I have never found documented evidence of the maiden surname of Mary, wife of the latter Griffith James. The first clear record I’ve found of Mary is her relinquishment of her dower interest in a lot in Sharpsburg that her husband Griffith James sold on 25 October 1766.[2] As also previously noted, when Griffith sold his home tract of Pough near Sharpsburg, Maryland, on 13 May 1792, Mary relinquished her dower interest in the land.[3]
Mary is also named as Griffith’s wife in his 20 April 1795 will in Pendleton District, South Carolina.[4] Mary was living as late as August 1817 when a dispute between her and her daughter Mary Cummings was adjudicated by Mountain Creek Baptist church in Pendleton District, of which both were members.
As a previous posting indicates, I’ve seen no records suggesting to me that the Mary, wife of Griffith James relinquishing dower in October 1766 is a different Mary from the wife of the same name relinquishing dower in May 1792, or from the Mary named as Griffith’s wife in his 1795 will. All indicators suggest to me that Mary was Griffith James’ only wife and the mother of all of his children.
To return to the matter of the confusion created by sources conflating Griffith James of Maryland and South Carolina with a Griffith James of Radnor township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, who married Mary Gyger: as I noted when I discussed that confusion in the past, the latter couple lived in Radnor to the end of their lives. It’s not hard to document this fact. The Radnor Griffith James is buried in Radnor United Methodist Church cemetery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, with a badly worn tombstone stating his name.[5]
An autobiographical account written by Isaac James, a son of Griffith and Mary Gyger James, in 1869 proves conclusively that Griffith James with wife Mary Gyger was not Griffith James of Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Pendleton District, South Carolina — it proves that Mary Gyger was the name of the wife of Griffith James of Radnor and not the name of the wife of the Maryland-South Carolina Griffith James.
Isaac James’ handwritten autobiography, entitled “Autobiography of Rev. Isaac James, M.D. (1777-1874),” is in the archives of Old St. George’s United Methodist Church in Philadelphia.[6] It was donated in May of 1871 to the Philadelphia United Methodist Conference Historical Society, at whose request it was written. Isaac James was a licensed Methodist preacher and physician, and is buried with wife Henrietta in the cemetery of Radnor United Methodist Church cemetery in Bryn Mawr in which his father Griffith James is buried. In 2007, the Journal of the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference [United Methodist Church] published Isaac James’ autobiography.[7]
The autobiography opens with Isaac stating,
I was born in Radnor Township in what was then Chester County, since Delaware, in what was then called the “Mansion House” on the 28th of January 1777. My great-grandfather, David James, came over from Wales. He purchased a tract of land of 253 acres from David Meredith and Rees Price (see deed dated April 14th, 1718). He died 1738 or 39, leaving a will dated March 10th, 1738 and proved June 2nd, 1739.
This plantation was bequeathed of Evan James (who is said to have been born on the passage to America from Wales), who married Margaret Jones of Tredyffrin [Township], Chester County, Pennsylvania, on June 8th, 1739. He, Evan James, bequeathed to his son, Griffith James, 78 ¾ acres and the “Mansion House,” which house is located on the Old Lancaster Road, on the east side of the valley on the west hill of which the Methodist Episcopal Church of Radnor Township, Delaware County, now stands.
Isaac then goes on to say,
My father Griffith James married Mary, the daughter of Jessele or Jesse Gyger, by whom he had five children, three sons and two daughters. Mary, the eldest, died of consumption about the age of 22. Rachel married Jesse Burrows (one of the class leaders of St. George’s Church, Philadelphia) by whom she had two children. Her eldest son, J. Wesley, died some years ago, leaving a widow and five children. Her daughter Mary Ann married Charles Humphreys; they had nine children and who at this date, 1869, still lives at Radnor.
David, my eldest brother, entered the itinerancy in 1799 and was ordained deacon by Francis Asbury June 3rd, 1801. He married Elizabeth Boehm (a niece of old “Father Boehm”) by whom he had five children. He located and finally settled in Trenton where he died in [blank space]. His children still reside there.
Moses died aged about 23.
I married Henrietta, daughter of Thomas and Anna Potts and granddaughter of Rebecca Grace, of Coventry, Chester County, March 26th, 1801. She was convicted under the preaching of Rev. Benjamin Abbott. I took charge of my father’s farm, he beginning to feel the infirmities of old age.
As we’ve seen, the April 1795 will of Griffith James in Pendleton District, South Carolina, names children Joseph, Hannah, Jenny (i.e., Gwendolyn), Mary, John, and Samuel. This is not the Griffith James who married Mary Gyger and lived in Radnor township in Chester (later Delaware) County, Pennsylvania. The autobiography of that Griffith’s son Isaac James conclusively proves that these are two different Griffith James.
The Griffith James who died in Pendleton District, South Carolina, in 1795 with wife Mary did not marry Mary Gyger. The maiden surname of the wife of that Griffith James remains unknown, insofar as I have been able to discover.
[1] See e.g. “Griffith James (1735-1795)” at WikiTree, which has Griffith James of Washington County, Maryland, and Pendleton District, South Carolina, marrying Mary Ann (Gyger) Cummings. No documentation is provided to substantiate this claim.
[2] Frederick County, Maryland, Deed Bk. K, pp. 818-9.
[3] Washington County, Maryland, Deed Bk. G, pp. 771-2.
[4] Anderson County, South Carolina, Will Bk. C, p. 82.
[5] Find a Grave memorial page of Griffith James, Radnor United Methodist Church cemetery, Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, created by Dan Oh, maintained by Ancestors & Kin, with a tombstone photo by Autistic Wonderboy.
[6] See Find a Grave memorial page of Isaac James, Radnor United Methodist Church cemetery, Bryn Mawr, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, created by Dan Oh, maintained by Ancestors & Kin.
[7] “The Autobiography of Rev. Isaac James, M.D. (1777-1874),” Journal of the Historical Society of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference [United Methodist Church] (2007), pp. 80-102.
