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- History of Bucks County, PA, Vol 3 by William H Davis - The James Family:
The James family of Bucks county is of Welsh origin, being descended from John James and Elizabeth, his wife, who with sons Thomas, William, Josiah, and Isaac, migrated in the year 1711 from the parish of Riddillyn, Pembrokeshire, South Wales, and settled in Montgomery Township, Philadelphia, now Montgomery County. They were Welsh Baptists, and the vanguard of the little colony of that denomination who eight years later organized themselves into a church known as the Montgomery Baptist Church, of which the James family were members for many years. New Britain and Hilltown Baptist churches were offshoots of this ancient church. The James family contributed largely to the moral and financial support of the New Britain church for many generations.
William James, son of the emigrant John James and Elizabeth his wife, from whom most of the family now residing in Bucks County are descended, was born in Pembrokeshire about 1692, and died in New Britain Township, Bucks County, in 1778. He seems to have been the favorite son, and was the largest landowner of the family. In the year 1725, his father and brother Thomas conveyed to him 206 acres of the 1,000 acre purchase and, in the same year, he purchased of his brother Josiah his allotment of 235 acres of the same. In 1738, he purchased of John Kirkbridge 2,207 acres of the society lands, part of which is still the property of his descendants. He also owned other tracts of land near Chalfont, which became the property of his sons-in-law. He conveyed practically all of his land to his children in his life time: in 1749 to John the 206 acres, and to Isaac the 207 acres, and in 1758 to Abel the 235 acres.
William James married in 1718. The name of his wife was Mary, but nothing more is known of her. She was baptized at Montgomery church in 1719 as "Mary, wife of William James". She died about 1765. William and Mary James had five children: John; Isaac; Margaret, who married Henry LEWIS; Abel; and Rebecca, who married Simon BUTLER, JR.
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WILL of: JAMES, William, New Britain, Bucks Co, PA
WRITTEN: January 17, 1776
PROVED: August 6, 1778
Filed: August 26, 1778
"In the name of God Amen the Seventeenth Day of January in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred & Seventy Six, I, William James of the Township of New Britain in the County of Bucks and Province of Pennsylvania, yeoman being well stricken in years but of sound mind & memory........"
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1692 - 1779 (87 years)
