James S. Marders was born around 1822 in Virginia to William Marders. His father was a farmer. He married Rebecca Kirby in the early 1850s, and they had four children: Robert, born around 1853; Elizabeth, born around 1855; Susan, born around 1861; and Thomas, born around 1863. Marders lived in Fairfax County, Virginia, and worked as a sea captain, and in 1850, he owned $125 of personal property. By 1860, he was working as a farmer. He enlisted in the Confederate army, but Union forces apparently captured him in early 1862. He returned to Mount Vernon, Virginia, after the war, and by 1870, he owned $600 of personal property. He died in Alexandria, Virginia, in June 1890.