HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



with real estate titles and conveyancing. 

 He is a member of Doylestown Lodge, 

 No. 245, F. & A. M.; Doylestown Chap- 

 ter, R. A. M.; and Philadelphia Con- 

 sistory; Doylestown Lodge, No. 94, L 

 O. O. F. ; the Royal Arcanum and the 

 Knights of the Golden Eagle. He was 

 married in 1895 to Madeline Mai Gen- 

 try, of Memphis. Tennessee, and has 

 two children, Madeline A., and Wynne, 

 Junior. 



HENRY A. JAMES, attorney and 

 counselor at law, Doylestown, son of 

 Eugene and Martha A. (Riale) James, 

 was born in Doylestown borough, Octo- 

 ber 22, 1865. Through the various in- 

 termarriages of his ancestors, as shown 

 by the preceding sketch of the James 

 family, Mr. James is a descendant of 

 two of the sons of the emigrant John 

 James, viz: William and Thomas, and 

 a lineal descendant of three of the sons 

 of the former. 



Eugene James, the father of Henry A. 

 James, was the son of Col. Isaiah and 

 Caroline James, and was born at War- 

 rington, Bucks county, where his father 

 was at the time conducting a store, 

 March 31, 1831. Most of his boyhood 

 days were spent in Hilltown, where 

 his father was engaged in the mercan- 

 tile business. In 1849 his father pur- 

 chased the old James plantation in New 

 Britain, and Eugene, at the age of eigh- 

 teen years, became its principal farmer, 

 his father at the time being prothono- 

 tary of the county. He remained on the 

 farm until his marriage in 1864 to Maria 

 A. Riale, daughter of Abiah James and 

 Miranda (James) Riale, when he settled 

 in Doylestown. His father-in-law, Abi- 

 ah J. Riale, dying at about this time, 

 Eugene purchased his interest in the 

 mercantile firm of Bell & Riale, who 

 conducted a store where George W. Met- 

 lar, is now located, and became a mem- 

 ber of the firm. He continued in the 

 store business until the spring of 1870, 

 when he purchased his father's New 

 Britain farm and lived there until his 

 death, August 22, 1896. He was an ac- 

 ti'^e and prominent man in the commim- 

 ity, and won the esteem of all who knew 

 him. He held man}' positions of trust; 

 was one of the directors of the Doyles- 

 town National Bank, from January, 1884, 

 until his death: president for many 

 years of the Whitehall Fire Insurance 

 Company; a director of the Whitehall 

 Turnpike Company, and one of the man- 

 agers of the Doylestown Agricultural 

 and Mechanics Institute. Eugene and 

 Martha A. (Riale) James were the par- 

 ents of three children — Henry A.; How- 

 ard I., a prominent member of the 

 Bucks county bar; and Gertrude Miran- 

 da, wife of Rev. Purdy Moyer. 



Henry .\. James was reared from 

 the age of five years on the New Brit- 



5-3 



ain farm, and received his early educa- 

 tion at the public schools. He later at- 

 tended the Doylestown English and 

 Classical Seminary, from which he grad- 

 uated in 1884. In the following year he 

 registered as a student at law in the 

 office of J. M. Shellenberger, Esq., at 

 Doylestown, and was admitted to the 

 bar of Bucks county, January 30, 1888. 

 For two years he remained in the office 

 of his preceptor, and then opened an 

 office for himself, and has since prac- 

 ticed his chosen profession in all its 

 branches, and has met with success. In 

 politics he is a Democrat, and has taken 

 an active interest in the councils of his 

 party, frequently representing his home 

 district in state, congressional and dis- 

 trict conventions. He has been a mem- 

 ber of the Doylestown school board for 

 several years. He is a member of the 

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and 

 of the Bucks County Historical Society. 

 He is one of the directors and counsel 

 for the Whitehall Fire Insurance Com- 

 pany, vice-president of the Fellowship 

 Horse Company, president of the Doy- 

 lestown Fire Company, and one of the 

 board of censors and examiners of the 

 Bucks County Bar Association. He is a 

 member of Doylestown Lodge, No. 245, 

 F. & A. M., and Aquetong Lodge, No. 

 193. I. O. O. F. 



He married, April 30, 1902, Miriam 

 Watson, daughter of ex-Judge Richard 

 and Isabella T. (McCoy) Watson, of 

 Doylestown. They have no children. 

 Mr. and Mrs. James are members of St. 

 Paul's Protestant Episcopal church, of 

 Doylestown, of which Mr. James has 

 been a vestryman and accounting war- 

 den for a nuinber of years. 



IRVIN MEGARGEE JAMES, of 

 Doylestown, was born in that town, No- 

 vember 25, i860, and is a son of the late 

 Nathan C. and Maria (Megargee) 

 James, the former of whom was for 

 many years a prominent rnember of the 

 Bucks County bar, and died August 10, 

 1900. 



Nathan James, the great-grandfather 

 of Irvin IM., as shown bj' a preceding 

 sketch, was a son of Isaac and Sarah 

 (Thomas) James, and a great-grandson 

 of John James, the emigrant ancestor 

 of the family. He Avas an officer of 

 militia during the revolutionary war, 

 having been commissioned first lieuten- 

 ant on ]May 6, 1777, of the Eighth Com- 

 pan}\ Captain John Thomas, Second 

 Battalion, Colonel Arthur Erwin, Bucks 

 County Militia, and was promoted May 

 May 10, 1780, to captain of the Seventh 

 Company. Fourth Battalion. Colonel Mc- 

 Elroy. Captain Thomas' company was 

 in active service in August. 1777. Cap- 

 tain James married Sarah Dungan, 

 daughter of John Dungan, of New Brit- 



