#johnjames — Public Fediverse posts

Children of Griffith and Mary James: Hannah, Gwendolyn, Joseph, Mary, John, and Samuel

Or, Subtitled: Migration Trails from Maryland to South Carolina and Many Points West

As the previous posting shows, in his 20 April 1795 will in Pendleton District, South Carolina, Griffith James names his wife Mary and the following children: Hannah, Gwendolyn (Jenny in the will), Joseph, Mary, John, and Samuel.[1] The children are named in order of birth by gender groupings, with the three sons named in their order of birth as well as the three daughters. A 4 July 1874 letter of William Simpson, a great-grandson of Griffith James’ daughter Mary James Cummings, states that Griffith James also had a son Thomas, who is not named in the will. That letter and the question of the son Thomas will be discussed below. (To read the continuation of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

Here are some salient pieces of information about Griffith and Mary James’ children:

1. Hannah James was born 2 November 1752 in Maryland. If Griffith James had already settled by this date in the vicinity of what would later be Sharpsburg in Washington County, then I think Hannah would likely have been born in Frederick County, the parent county of Washington. But I do not have proof of her place of birth, other than to note that her grandson Thomas Dunlap Leonard states in his 1883 “Biography of the Leonards” that Hannah was “born and reared in Maryland.”[2]

I’ve discussed Hannah James Leonard’s life in detail in my series of postings about the Leonard family. As the posting I just linked states, about 1775 in Frederick (later Washington) County, Hannah married Thomas Leonard, son of Robert Leonard and Honor Pritchard (and see also here). This family moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina, in 1786 and from South Carolina to Lincoln (later Marshall) County, Tennessee, in 1808.

As another posting about the Leonard family notes, Hannah’s dates of birth and death are recorded on her grave marker in the Leonard family cemetery outside Petersburg, Marshall County, Tennessee.[3] The gravestone states, as indicated above, that she was born 2 November 1752 and that she died 3 November 1842. Hannah died at the Leonard homeplace outside Petersburg in Marshall County, Tennessee. The family cemetery, in which she is buried with husband Thomas Leonard, is behind the site of the old homeplace.

2. Gwendolyn James was born about 1754, probably in Frederick (later Washington) County, Maryland. I haven’t found a document giving a precise date of birth for Gwendolyn. The 1754 date is suggested by Beverly Dean Peoples and Ralph Terry Dean in their book Country Cousins, Descendants of Samuel Dean.[4] Federal censuses on which Gwendolyn is enumerated in her husband Samuel Dean’s household do not offer much help in narrowing down the year of her birth: the 1800 census places it between 1755 and 1774, the 1810 census before 1765, and the 1820 census before 1775. Gwendolyn was living in 1830 after Samuel died in 1826, but I do not find her listed as head of a household on the 1830 federal census.

As Country Cousins states, a 1751 birthdate for Samuel Dean has been handed down among his descendants. Griffith James’ will names Gwendolyn (“Jenny”) after her sister Hannah, whose 2 November 1752 birthdate is established by her gravestone. As we’ll see in a moment, there’s documentary evidence for a 1758 birthdate for Griffith’s son Joseph and for a birthdate of 19 November 1763 for Griffith’s daughter Mary. So if Gwenny was born between Hannah and Mary, her birth year would definitely fall between 1752 and 1763, and, it appears, prior to Joseph’s birth year of 1758. Samuel and Gwendolyn’s first child, Thomas, was born 13 September 1774, and that date also makes a 1754 birth year for his mother very reasonable.

Gwendolyn James married Samuel, son of Richard and Priscilla Dean, about 1773. Since Richard Dean and Griffith James lived on adjoining tracts of land outside Sharpsburg in what was then Frederick but soon to be Washington County, the marriage would very likely have occurred in Frederick County.

Gwendolyn James Dean made a will on 6 December 1834 in Anderson County, South Carolina, her husband Samuel having died there also testate with a will dated 22 May 1826 and probated 25 September 1826.[5] Gwendolyn’s will was probated 7 September 1835, so she died between 6 December 1834 and 7 September 1835. Why numerous family trees published online and Gwendolyn’s Find a Grave memorial page state her date of death as 5 December 1834 is beyond me to understand or explain.

According to Country Cousins,[6]

Samuel Dean and Gwendolyn James and others are buried in unmarked graves on what was then their property near Fairview School on Highway 116 between Belton, SC and Williamston, SC.

The cemetery in which Gwendolyn and Samuel are buried is now known as the Dean cemetery, and is close to Starr in Anderson County, South Carolina.

3. Joseph James was born in 1758, very likely in Frederick (later Washington) County, Maryland. We know Joseph’s year of birth from his death record in the death register of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish in Perryville, Perry County, Missouri. This states that he died in that parish on 22 May 1825, aged 67.[7] The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish served the English-speaking Catholic population of the area from 1817 until its merger with the German-speaking St. Boniface Parish to form St. Vincent de Paul Parish in 1965.

As previous postings have stated (see here and here), about 1780 in Washington County, Maryland, Joseph married Elizabeth, daughter of James and Sarah Walker Austin. The 20 April 1779 will of Elizabeth’s father James Austin in Washington County states that James was leaving to daughters Elizabeth and Charity shares in a tract of land called King Cole, which came to Joseph James by his marriage to Elizabeth, and which he later sold to his father Griffith James.[8]

As previously noted, about 1791, Joseph moved his family from Washington County, Maryland, to Kentucky. A book written by his son Thomas James entitled Three Years Among the Indians and Mexicans, which recounts his experiences on a trading expedition in 1809 with Auguste P. Chouteau from St. Ferdinand, Missouri, up to the headwaters of the Missouri River and to the Columbia, says that in 1803, Joseph James moved his family from Kentucky to Illinois and then in the spring of 1807, the family made its way to Missouri.[9]

The Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois, states,[10]

The James family, of Welsh origin, were among the early settlers in the American Bottom [in Monroe County, Illinois]. Joseph Austin James emigrated to Illinois in 1803, accompanied by his son, Thomas James, who was born in Maryland, in the year 1782, and James A. He moved to Missouri in 1807, where he died.

