James Acreman was born on August 18, 1925, and lived in St. Anthony. His father was Benjamin Acreman from Bay Roberts, and his mother was Harriet (née Winters) from Labrador. Ben, who worked at the Grenfell Orphanage, played the fiddle quite well, as did his father before him. Young Jimmy began learning to play at age four and later learned tunes by ear from Don Messer and Ned Landry records. 

Collector’s Note: I got two unique tunes from Jimmy, which are notated here.