, none surpassed, few, if any, equaled. There was no element of the boisterous in his temperament. Reason, from his early youth, presided in all his councils, and regulated all his actions, and every passion was subjected to the sway of his fast-expanding benevolence. There was no frown on his brow, no austerity in his manner. He was accessible to all but the vicious, and by a gentle disposition and winning address found easy and ready access to the hearts of others. At the age of about eighteen he went, for the purpose of completing his studies preparatory for college, in Middlebury, Vt., where, soon after, during a revival of religion, he became a firm believer in the gospel of christ, and a happy recipient of God's saving grace. He soon after united himself with the Baptist Church, in which he continued a faithful and active member to his death. He was not only professionally but practically pious.
He became a member of the Middlebury College in the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four, where he remained during four years; here also, he was the object of high estimation and merited attention. By the Faculty he was loved for his reverence of the laws and honored for his punctuality, perseverance and success as a scholar; by older students and more advanced classes, for his sound judgement, just principles, agreeable, manly and graceful deportment; by his classmates, for his fraternal affection, wise counsel, Christian friendship and fidelity. Nor was his influence, like many students, confined exclusively to the recitation rooms and the halls of the College; the citizens saw and were attracted, they heard and remembered. By nature he was highly gifted, and by culture well instructed in the science and art of music, That voice, now hushed in death, has often swelled with praise while multitudes have stood in attentive silence and listened with the raptures of devotion.
He took leave of the President, fellows and students of the college in the summer of thirty-eight, with their impressive good by, or God he with you. His fellow classmates clustered round and gave the parting hand, the most significant expression of that friendship which acquaintance had strengthened and time matured. The world was then their arena. Youth, beauty, intelligence and, hope all combined to give life and splendor to a scene already magnificent—To his respective home each repaired to recount to friends the last scenes in which he had acted, and to display the laurels he had won.
The home of Mr. Ransom had changed. The hills and glens, the wild crags and romantic mountains of his native State had been left for the expansive plains and prairies of Michigan. To this, with buoyant hopes, he repaired. His journey was short and prosperous. Parents once more embraced the child of their fondness, the youth of their hope, now the man of stature, might, dignity nod promise. Brothers, sisters, acquaintances hailed him to their society with kind greeting and hearty welcome.
He had designed to make it short visit with his friends and then to proceed to the Southern section of our Union; but by the advice of relations and wishes of friends, he consented to become it citizen or this village. The ministry had been the profession towards which he had directed his studies and attention; he however, gave up the of study divinity, and in the spring of eighteen hundred and thirty-nine commenced the study of the law; for which change, he is said during, his last illness, to have expressed some regret and determination, if his life was spared and health restored, to enter again upon the study of divinity. But his expectations; and the high hopes of his friends are signally forever blasted. The resplendent scenes of the morning, beaming with brightness and promising wide spread usefulness; and are its meridian glory beamed, became overshadowed by the curtain of death and the darkness of the grate. The countenance glowing with beauty and intelligence faded under the withering rays of fever, and the man of grace, dignity and strength wasted away under a malignant disease. Yet, though his fleshly beauty faded and his manly strength palsied and trembled before the pale visage of death, his mind, his soul, quailed not. Reason triumphed, even when the tongue tremblingly whispered, nod the eye lost its effulgence. His hope in God strengthened as the moment of death approached nearer. Death had no terrors—his sting was blunted. He had the full assurance that for him to die was gain; that the portals of Heaven, which had scarcely closed since the entrance of the immortal spirit of his father, over whom he had recently and faithfully watched through sickness to death, would now unfold to admit his own.
Not a murmur, not n groan, or a look of despair agitated his bosom or wrinkled his brow. The mild serenity of life became doubly serene in death. The charms of earth were already lost in the bright scenes of heaven breaking upon his seraphic vision. One lingering wish remained that he might be the instrument in the hands of his redeemer of souls, and even this, with the most quiet acquiescence, he resigned to the will of his Creator. But the moment came. The spirit, silent and unseen, departed for the blissful abodes of Heaven; and the body, as calmly as to a nights repose, sunk into the sleep of death, thus to slumber till the resurrection morn.
Mr. Ransom was one of those shining marks at which death aims a signal blow- His relatives, his friends, our citizens all, as is meet and natural, mourn his loss; the Christian in peaceful triumph for his happy change; the unbeliever in wonder and silent awe of that mysterious Providence, that has selected the young, the intelligent, the man of brightest promise, and spared the aged, the enervate and hopeless. But the god who gave has called him home, and it is not for us to ask why, nor with presumptuous security examine his plans. Though his brief stay on earth did not allow his expanded and expanding mind to acquire a great name and fame, yet his name lives in the memory of many, and all who knew him are ready to say that the virtue which refined his soul and enabled him to share so largely in the friendship of earth was preparatory. Kalamazoo Gazette March 14, 1840 page 3