One of Joseph James and Elizabeth Austin’s sons was named James Austin James, and I suspect that the history of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties has given James’ father Joseph the middle name of Austin for that reason. I have seen no documents giving Joseph, son of Griffith and Mary James, the middle name Austin. If Joseph did have a middle name, it might have been Griffith and not Austin. A letter written on 4 July 1874 by William Simpson of Jacksonville, Florida, a great-grandson of Joseph James’ sister Mary and husband Harmon Cummings, states that Griffith and Mary James had a son Griffith who was a Revolutionary soldier who went west from Maryland.[11] William Simpson seems to be referring here to Joseph James, who was a private in Captain John Reynolds’ militia company, 2nd battalion, in Maryland during the Revolutionary War.[12]

Joseph James’ place of burial is not known. There’s speculation that he’s buried at Mount Hope cemetery in Perryville, Missouri, but if that’s the case, his grave is not now marked.

4. Mary James was born 19 November 1763 in Frederick (later Washington) County, Maryland. This date of birth is recorded in a document written by her son John Cummings, entitled “A Journal of the Life & Parantage [sic] of John Cummings & Wife.”[13] Biographies of John Cummings note that he was born in Pendleton District/Anderson County, South Carolina, on 2 December 1802, and in 1830, moved to Gibson County, Tennessee, where he and wife Rachel Canada became Mormons and went to Nauvoo, Illinois, then from there in 1832 to Provo City, Utah, and finally to Heber City.[14] I think it’s likely that John Cummings’ handwritten document is now held by descendants in Utah or is perhaps in a library or archive there.

In a previous posting, I noted that the marriage of Mary James and Harmon Cummings on 7 September 1779 is recorded in records of Washington County, Maryland, indicating that the marriage was solemnized by Reverend George Mitchell of Hagerstown, who also married Mary Ann Leonard and Colin Campbell. Mary Ann Leonard was a sister of Thomas Leonard who married Mary James’ brother Thomas Leonard.[15]

The journal of Harmon and Mary Cummings’ son John states that Harmon Cummings was born 23 March 1756 and died 4 February 1851. Mary James Cummings died 29 March 1847 according to John Cummings’ journal. Both died in Anderson County, South Carolina, and are said to be buried in the cemetery of Mountain Creek Baptist church south of Anderson, to which they belonged.

5. John James was born between 1770 and 1780 according to the 1830 federal census of Anderson County, South Carolina, and between 1750 and 1760 according to the 1840 federal census.[16] I suspect his birth year actually fell somewhere between 1760 and 1770.

John James died in Anderson County in January 1842. In 1847, his niece Malinda Junkins, daughter of Harmon and Mary James Cummings, filed a case for partition of property belonging to John and his brother Samuel that had come to them from Griffith and Mary James.[17] Malinda’s 21 February 1847 bill of complaint states that John James died in Anderson County in January 1842 unmarried and with no legal issue, but that he had an illegitimate daughter who married William Hembree, and that Hembree was occupying the land in question. An inventory of John’s estate filed in the case file shows that the estate inventory was done on 1 February 1842 and a bill of sale in the file shows John’s estate being sold on 18 February 1842 at the house of John E. Norris.

Prior to this lawsuit on 7 April 1846, Harmon and Mary Cummings had deeded to daughter Malinda Junkins 174 acres that had descended to them from their brothers John and Samuel James, with the deed stating that both John and Samuel had died prior to April 1846, neither leaving lawful issue.[18] This document also states that William Hembree was occupying what had been the land co-owned by John and his brother Samuel.

6. Samuel James was likely born between 1760 and 1770 in Frederick (later Washington) County, Maryland. As the preceding posting states, when his father Griffith James made his will in Pendleton District, South Carolina, on 29 April 1795, the will made his two youngest sons John and Samuel, the two sons still living with their parents in 1795, their father’s executor.

The bill of complaint filed by Samuel’s first cousin Malinda Junkins in 1847 in her lawsuit against her parents says that Samuel James had left South Carolina to go west and had not been heard from in thirty years and was presumed dead. The bill of complaint also says that Samuel died unmarried and without lawful issue. The 4 July 1874 letter of William Simpson discussed above also states that Samuel James, a Revolutionary soldier, had gone west from South Carolina.

Samuel James had left South Carolina 7 September 1825 when his uncle Samuel Dean, acting as Samuel James’ power of attorney, sold Griffith Dean 154 acres on a branch of Twenty-Six Mile Creek in Pendleton District belonging to Samuel James, with the deed stating that Samuel James was “formerly of Pendleton District.”[19]

Samuel may have already left South Carolina by 12 September 1821 when Joseph Grisham filed a suit of debt against him in Pendleton District and Samuel did not (as it seems to me, reading the court documents) appear in court after having been summoned.[20] Samuel was indebted to Joseph for $20.50 promised by a note of obligation, dated 28 January 1821. When Samuel did not appear in court, his property was garnished.

I think that Samuel James continued owning property in Pendleton District after he left South Carolina, since a man of this name appears on tax lists of Anderson County in 1835, 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1840, and I’m not aware of another Samuel James living in or holding property in Anderson County at this time. This property may well have been the land whose disposition Malinda Junkins was challenging in her 1847 lawsuit.

I have been unable to discover where Samuel James went when he left South Carolina, and where he died and may be buried. If Malinda Junkins’ bill of complaint in 1847 is correct, then he left South Carolina by 1817, since he had not been heard of, she claimed, for thirty years. The 1820 federal census shows a number of men with the name Samuel James in points west of South Carolina including Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Louisiana.

As stated previously, though the will of Griffith James does not name a son Thomas, the 4 July 1874 letter of William Simpson states that Griffith James had a son Thomas, who was a Revolutionary soldier who went west. As one reads the family history William Simpson offers in this letter, it’s important to keep in mind that it definitely contains mistaken information. Simpson states, for instance, that Gwendolyn James’ husband Samuel Dean was “a frenchman who came over to this country with General Lafayette,” and that Hannah James married “a Mr. Lenard, one of the hessians that Grand Father helped take prisoner at Trenton.” Both of these pieces of information are totally incorrect.

A Thomas James married Elizabeth McFall in Washington County, Maryland, on 18 April 1778 and is found on the 1790 federal census in that county. But this Thomas James does not appear to be a son of Griffith and Mary James. His roots lie in Harford County, Maryland, and I find no information that links him to Griffith James.

[1] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. C, p. 82.

[2] Thomas Dunlap Leonard, “Biography of the Leonards” (1883 manuscript now circulated as typescript; present whereabouts are not known).

