Head was born on July 25, 1855, in Sumner County, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, about six miles out of Gallatin on Scottsville Pike. His father was Dr. James M. Head Sr., a physician who served in the Tennessee Legislature in 1861 and also served in the American Civil War as a surgeon in the Thirty-fourth Tennessee Regiment. Dr. Head was captured at Fort Donelson held prisoner at Camp Chase until near the end of the war. The junior Head received his early education in Gallatin; he then read law for two years with John J. Vertrees. He attended Harvard Law School and graduated in 1876. At age 21, he returned to Gallatin to begin his law practice with S. F. Wilson.
Career
Head was elected to the Tennessee Legislature in 1880 and re-elected in 1882. While there, he was a member of a committee to draft the State debt adjustment. He moved to Nashville, just 30 miles southwest of Gallatin, in 1880 and partnered with Col. S.A. Champion forming the law firm of Champion and Head. Head became editor-in-chief of The Nashville American, a newspaper published from 1894 to 1910. It merged with the Nashville Tennessean in 1907. In the publication, Head espoused a policy advocating the free coinage of silver and a tariff for revenue only. He was elected Mayor of Nashville in October, 1899, which necessitated his dissolving his law partnership. He served a second term as mayor, running unopposed. He held the office from 1900 to 1904. Head was a member of the Democratic National Committee from 1896 to 1904. In this role, he once requested changing the location of the Democratic National Convention, scheduled for Kansas City in 1900, to another city because the Tennessee Delegation could not get rooms cheaper than five dollars per day. He declared this rate "out of all reason". Head was elected President of the League of American Municipalities at its annual meeting in Baltimore in 1903. Head, along with then Tennessee Governor James B. Frazier, addressed the National Negro Business League's annual meeting held at the Tennessee statehouse in 1903. After Head and Frazier's opening remarks, Booker T. Washington, the league's president made his annual address.
William Jennings Bryan
In 1903, Head was mentioned by William Jennings Bryan as a possible presidential candidate. Head and Bryan were fast friends, but that was not always the case. At the Democratic Convention in 1904, Head was on the credentials committee, who recommended the seating of the Roger Sullivan delegation from Illinois which William Jennings Bryan opposed. This developed into a battle in which oratory was the order of the day. Head spoke in favor of adoption of the committee's recommendation, followed by a speech to the contrary by Bryan which, according to the press, "swayed the galleries with its eloquence"; however, when Head closed the argument with a rebuttal, Bryan lost the vote. Bryan would not speak to Head after the debate, but the animosity was short-lived. Historian John Allison described Head thus: "Although a partisan on all questions pertaining to public policy he has hosts of Republican friends because of his genial disposition and general good-fellowship".
Views on municipal government
At age 49 Head relocated from Nashville to Boston where he resumed the practice of law. During this time he became a speaker and debater on the subject of municipal government. Head favored government by mayor and city council as opposed to government by commission. He debated the matter with Charles W. Eliot, then president of Harvard University and with George Kibbe Turner of McClure's Magazine, both of whom favored the opposite governing method. Their presentations were made before the Economic Club of Boston on January 11, 1907. Others on the program were William H. Lincoln, Harvey S. Chase, and Arthur Warren,. Head's presentation was punctuated with occasions of humor and received with many instances of applause. Head became vice-president of Warren Brothers Company, one of the largest paving and road-building companies in the U.S. The Boston-based company patented a type of asphaltroad surface material.
Personal life
Head was married to Minnie C. Cherry on June 30, 1885. They lived on Eighth Avenue South in Nashville, in a home that was built on the former Burton property. It was built by Head's father-in-law, William C. Cherry in 1884. Cherry was head of the firm of Cherry, Morrow and Company, manufacturers of the "Tennessee Wagon". On Cherry's death the property was passed to his wife and children; eventually, the Heads lived there for about 20 years. They had three children: James Marshall Head III, Mrs. Ned Conway, and Mrs. Charles Brooks. After the Heads moved to Boston, the property was sold to the "Presbyterian Bible Training School" in 1910.
Sudden death
Head died suddenly at age 74 while attending a dinner for Democratic Mayors at Boston's Statler Hotel on March 31, 1930. The dinner was sponsored by the Boston Democratic City Committee, the Alfred E. Smith League of Massachusetts and the Democratic Women Voters. The event included about 1500 people and Head was seated near the stage of the main ballroom when he slumped forward in his chair before the program had started. He was assisted to an ante-room by those nearby and was pronounced dead by Dr. John H.F. Connor, who happened to be an attendee.
