Thanks to Elizabeth Lee “Libby” James-Brown, there are new photos to add to the family album of Libby’s 2nd great-grandfather Edward Perry James and his wife Elizabeth Langford. Libby’s 1st great-grandfather is Jack Oliver James, the husband of Dimple Hite.
This is the family portrait of the Edward Perry James family, with some of his children. Formerly, this was the only known image of Edward Perry James and his family, when they resided in the stone residence built by Perry’s father Rev. Joseph Martin James in Shopville, Kentucky. Perry was born in the stone house. At a later date, Perry would remove his family to Berea, Kentucky, where he built them a two-story home in a modest Victorian fashion.
Edward Perry & Elizabeth Langford James with the youngest six of their nine children. Seated below are Rhoda May James and her sister Flora Helen James. Standing L-R are William Harvey and George W. James with Ophelia James. Missing are Perry’s three sons, Walter Andrew James who had moved to California, Harvey H. James, whose whereabouts are now unknown, and John Oliver James who had moved to Texas, but would return to the stone house for a final visit before he died.
To this we can now add the following portrait photos, one done earlier in their lives of Perry and his wife Elizabeth, and the other later.
From the Flat Lick Baptist Church, we also have this 1899 photo, celebrating the church’s first 100 years. In his suspenders, Edward Perry James is front and center with Elizabeth and their three daughters standing behind.
Years later, yours truly still is quoted on my challenge to chopper celebrity Jesse Gregory James, aka Jesse James. I’m still waiting for his DNA profile. … See MoreSee Less
THE FIRST IMMIGRANT TO AMERICA OF OUR JAMES FAMILY . . .
Stray Leaves, our website below, now reaches back into the 17th century to bring you the story of our first immigrant, John James, in narrative form.
John’s story comes to us through original documents and seasoned source citations, which are also provided.
What John James Tells Us • He arrived at Jamestown. • He transported 10 indentured people. • He was rewarded with a land patent. • The location of his land can be visited today. • He and his neighbors comprised the important founding families of Virginia. • The location of origination of the James in the Old World, as Jesse James family historians say is Pembrokeshire, Wales is disputed and unproven. • The name identity of John’s wife as formerly stated by traditional genealogists is disproved. • John James arrived as an oligarch and royalist with no pretensions to democracy or self-rule. • Early James family wealth was accrued in the tobacco culture and by land speculation. • John and his family were followers of the Church of England. • His children and grandchildren remained savvy and street-wise, relating well with common people. • Generations beyond the grandchildren of John James produced significant diversity in America’s people and culture.
The first foothold of the James family in the New World was secured by John James, the Immigrant. John was born about 1623. Sometime before 1690, he died.