[3] See Elizabeth Lucie Leonard Baxter, “Leonard Family,” Marshall County, Tennessee, Historical Quarterly 6,2 (summer 1975); and Find a Grave memorial page of Hannah James Leonard, Leonard cemetery, Marshall County, Tennessee, created by Donna B. and maintained by LookingforFamily, with a gravestone photo by Jimmy Trout. Note that the Find a Grave memorial page gives Hannah James a middle name, Leona, that is erroneous. No document I’ve seen ever states a middle name for Hannah.

[4] Beverly Dean Peoples and Ralph Terry Dean, Country Cousins, Descendants of Samuel Dean, 2nd ed.(Franklin, North Carolina: Genealogy Publishing, 2001), p. 3. See also Beverly Dean Peoples, “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children,” at Rootsweb.

[5] Gwendolyn James Dean’s will is in Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk B, pp. 6-7. Samuel Dean’s will is a “floating” will not recorded in a will book: Anderson County, South Carolina, probate files box 15, no. 173.

[6] Beverly Dean Peoples and Ralph Terry Dean, Country Cousins, p. 3.

[7] Liber Defunctorium in Parochia Sancta Maria, etc., available digitally at FamilySearch.

[8] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, pp. 29-30.

[9] Thomas James, Three Years Among the Indians and Mexican (Waterloo, Illinois: War Eagle Office, 1846).

[10] The Combined History of Randolph, Monroe and Perry Counties, Illinois, etc. (Philadelphia: J.L. McDonough, 1883).

[11] In 1999, Heidi Rose Lahey owned the original letter and another that William Simpson wrote on 7 February 1877. She has helpfully placed transcriptions of both letters online at Rootsweb.

[12] Henry C. Peden, Revolutionary Patriots of Washington County, Maryland 1776-1783 (Westminster, Maryland: Family Line, 1998], p. 184; and S. Eugene Clements and Edward F. Wright, The Maryland Militia in the Revolutionary War (Silver Spring: Family Line, 1987], p. 240)

[13] I do not know the present whereabouts of this handwritten document. Digital copies are online at FamilySearch here and here. The 19 November 1763 date of birth is also stated in Hugh S. Watson’s “Genealogy” column, Virginia Gazette (13 August 1954), p. 11, col. 1, with a clipping of this column in the Alabama Archives’ surname files.

[14] See Yvonne Cummings Miller, Biography of H. Clay and Ruby Cummings (Salt Lake City: Hiller, 1990); and Frank Ellwood Esshom, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah (Salt Lake City: Utah Pioneers Book Publishing Company, 1913), p. 831. See also Heidi Rose Lahey’s family history site, noting the dates of birth and death of Mary James and her husband Harmon Cummings and indicating that both are registered in temple-rites records of the LDS church.

[15] Maryland Historical Society, Maryland Marriages 1777-1804; and Gaius Marcus Brumbaugh, Maryland Records, vol. 2 (Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1928; repr. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1967), p. 522.

[16] 1830 federal census, Anderson County, South Carolina, p. 183A; 1840 federal census, Anderson County, South Carolina, p. 103.

[17] Melinda Junkins vs. Harmon Cummins, Mary Cummins, Moses Dean, et al., Anderson County, South Carolina, Equity Court no. 140 (no. 29, 1847).

[18] Anderson County, South Carolina, Deed Bk. Z, pp. 195-7.

[19] Ibid., Bk. R, pp. 483-4.

[20] Joseph Grisham vs. Samuel James, Pendleton District, South Carolina, Summary Process Papers, roll 2109.

Griffith James (bef. 1725? — 1795): Final Years in Pendleton District, South Carolina (1793-5)

Or, Subtitled: Horse Thieves and Baptist Churches

As the previous posting notes, after selling his homeplace in his Pough tract just southeast of Sharpsburg on 13 May 1792, and (with James Austin), after selling his 50-acre portion of the King Cole tract on 3 March 1792, Griffith James moved with his wife Mary from Washington County, Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina.[1] As another past posting states, Griffith and Mary moved from Maryland to South Carolina at some point in 1793. Note that the court case regarding the theft of Griffith James’ horse in Pendleton District in September 1793 discussed below also shows that this family had moved from Maryland to South Carolina by September 1793. (To read the continuation of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)

The Move from Maryland to South Carolina, 1793

Since Griffith and Mary’s sons John and Samuel, who are, as we’ll see in a moment, named in his will, had not shown up in records of Ninety-Six (later Pendleton) District, South Carolina, prior to 1793, these two sons, who seem to be the youngest of the couple’s children, may have been living with them in Maryland and have made the move to South Carolina with them. As the previous posting notes indicates, Griffith and Mary’s son Joseph was living in Washington County up to 1791, when he moved with wife Elizabeth Austin to Kentucky, settling eventually at Perryville in Perry County, Missouri.

In heading to Pendleton District, Griffith and Mary were joining daughters Hannah (married Thomas Leonard), Gwendolyn (married Samuel Dean), and Mary (married Harmon Cummings), who had gone to South Carolina in 1786. The posting I’ve just linked features an excerpt from Louise Ayer Vandiver’s Traditions and History of Anderson County that recounts stories passed down in the Cummings (Cummin in this source) and Dean families about the move from Maryland to South Carolina.[2] These family stories speak of the long trip through “pathless forests” in carts whose wheels were sections cut from a large tree sawn thicker in the middle than on the edges.

The posting linked in the preceding paragraph notes that Griffith James’ son-in-law Thomas Leonard had arrived with wife Hannah in their children in Ninety-Six District by 9 February 1786, when he had a survey for 180 acres on waters of Big Generostee Creek.[3] Thomas’ brother-in-law Samuel Dean had a plat for 350 acres in Ninety-Six District in the fork of the Tugaloo and Keowee Rivers on 10 March 1787.[4] The linked posting to which I’m pointing here notes the draw of this part of the South Carolina upcountry in these years: having taken the British side during the Revolution, in 1777 the Cherokees ceded to South Carolina all their lands east of the Unacaye mountains, and in 1784 the South Carolina General Assembly passed “An Act for Establishing the Mode and Conditions of Surveying and Granting the Vacant Lands Within this State.” In 1784, a land office was opened to sell land in this upcountry region at $10 per 100 acres, and a large influx of settlers poured into the region.

