66 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



ain, and had l\jur cliildrcn. viz: Jdlm 

 D.; Nancy, wife of Jesse Callender; Jo- 

 seph, and Simon, John Dungan James, 

 son of Captain Nathan and Sarali ( Dnn- 

 gan) James was the grandfather of Ir- 

 vin James. He was an officer in the war 

 of 1812-14, m the company of his consin. 

 Captain Nathan James, as was also his 

 brother Simon. John D. was crier of 

 the courts of Bucks county for fort)' 

 years. He married Sarah Cline. and 

 had seven children; Elizabeth; Nathan 

 C, above mentioned; Sarah, Silas. Hen- 

 rietta, Mary Ann, and Elizabeth. 



Irvin Megargee James was born and 

 reared in Doylestown. and was educated 

 at the Doylestown Seminary and the 

 Cheltenham Academy at Ogontz. Penn- 

 sylvania. In 1879 he accepted a position 

 as clerk in the wholesale dry goods es- 

 tablishment of William B. Kempton & 

 Co., of Philadelphia, where he remained 

 for two years. The next three years he 

 held a similar position with Riegel, 

 Scott & Co., in Philadelphia. On July 

 5, 1885, he was appointed a clerk in the 

 United States pension office at Phila- 

 delphia, which position he filled accept- 

 ably for five years, four under General 

 W. W. H. Davis, and one year under 

 his Republican successor. Pension 

 Agent Shelmire. In 1890 he entered the 

 employ of the Philadelphia "& Reading 

 Railroad Company, where he remained 

 for one year, when he accepted a re- 

 sponsible position in the offices of the 

 Pennsylvania Railroad Company, where 

 he remained until April, 1903. He now 

 follows a general insurance and real es- 

 tate business at Doylestown. 



Mr. James has been a member of the 

 Doylestown school board for the past 

 four years, and is now the secretary of 

 the board: he is also clerk of the town 

 council. He married, November 27. 

 1889. Elizabeth C. Firman, daughter of 

 the late Samuel A. and Hannah (Doan) 

 Firman. Their only surviving diild is 

 Marie Megargee. born July 5. 1893. Mr. 

 and Mrs. James are members of St. 

 Paul's Protestant Episcopal church of 

 Doylestown, of which Mr. James has 

 been a vestryman for a number of years. 



DR. OLIVER P. JAMES, late of 

 Doylestown, deceased, was the young- 

 est son of Benjamin and Nancy (Will- 

 iams) James, and was born in New Brit- 

 ain township, Bucks county, Pennsyl- 

 vania, in 1815-. He was a descendant in 

 the fifth generation from John and Eliza- 

 beth James; who emigrated from Pem- 

 brokeshire. Wales, in 1711, as shown by 

 the preceding sketch. On the maternal 

 side he is said to be a descendant of the 

 Roger Williams family of Rhode Isl- 

 and. 



Dr. James was reared upon the New 

 Britain farm, on Pine Run, and received 



his education at the schools of the 

 neighborhood. At the age of nineteen, 

 believing that a mechanical trade was 

 his sphere in life, he took up that of a 

 carpenter. He did not bind himself as 

 an apprentice, as was the custom in 

 those days, but. after assisting in build- 

 ing a house erected for his father in 

 1834, lie went to Philadelphia and 

 worked at the trade for two years. Be- 

 coming convinced by that time that he 

 had mistaken his calling, he abandoned 

 the saw and plane, and in 1837 entered 

 himself as a student of medicine in the 

 office of his cousin. Dr. Robert E. James, 

 of Upper Mount Bethel. Northampton 

 county. Pennsylvania, father of Robert 

 E. James, Esq., of Easton, and read 

 the allotted time with the Doctor, and 

 during the winter season attended lec- 

 tures at the Jefferson Medical College, 

 Philadelphia, where he graduated in 

 March, 1840. During his studies it de- 

 veloped that he possessed a peculiar 

 aptitude for his chosen profession. Dur- 

 ing the year succeeding his graduation 

 his cousin and preceptor, Dr. Robert E. 

 James, was serving a term in the state 

 legislature and the young doctor took 

 charge of his practice in his absence. 

 Fie opened an office in New Britain, 

 where he soon built up a large practice. 

 In the first or second year of his prac- 

 tice he was appointed physician at the 

 Bucks County Almshouse, a position he 

 retained for seventeen years. This po- 

 sition attracted attention to the rising 

 voung physician, and assisted in secur- 

 ing him a large practice that soon ex- 

 tended into the far surrounding sec- 

 tions. He continued his residence in 

 New Britain until 1859, when he re- 

 moved to Doylestown. purchasing the 

 present Ginsley property, on Main street, 

 the former residence of General Sam- 

 uel A. Smith. Soon after the war he 

 purchased the handsome residence on 

 North Main street, where he spent the- 

 reniainder of his life, and where his 

 widow and dai ghter still reside. 



Dr. James became very prominent in 

 the practice of his profession. Prior 

 to his retirement from active practice, a 

 few years btfore his death, he was one 

 oi the most prominent physicians of the 

 county, and enjoyed an extensive and 

 lucrative practice. He was always close- 

 ly identified with the interests of his 

 town and county, and in his prime his 

 high ability, courtly manners and kind- 

 ly nature commanded the highest re- 

 spect and gave him a wide infiuence 

 among men. , 



In politics he was a Democrat, and 

 from early manhood he took an active 

 mterest in politics. In 1864 he was 

 elected to the state senate over his old 

 neighbor. William Godshalk. by a ma- 

 jority of 989 votes. In 1878 he was the 

 candidate of his party for congress from 

 the Seventh District, and. though he rah 



