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The Stamp Act passed by the parliament of King George III instructed the grandfather of Frank and Jesse James in the power to disobey.
John M. James was informed by his uncle Henry Field, a son of Henry Field Sr. and Esther James. Putting his life and the lives of his family on the line, John’s Uncle Henry was a judge on the Culpeper Court who had resigned his judgeship to oppose the king.
As This Bloody Ground, Volume II of Jesse James Soul Liberty, points out,
“Parliament recently had imposed a cider tax, plus a sugar tax. Now, a stamp tax was to be paid. The revenue stamp was to affix to most every paper item generated throughout the Colony, including documents issued by the Culpeper Court in its jurisdiction over churches and preachers. The stamp equally applied to countless other documents and papers as well, such as a gazette, a bill of sale, a land transfer, or even a will. Payment to the Crown was required in sterling, scarcely found in the colony where barter was the principal currency. Feeding upon every official and non-official act of the colonists, the stamp tax amounted to economic enslavement.”
How egregious were these taxes to cause the James family to turn to revolution?
A recent article titled “What 11 Common Objects Would Cost in 2015 if Colonial Taxation Still Existed” outlines the financial burden in the dollar values of 2015.
Everything in print bore a tax. A magazine tax would add $294.56. A printed diploma would bear a tax of $234.84; a deck of cards, $5.87 in taxes. A printed calendar bore $1.96 additional tax.
Previously levied taxes already were proving burdensome. A pound of tea bore $1.46 in tax. Foreign coffee was expensive, costing $350.86 in tax. Foreign sugar carried a tax burden of $129.16.
The preferred beverage to water was wine. But wine was getting very expensive, too. A ton of wine imported from Spain or Portugal bore a tax of $58.72. Wine imported from Madeira, the favorite of Thomas Jefferson, carried a tax of $821.94, fifteen times more than European wine. The paper on which a license to sell wine was printed, added $469.68 in tax to the license cost.
Indeed, these tax excesses amounted to economic enslavement. Absent relief, revolution became the only recourse. The lessons of economic oppression have remained with the James family since.
Stray Leaves Daily
Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealogy databases.
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.
Read about John James, the Immigrant now.
John James – Immigrant Cavalier to the New World
ericjames.org
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.
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Will the real DAVID JAMES, please, stand up and come forward? Are you still drinking this stuff?
Founder of Churchill Downs race track, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. is a 4th cousin, twice removed of Frank & Jesse James.
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Delma E. Watkins Candido has passed. Del is a granddaughter of Mack Henry James & Dorinda Phelps. She also is a 2nd great-granddaughter of the "talented, but erratic" Rev. Joseph Martin James & Permellia Estepp.
Obituary for Del E. Candido at Pulaski Funeral Home
www.pulaskifuneralhome.com
Del E. Candido, daughter of the late Leonard A. and Ada James Watkins, was born at Dykes, KY on November 29th, 1937 and she departed this life on Thursday, May 5th, 2022 in Somerset, KY having attaine…