Also noted in the linked posting I’ve just been citing: Big Generostee runs from east to west through Pendleton District to the Savannah River, with Mountain Creek running from east to west to meet Big Generostee before the conjoined streams reach the Savannah. Thomas Leonard, Samuel Dean, and Harmon Cummings settled near the confluence of the Big Generostee and Mountain Creek a few miles west of present-day Starr and just east of what is now Lake Hartwell, which was formed from the damming of the Savannah and Keowee (or Seneca) Rivers. A hamlet called Dean’s Station, named for this Dean family and marking where Samuel Dean lived, is less than two miles north of Starr on highway 81. It seems likely that Griffith and Mary James settled in this vicinity, as well, a deduction made more compelling by the fact that after the couple arrived in Pendleton District, Mary James joined Mountain Creek Baptist church, which is some six miles north of Dean’s Station.

Proof that Griffith James had arrived in Pendleton District by June 1794 is found in a deed that Jacob Herring made to Samuel Dean on 17 June 1794: on that date, Herring sold Dean 125 acres in Pendleton District on the Big Generostee, with Thomas Leonard and Griffith James witnessing the deed.[5] I haven’t found any connection between erring made to Samuel DeanJacob Herring and the kinship network of Griffith James, other than this sale of land. Jacob appears on the 1790 federal census on the same page as John Lauderdale, whose daughter Sarah married Thomas Lewis Leonard, son of Thomas Leonard and Hannah James.[6] As has been previously shown, John Lauderdale also lived on Big Generostee, evidently not far from the Leonard, Dean, and Cummings families.

Case re: the Theft of Griffith James’ Horse in September 1793

A previous posting discusses in some detail a court case involving horse-thieving in which Griffith James is featured, since the stolen horse on which the case revolves was his and was taken from his pasture.[7] The case file shows Shadrack Lantrip making oath on 10 November 1796 that James Shockley had stolen a bright bay mare out of Griffith James’s pasture in Pendleton District on the night of 2 September [1793]. Lantrip deposed that Shockley had described the horse to him at a blacksmith shop on the waters of Generostee on the main road leading to Shockley’s Ferry.

Shockley’s or Shockley Ferry crossed the Savannah River to Georgia at a location not far south of present-day Hartwell Dam. When the dam was created on the Savannah River below the confluence of the Tugaloo and Seneca Rivers to form Lake Hartwell, the point at which Shockley’s Ferry crossed the Savannah fell into the lake. Savannah is the name given to the Tugaloo River from the point of the confluence of the two rivers, and Seneca is the name given to the Keowee River from that point as well. Note the 1787 plat for Samuel Dean mentioned above, for land in the fork of the Tugaloo and Keowee Rivers.

Shockley’s Ferry was established by Thomas Shockley of Pendleton District, who appears on the 1790 federal census on the same page as Jacob Herring and John Lauderdale.[8] Located close to Shockley’s Ferry was a Baptist church with the same name — Shockley’s or Shockley Ferry Baptist church — that was the parent church of the Mountain Creek Baptist church to which members of the James family including Griffith James’ wife Mary and her daughters Hannah, Gwendolyn, and Mary belonged.[9] Shockley’s Ferry church was formed sometime in the 1780s after a large group of Baptists gathered in Pendleton District in the vicinity of what would soon be site of the ferry crossing. The church stood on the east bank of the Savannah immediately below the junction of the Tugaloo (i.e., Savannah) and Keowee (or Seneca) Rivers.

An undated scrap of paper in the file for the case in which James Shockley was tried for stealing Griffith James’ horse has a sworn statement of Shadrack Lantrip that he made his November 1796 statement accusing Shockley of stealing the horse under fear for his life after having received a hundred lashes. The case file also has a sworn statement of Griffith James dated 2 October [1793] giving power of attorney to his son John James to recover the horse, with witnesses Patrick Bowers and Robert Linn before justice D. Brown. Another statement by an unidentified person says that Lantrip had parted with the horse at the house of Shockley, giving it to John Hendricks and Mary Spurgen, who lived on Buck Creek on the Waters of the Broad.

On 13 October 1794, a recognizance was issued by William Edmondson to Thomas Shockley and James Hamilton, giving bond to assure that James Shockley appeared in court 10 November next. On 10 November, Shockley was indicted and a jury was struck. The indictment identifies the stolen horse as belonging to John James, a farmer of Pendleton District.

On 8 February 1796, somebody not identified in the transcript — was it Shockley? — made affidavit that in 1794 before harvest, Christopher Carsey told him that Mark Powell had stolen a brown horse from William Brown and carried it into Virginia. In the fall of the same year, he and Shadrack Lantrip went to “old Mr. James’s” and stole a large bay horse from the pasture.  Lantrip promised £10 to his accomplice.  The person swearing the oath for this statement thought that in February 1796, the horse was near Three Runs. In 1795, this unidentified person and Daniel McCollum with an enslaved man named Reuben belonging to Daniel Stathers had also formed a confederacy to steal a roan horse and a bay one from the field of one Howard.

On 11 April 1796, a subpoena was issued to Daniel Stringer, James Morrow, and John Gresham to appear in court on 10 November 1796. A warrant dated 9 July 1796 was then issued for the arrest of James Shockley. This has a comment written on it that John James of Pendleton District had made oath that on the evening of 2 September 1793 a bay horse had been stolen from Griffith James, now deceased.

On 11 July 1796, Shockley was committed to jail.  On the same day, he gave affidavit denying the charges against him. On 27 July 1796, a recognizance of Thomas Shockley Sr. and Jr. was filed for James Shockley’s upcoming court appearance.

On 4 November 1796, John James gave security with Robert Rankin to appear in court on 10 November at Pickensville. On 10 November 1796, a true bill of indictment was issued. This again dates the theft as occurring on the night of 2 September 1793. When the trial ended, the jury found Shockley not guilty. 

Also on 10 November 1796, a copias was issued to Moses Little, Jeremiah Files, Shadrack Lantrip, John James, William McKerley, and Joseph McKerley to give evidence for the state. On 23 November 1796, a recognizance was issued to Shadrack Lantrip to appear in court on 10 April next to give evidence vs. Shockley. Finally, On 11 February 1797, a recognizance was issued to William McKerley to give evidence. Four days later, recognizance was issued to John James to appear in court on 10 April. If there was an outcome of the case after this date, it is not mentioned in the court file as transcribed here.

