James Alexander Seddon was born on July 13, 1815, in Falmouth, Virginia, to Thomas Seddon and Susan Pearson. He attended the University of Virginia before establishing a successful legal practice in Richmond, Virginia. He married Sarah Bruce in Richmond on December 23, 1845, and they had at least eight children: Elvira, born around 1846; Thomas, born around 1847; James, born around 1850; William, born around 1851; Anna, born around 1852; Arthur, born around 1854; Charles, born around 1859; and Rosa, born around 1859. Seddon joined the Democratic Party and served in Congress from 1845 to 1847 and again from 1849 to 1851. In 1860, he reported $27,000 in real estate and $365,000 of personal property, including at least one slave. During the "secession winter" of 1860-1861, Seddon attended the peace convention in Washington, D.C., hoping to devise a compromise that could avert a sectional crisis. When Virginia seceded, however, Seddon ultimately sided with the Confederacy. He became the Confederate Secretary of War in November 1862 and held the position until early 1865, when he retired from public life. He died in Goochland County, Virginia, on August 19, 1880.