Career
He represented the township of Granville in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1785 to 1793. He was born in Pennsylvania and served in a loyalist corps during the American Revolution. He came to Nova Scotia in 1783, settling in Annapolis County, where he was named a commissioner of the peace.
James served as chairman of the Public Accounts committee in the provincial assembly.
He was employed as an accountant at a dockyard there but died a few years later.