As the preceding summary of documents in the case file regarding the theft of Griffith James’ horse indicate, Griffith was living on 2 October 1793 when he gave power of attorney to his son John to recover the stolen horse, and had died by 9 July 1796 when a warrant was issued for James Shockley’s arrest. Griffith James made his will in Pendleton District on 20 April 1795.[10] The will reads as follows (a digital image is at the head of this posting):

In the name of God. Amen. I Griffith James of the State of South Carolina and County of Pendleton being weak in body but of sound Memory. bleſsed be God. do this day the twentieth of April in the year of Our Lord. One thousand and Seven hundred and Ninety five make and publish this my Last will and Testament in Manner following that is to Say First I Give to my son Joseph James all my wearing appearel which Shall be at my Decease also Ten pounds of Money it being paid of Money Due to me in the State of Maryland if It is ever collected. also I give and bequeath unto my Daughter Hannah Leonor One Dollar to be paid within One full year after my decease also I give to my Daughter Jenny Dean one Dollar to be paid to her at or with[in] One full Year after my decease, also I Give to my Daughter Mary Cummins one Dollar to be paid at the sd time also I give to my son John James one Dollar to be paid at the said time, also I give to my son Samuel James one Dollar to be paid at the said Time and all and every other thing of my Estate real & Personal which shall or may belong to me at my Death I Give and Bequeath to my Dear wife Mary James forever & I make & ordain my son John James and Son Samuel James, Executors of this my will, in trust for the intents & purposes in this my will contained to do & perform the same according my true intent and Meaning. In Witneſs thereof I the sd Griffith James have to this my last will and Testament set my hand & affixed my seal the day & year above written; Signed & Delivered by the said Griffith James For his last will & Testament — in the presence of us who were present at the signing and sealing thereof

                                                                                             Griffith James

Owen McCorkel

Jane Lesly (her mark)

James Jones

Proven by James Jones and Jane Lesly in open court

Recorded in Will Book C, Page 82

Recorded 12th April 1796

The will has no probate date, only the date on which it was recorded. It is the only estate record of Griffith James that appears to be extant. As a previous posting notes, a death date of 3 October 1795 for Griffith is stated in a study of the Dean family entitled Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean with no information about the source of this date.[11]

Given that Griffith and Mary James appear to have decided in 1792 to move to South Carolina and join their children there, and that they made that move in 1793 with Griffith dying only two years later, I think it’s likely that he was up in years by the time of his death with grown and married children born as early as 1752. It’s possible he was becoming frail and/or sick when he and wife Mary decided to relocate, and that they made the decision to join their daughters in South Carolina so that one or more of the daughters could look after their parents in the final years of the parents’ lives.

[1] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, p. 771-2, 815-6.

[2] Louise Ayer Vandiver, Traditions and History of Anderson County (Atlanta: Ruralist, 1928), pp. 71-2.

[3] South Carolina Plat Books (Charleston Series), vol. 15, p. 127; and Ninety-Six District, South Side of Saluda, Commissioner of Locations Plat Bk. B, p. 113.

[4] South Carolina Plat Books (Charleston Series), vol. 14, p. 164.

[5] Anderson County, South Carolina, Deed Bk. C & D, p. 360.

[6] 1790 federal census, Pendleton District, South Carolina, p. 4.

[7] Washington District, South Carolina, General Sessions Case Rolls, 1792-1799, no. 49. I am indebted to researcher Beverly Dean Peoples for providing me with a transcript of documents in the file of this case.

[8] See supra, n. 6.

[9] Leah Townsend, South Carolina Baptists, 1670-1805 (Florence, South Carolina: Florence Printing Company, 1935), p. 195-8; T.H. Garrett, A History of Saluda Baptist Association (Richmond, 1896), pp. 114, 137, 262-4; Vandiver, Traditions and History of Anderson County, pp. 44, 217; and “Mountain Creek Baptist Church,” at Winthrop University Archives’ Roots and Recall website.

[10] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. C, p. 82. See also Virginia Alexander, Colleen M. Elliott, and Betty Willie, Pendleton District and Anderson County, South Carolina, Wills, Estates, Inventories, Tax Returns, and Census Records (Easley, South Carolina: Southern Historical Press, 1980), pp. 11-12.

[11] Era Josephine Morgan Davis, Louise S. Rourke, and Marc B. Smith, Country Cousins: Descendants of Samuel Dean (1996), p. 3. In correspondence with me in January 1997, researcher Barbara Morris of Bellaire, Texas, stated that the 3 October 1795 death of date was sent by Lucy Rebecca Dean to Louise Rourke in the 1980s. Louise Rourke, who lived in Citrus Heights, California, was the primary author of Country Cousins. Unless I’m mistaken, Lucy Rebecca Dean (1942-2023, m. John Kennemur) was a daughter of Richard Brown Dean and Joanne Richardson. Rebecca Dean Kennemur was a DAR member and active genealogist. This Dean line descends from Samuel Dean and Gwendolyn James through their son Richard P. Dean.

Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795): Washington County, Maryland, Years, 1763-1793

Or, Subtitled: “A True Copy of the Free Male Taxibils of Sharpsburgh and Lower Antietam Hundred”

In the first posting in this series tracking the history of Griffith James (abt. 1725? – 1795), I focused on the first documentation I’ve found for him in the place in which he lived near Sharpsburg, Maryland, from at least September 1763 to 1793, when he moved from Maryland to Pendleton District, South Carolina. As that posting shows, by September 1763, Griffith James had acquired from Joseph Chapline, founder of Sharpsburg, a 75-acre tract called Pough just southeast of Sharpsburg, on which he lived continuously from September 1763 (and probably earlier than this) until May 1792, when he sold Pough before making his move to South Carolina. In the posting that follows, I’ll survey records for Griffith James in Frederick County (the parent county of Washington County) and Washington County, from 1763 until he made his move to South Carolina in 1793.

1760-1770

As the previous posting indicates, Joseph Chapline founded the town of Sharpsburg in 1763 and the following year, he laid out a plan for the new town, consisting of 187 lots located around the freshwater spring that was a primary attraction of the new town, with each lot measuring 103 feet wide by 206 feet long.

