TELLER, James, New York City, NY., then Ascension Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller

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James Teller.  Riverside plantation, which is located about one mile and a
half below Donaldsonville, is owned and operated by one of the most
practical and consequently one of the most successful sugar planters of
Louisiana, James Teller, who was born in the city of New York, in 1811,
being named in honor of his father, who was for many years a resident of
that city, and where he was called from life.  At about the age of seven
years James Teller, the subject of this sketch, left New York city with his
mother and went to Savannah, Ga., and in 1822 came to New Orleans and when
still a boy, or in 1826, began his planting operations in Ascension parish
on what was known as Staresbury plantation.  After some time he became a
mechanic and then a plantation manager and prior to the war became the
owner of a plantation in Iberville parish, but this he afterward disposed
of and purchased his present place, in 1869, which at that time consisted
of 800 acres.  It is one of the finest plantations in the state and is a
model of neatness and thrift, everything about the place indicating that a
man of enlightened and progressive views has the management of affairs.  He
began life with no capital save that with which nature had endowed him, and
he was first initiated into the mysteries of sugar making in this parish,
whither he came after the death of his mother, which occurred soon after
their arrival in New Orleans.  He proved an apt pupil, for he has since
been preeminently successful in its manufacture, and has amassed a handsome
fortune.  Although his career has been a checkered one and he has
experienced the ups and downs of business life, no dishonorable action has
ever been attributed to him, and that his great prosperity is merited, is
acknowledged by all.  Before the war he was manager for Lieutenant-Governor
Landry, of this parish, as well as for other noted and wealthy planters.
He has never made a failure of any enterprise of any importance he has ever
attempted, but on the contrary has always been remarkably successful, and
although he has few favors of any one he has granted many to those less
fortunate than himself.  His career is one of which he may well be proud,
for he is a self-made man in every sense of the word, and although he at
first found some difficulty in obtaining a foothold on the ladder of
success, his ascent was rapid when this had once been accomplished.  He
belongs to the Planters' association, of New Orleans, and the same
organization of Donaldsonville, and politically has always supported
democratic principles.  In 1842 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Thomas,
who died, and in 1862 he wedded Miss Alvine A. Van Lotten, a native of
Germany, their union being celebrated on Belle Alliance plantation.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 416.
Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.