Immediately after the town was laid out, Griffith James purchased one of the lots in the new town [see the digital images at the head of this posting]. On 16 June 1764, he bought lot 66 from a Richard Dean who had the same name as the man whose son Samuel married Griffith’s daughter Gwendolyn, but is an entirely different man.[1] We can ascertain that this Richard Dean is not the Richard who was father of Samuel because various documents tell us that Richard Dean’s wife was named Priscilla, and the wife relinquishing dower for the sale of lot 66 in June 1764 was named Catherine. Beverly Dean Peoples has done valuable research on Richard and wife Catherine, and finds that the Richard Dean selling Sharpsburg lot 66 to Griffith James in June 1764 was a free man of color whose wife Catherine was the daughter of Robert Pearl, a mulatto freeman of Carrollton Manor, Maryland.[2]

The deed recording Richard Dean’s sale of lot 66 to Griffith James notes that the agreement of sale was made on the 16th and the deed was then recorded on 22 June 1764. The deed contains no information about the lot itself other than its measurements, which conform to the description given above of the lots in Sharpsburg as they were laid out: they were 103 feet wide by 206 feet long. Since the deed speaks of appurtenances, it’s possible that there was a structure standing on the lot when Griffith James bought it. He paid Richard Dean 55 shillings for the property, with a stipulation included in the deed that Griffith was to pay Joseph Chapline 3s 6d annually as quitrent. Richard Dean signed by mark with Joseph Smith and Peter Bainbridge witnessing and with wife Catherine relinquishing dower.

Griffith James did not hold onto lot 66 for long. On 25 October 1766, he sold the lot to Robert Cockburn for a shilling; if he had invested in this lot for profit, his investment definitely did not yield a hearty return.[3] Perhaps Griffith was indebted to Robert and used the lot to satisfy a debt? Robert Cockburn was a Scotsman who had ties to the Chapline family and was teaching the English-speaking children of Shepherdstown, Virginia (now West Virginia) by 1762. When Berkeley County was formed in 1772, he was appointed surveyor of that county.[4] As the previous posting notes, when Joseph Chapline’s father William moved west from eastern Maryland before 1730, he settled on the Potomac four miles above Shepherdstown.

Again, the deed for the October 1766 sale of lot 66 contains no information about the lot other than its measurements (as stated previously) and a clause indicating that any appurtenances on the lot were included in the sale, and that Cockburn was to pay quitrent annually to Chapline. Griffith signed his name with Joseph Smith and Samuel Beall Jr. witnessing. On 23 October, Griffith signed receipt for Cockburn’s payment of a shilling, and on the 25th, he acknowledged the deed with wife Mary relinquishing dower. Note that this document indicates that Griffith was married by October 1766 to the Mary who is named as his dear wife Mary in his 20 April 1795 will in Pendleton District, South Carolina, cited in the previous posting.[5] I have seen no information suggesting to me that the wife Mary of the 1766 deed was a different Mary than the wife named in Griffith’s 1795 will. By 1766, Griffith and Mary had children Hannah, Gwendolyn, Thomas, Joseph, and Mary, and it’s possible their sons John and Samuel, whose dates of birth are not easy to ascertain, had also been born by this date.

Note the name Samuel Beall Jr. in the preceding deed: this is the Samuel Beall named in Joseph Chapline’s 4 September 1763 agreement establishing his ironworks on the Antietam near Sharpsburg, with Samuel Beall as one of his business partners in this venture.[6] As the previous posting shows, this agreement mentions Griffith James, noting that Chapline was excluding from the agreement 215 acres he had sold to Daniel Moore and Griffith James. The linked posting also points out that Samuel Beall was a first cousin of Alexander Beall, under whom Robert Leonard, father of Thomas Leonard who married Griffith James’ daughter Hannah, served at Fort Frederick near Hagerstown in the 1750s. Samuel Beall lived at Hagerstown and the 15 October 1774 will he made there identifies him as Samuel Beall Jr.[7]

Another name in both the June 1764 deed showing Richard Dean selling lot 66 to Griffith James and the October 1766 deed recording Griffith’s sale of the lot to Robert Cockburn deserves attention: Joseph Smith witnessed both deeds. Smith was a prominent settler in this part of Maryland, an associate of both Joseph Chapline and his business partner Samuel Beall. An English immigrant, in 1749 Joseph Smith patented tracts in Frederick (later Washington) County called Elwicks Dwellings and Smiths Purchase.[8] On 12 October 1761, he was an appraiser of the estate of Joseph Chapline’s father-in-law William Williams in Frederick County.[9]

On 27 July 1767 the Frederick County court rendered judgment for Griffith James in a supersedeas suit he had filed against Stephen Bennet, Wm. Bleakley, and Richard Moore.[10] The record of the verdict states that the judgment was recorded 18 August 1767, and contains no further information about the basis of the lawsuit. Richard Moore is, it seems clear, the son of Daniel Moore, whose Mores Delight land adjoined Griffith James’ Pough, and who, as the posting I’ve just linked indicates, may have married Mary Dean, a sister of Samuel Dean who married Gwendolyn James, sister to Griffith James’ wife Hannah. Daniel Moore’s son Richard was old enough to have a child born by 1777, so he was certainly of age in 1767.[11]

On 24 March 1769, Griffith James witnessed the will of George Laurance in Frederick County, Maryland.[12] On 8 August 1769, Griffith and the other witness to the will, Sarah Reed, proved the will at county court. The will and probate bond show George with a wife Mary. I have not been able to find any more information about either George Laurance or Sarah Reed.

As the previous posting indicates, on 25 July 1769, David Ross, one of Joseph Chapline’s business partners in the ironworks operation, had a grant in Frederick County for 8,025 acres that included a tract called Boston, Resurvey of Little I Thought It, and part of Keep Trieste, Dutch Loss, and Mill Place. The survey shows the land granted to Ross bordering both Griffith James’s Pough and Chapline’s Hunting the Hare tract, part of which he sold to Richard Dean (Deans Purchase), father of Samuel Dean who married Gwendolyn James, and part, I think, to Daniel Moore (More’s Delight)P. As the linked posting shows, Arthur Tracey’s index card for this grant and his map of patent locations for Washington County states that Pough was next to Keep Trieste, Boston, and Little I Thought It.[13]

Beverly Dean Peoples has sent me a transcript of a page of Frederick County court minutes that appear to date from 1769, showing the county court issuing an order for a road from Samuel Beall’s mills to cross the Antietam at the ford where Andrew House lives and then to run from the mills run to the landing on the Potomac below Rachel Vandever. From there, the road was to go on the upper side of Daniel Moore’s plantation and Peter Hill’s through John Kissinger’s to join the road leading from Fredericktown at Jacob Russell’s, and from the mill up the branch where Griffith James lived and along the eastern branch of Antietam Creek to the landing at the mouth of the creek. Another road order in the November 1770 county court minutes mentions the same road coordinates and indicates that Griffith James had been appointed overseer for this road.

1770-1790

On 6 May 1774, a Griffith James who is a different Griffith James from the man living in the vicinity of Sharpsburg in then Frederick County, Maryland, witnessed the will of Margaret Williams of Radnor township in Chester County, Pennsylvania. The will made a bequest of ￡5 to Mary, wife of Griffith James.[14] 

Because the Griffith James witnessing this will had a wife named Mary and was a contemporary of the man living near Sharpsburg, one family tree after another online and in published sources has conflated the Griffith James witnessing Margaret Williams’ will with the man living near Sharpsburg. But the Griffith James witnessing this will lived in Radnor township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he married a wife named Mary Gyger, and where that couple lived to the end of their lives — while the Griffith James residing on the Pough tract just southeast of Sharpsburg lived there continuously from at least September 1763 (and probably earlier) until he sold this piece of land in May 1792 and then moved the following year to Pendleton District, South Carolina. I’ll discuss the 1792 land sale and move to South Carolina later.

On 24 December 1774, Griffith James appears in a list of those with stray livestock in Frederick County.[15] After September 1776 forward, when Washington County was set off from Frederick, documents for Griffith James are filed in Washington County records.

On 2 March 1778, Griffith James took the oath of allegiance in Lower Antietam Hundred of Washington County.[16] Griffith’s name appears in the list of oathtakers compiled by Chr. Cruso as “James, Grifet.”

As the preceding posting notes, in 1783, Griffith James was taxed in Lower Antietam Hundred of Washington County for the Pough property, with the acreage given as 100 acres.[17] The tax list states that this property comprised 60 acres of woods and 40 acres arable. Griffith was also taxed for four horses and eight beef cattle.

The posting I’ve just linked also states, though we know from Joseph Chapline’s September 1763 ironworks deed that he had already sold Griffith James the Pough tract by that date and Griffith was taxed for the land in 1783, it was not until 10 April 1787 that the executors of Joseph Chapline, his sons Joseph and James, officially sold Pough to Griffith James.[18] The deed states that the land was sold for￡5, and it gives the name of the tract as Pough, noting that the tract consisted of 75 acres. The deed was signed by Joseph and James Chapline with John Still and Alexander Clagett witnessing, and was recorded on the same day.

14 February 1788 in Washington County, Griffith James witnessed the will of Richard Dean, Griffith’s neighbor at Deans Purchase whose son Samuel married Griffith’s daughter Gwendolyn.[19] Witnessing the will with Griffith were John Ritchie, Hannah Codd, and William Gregory, who were the three witnesses proving the will on 7 April 1788 when Richard’s widow Priscilla presented it for probate.

1790s

As the previous posting states, Griffith James is enumerated on the 1790 census in Washington County, Maryland with a household comprised of two males aged 16 and over, one male aged under 15, and two females.[20] Listed next to Griffith is his son Joseph James, with one male over 16, three males under 16, and three females in his household.

On 12 April 1791, Griffith James’ son Joseph sold his father for￡50 a 50-acre portion of a tract called King Cole in Washington County.[21] Joseph James signed, with H. Shryock and Thomas Crampton witnessing, and on the day the deed was made, Joseph affirmed it before these witnesses.

As a previous posting has noted, Joseph James obtained the King Cole tract from James Austin through Joseph’s marriage to James Austin’s daughter Elizabeth about 1791. The original King Cole tract consisted of 1,970 acres patented to Henry Crabb on 30 August 1754.[22] Arthur Tracey’s index card in his list of patents in Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties shows King Cole lying next to the Antietam ironworks. In 1769, Jeremiah Beall owned 246 acres of King Cole, and the 9 April 1759 will of Alexander Beall stipulates that King Cole, a parcel of 246½ acres, was to go to Beall’s son Magruder.[23] As has been noted in previous postings (e.g., here and here), Alexander Beall was the commanding officer of Robert Leonard, whose son Thomas Leonard married Griffith James’ daughter Hannah, in the 1750s when Robert Leonard was stationed as a soldier at Fort Frederick near Hagerstown. Alexander was a first cousin of Joseph Chapline’s business partner Samuel Beall, who lived at Hagerstown.

On 3 March 1792, Griffith James bought from Stephen Yates, both of Washington County, for ￡65 an enslaved boy named Phill, aged 16 or 17.[24] William Good and Thomas Crampton witnessed this deed, which was recorded 13 April 1792.

Also on 3 March 1792, for ￡90, Griffith James and James Austin sold to Stephen Yates, all of Washington County, 50 acres of the King Cole tract, the portion that Griffith’s son Joseph had acquired by his marriage to James Austin’s daughter Elizabeth and had sold his father in April 1791.[25] Griffith James and James Austin both signed the deed with William Good and Thomas Crampton witnessing. The deed was recorded 30 August. No dower release for the land is recorded. The sale of this tract and the Pough land in May 1792 indicates that Griffith James was making preparations to move to South Carolina to join his children who had gone there in 1786.  Griffith James’s son Joseph moved from Maryland to Kentucky in 1791.

On 13 May 1792, Griffith James sold this Pough tract to Robert Hoffman for ￡330.[26] The deed names the land and states that it contained 75 acres. Griffith James signed with witnesses Thomas Crampton and William Good, and the deed was recorded on the 12th [sic] with Griffith’s wife Mary releasing her dower interest on that date.

By 11 June 1794, when Hagerstown’s Washington Spy published a notice by Robert Hoffman cautioning persons from taking assignment on Hoffman’s bond given to Griffith James for £65, Griffith James and wife Mary had made their move to Pendleton District, South Carolina.[27] The context for this notice appears to be that a company named James Browns and Co. had dissolved on 6 May, and bills owed to the estate of that company were being called in.

We can know that Griffith and Mary James were in South Carolina by this point since Griffith appears, along with his son-in-law Thomas Leonard, as a witness to a deed of Jacob Herring to Griffith’s son-in-law Samuel Dean in Pendleton District on 17 June 1794.[28] The next posting in this series will survey Griffith James’ final years in Pendleton District.

[1] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. J, pp. 652-3.

[2] “Richard Deane (1701-1788) and His Children,” at Rootsweb. Beverly recommends to those seeking further information about the Pearl family Mary C. Jeske’s “Autonomy and Opportunity: Carrollton Manor Tenants, 1734-1790.”

[3] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. K, pp. 818-9.

[4] Danske Dandridge, Historic Shepherdstown (Charlottesville: Michie, 1910), p. 53; and Ted McGee, nomination form for Shepherdstown Historic District on National Register of Historic Places (2 April 1973), at the West Virginia Culture Center website.

[5] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. 1793-8, p. 82.

[6] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. J, pp. 793-804.

[7] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, pp. 13-16.

[8] History of West Virginia, Old and New, vol. 2: Biographical (Chicago and New York: American Historical Society, 1923), p. 180.

[9] “Joseph Chapline,” at Mike Marshall’s Early Colonial Settlers of Southern Maryland and Virginia’s Northern Neck Counties, citing the original appraisal record.

[10] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. K, p. 453.

[11] See Geolover, “Sarah’s Surprise — Part 1,” at West Virginia Family Tracks and Trails.

[12] Frederick County, Maryland, Will Bk. 37,2, pp. 422-3; and Bk. A-1, pp. 343-4.

[13] See Arthur G. Tracey’s patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties at Maryland government’s Maryland History site.

[14] Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, Will Bk. Q, p. 39.

[15] F. Edward Wright, Early Lists of Frederick Countians 1766-1775 (Silver Spring, Maryland: Family Line, 1986), p. 4.

[16] See “Unpublished Revolutionary Records of Maryland, List of Patriots Who Took the Oath of Fidelity and Support to the Government,” National Genealogical Society Quarterly 6,1 (April 1917), pp. 12-13; Henry C. Peden Jr., Revolutionary Patriots of Washington County, Maryland 1776-1783 (Westminster, Maryland: Family Line, 1998), p. 184; Raymond B. Clark Jr., Washington County, Maryland Records: Oaths of Allegiance, 1778, and Balance Books [Distributions] on Estates, 1778-1801 (St. Michaels, Maryland: Maryland and Delaware Genealogy, 1989], p. 3; and Margaret Roberts Hodges, Unpublished Revolutionary Records of Maryland, vol. 3: Oaths of Allegiance and Fidelity Taken in Washington County in 1778 (priv. publ., 1939), p. 35.

[17] “Washington County 1783 Tax Assessment,” Western Maryland Genealogy 7,4 (October 1991), p. 171; and “Assessment of 1783, Index,” citing Lower Antietam and Sharpsburg, p. 34 (MSA S1161-11-1. 1/4/5/54) at website of Maryland State Archives.

[18] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. E, pp. 332-3.

[19] Washington County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 168. The will spells the surname as Deane.

[20] 1790 federal census, Washington County, Maryland, p. 9.

[21] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 368-9.

[22] See Edward C. Papenfuse and Sarah Patterson, “Dr. Arthur G. Tracey patent/tract index and map locations for Carroll, Frederick, and Washington Counties,” prepared by the Maryland State Archives in October 2009.

[23] Frederick County, Maryland, Will Bk. A, p. 127.

[24] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, p. 666.

[25] Ibid., pp. 815-6.

[26] Ibid., po. 771-2.

[27] Washington Spy (Hagerstown, Maryland), p. 3, col. 3: see F. Edward Wright, Western Maryland Newspaper Abstracts 1786-1798 (Silver Spring, Maryland: Family Line Publications, 1985), p. 48, #335.

[28] Anderson County, South Carolina, Deed Bk. C & D, p. 360.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backs Marlinga in bid to flip MI-10 • Michigan Advance

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced on Wednesday that it would back former Judge Carl Marlinga in his rematch against sitting U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.).

As Marlinga and James vie for control of Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, the DCCC has added Marlinga to its “Red to Blue” program, pledging organizational and fundraising support as Marlinga seeks to flip James’ seat for Democrats.

Marlinga lost by a slim, 1,600 vote margin in 2022, with the 10th District potentially serving as yet another competitive district as Democrats seek control of the U.S. House.

Election 2024

Advance Notice: Briefs
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee backs Marlinga in bid to flip MI-10
By: Kyle Davidson - August 15, 2024 7:00 am

Carl Marlinga | Ken Coleman

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced on Wednesday that it would back former Judge Carl Marlinga in his rematch against sitting U.S. Rep. John James (R-Shelby Twp.).

As Marlinga and James vie for control of Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, the DCCC has added Marlinga to its “Red to Blue” program, pledging organizational and fundraising support as Marlinga seeks to flip James’ seat for Democrats.

Marlinga lost by a slim, 1,600 vote margin in 2022, with the 10th District potentially serving as yet another competitive district as Democrats seek control of the U.S. House.
Rep. John James | House photo

“Folks here in Macomb and Oakland are dealing with high costs, yet John James is just taking money from special interests and doing their bidding in Washington. I’ve worked for people here in Michigan as a clean water advocate, a prosecutor and a judge, and I’m ready to continue to fight for my community in Congress,” Marlinga said in a statement.

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the district as a Republican lean.

#USPol #Politics #News #Michigan #JohnJames #MI10 #CarlMarlinga #Democrats #Republicans #Oakland #Macomb

https://michiganadvance.com/briefs/democratic-congressional-campaign-committee-backs-marlinga-in-bid-to-flip-mi-10/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meCxDnjdfU0&pp=ygUPbWlkZGxlIGVhc3QgZXll

#MiddleEastEye
#PeoplePower 🤣 🤣 #humour

#CODEPINK visist a U.S. Congress critter #JohnJames 🤮 to expose him for lies over #Gaza protests

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A #MustWatchVideo

What are you watching tonight?
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1981 Dynasty Season 1 Opening Theme
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1981 Wednesday Dynasty Season 2 (1981-82) Premiere Promo
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1985 Dynasty Season 5 Opening Theme
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The Colbys - Tv Guide Cover - 1985
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Ugh #JohnJames is a snake in the grass. I do not trust him.

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I dont understand a conservative black man can say they are heading in the right direction by a party who is known to oppress miniorities. #MakeThisMakeSense #JohnJames #Michigan