Thornbury Township.

The James family are of Welsh descent. Evan James, the grandfather of Daniel, was a resident of West Nantmeal township, Chester Co., Pa., and a farmer of some prominence in the county. He married Rachel Evans, and had children, - William, Abner, Jesse, Evan, Hannah, Sarah, and Mary. William, of this number, was born in West Nantmeal township, where the greater portion of his life was spent in the employments of a farmer. He married Jane Dunwoody, daughter of James and Grace Dunwoody, of the same county and township. To this marriage were born children, - James, Myrach, Daniel, Benjamin F., Evan, Abigail (Mrs. Huzzard), and Rachel (Mrs. Way). Daniel, the third son, was born on the 16th of December, 1810, in West Nantmeal township, and devoted his youth to the acquirement of a plain English education, under the instruction of teachers in the neighborhood. At the age of sixteen he became an apprentice to the trade of a mill-wright, and in pursuit of this trade sojourned in various portions of the State for brief periods, having for five years made Nether Providence his residence. During a subsequent brief period spent in Upper Providence he married on the 1st of March, 1838, Eliza P., daughter of John and Eliza Worrall, of Middletown, and later of Springfield township. John Worrall died in the former township, after which his widow removed with her family to Springfield township. The children of Mr. and Mrs. James are Ann Elizabeth (Mrs. J. S. Phipps), Jane D., William, Seth P., Mary L. (Mrs. George Dutton), George W., Ellen H. (Mrs. Wilmer Cheyney), and John W. Mr. James, after five years spent in Springfield, returned again to Upper Providence, and purchased what is known as the "Cassin" farm, where he resided for twenty-one years, and cultivated the land he acquired in connection with the pursuit of his trade. In 1861 he was elected as a Republican to the office of county commissioner, and served a term of three years, after which he was chosen and filled for one term the office of county auditor. In 1867 he retired to a farm and mill property he purchased in Thornbury, and varied the employments of a miller with those of an agriculturist, though his sons are now conducting the flouring-mill. Mr. James was, in performing the official duties, connected with the office of commissioner, actively identified with the conduct of the war, and an important factor in the mustering of recruits. He is a director of the County Agricultural Society, and has been prominently identified with various county interests. A practical intelligence and thorough familiarity with mechanical appliances and machinery have rendered his business career a successful one, and made him an authority in his department of industry. Mr. James received his early training under Presbyterian auspices, but has during a large portion of his life worshiped with the Orthodox Friends' Meeting, of which his wife, whose death occurred Oct. 28, 1876, was a member.

The progenitor of the Brinton family in America was William Brinton, who was born about 1630, and died in 1700. He married Ann Bagley in 1659, and had four children, of whom one was named William, born in 1666. He married Jean Thatcher, and had a son, Joseph, who married Mary Pierce, and later Mary Elgar. John, the second son by the first marriage, was united to Margaret Williamson, and had three children, among whom was Joseph, who became a man of note, and for years a justice of the peace. He married Mary Martin, who bore him eight children. Of these, Abraham Brinton, the father of John, was born in 1784. He married Mary Evanson, and to them were born six children, among whom John, the subject of this sketch, was born Sept. 2, 1819, in Thornbury township, Delaware Co., Pa. On the farm of his father John found employment until his marriage, on the 11th day of January, 1842, to Sarah Ann, daughter of Thomas and Mary Manley. Her birth occurred Aug. 14, 1822. Their children are Ann Mary, born Nov. 27, 1842; she married Lewis W. Kitzelman in 1862; their children are John B., Charles Anna, Finley H., Eva D., Lewis W., and Lettie (deceased). Joseph Harlan, born May 25, 1845; he married Kate B. Pyle on the 16th day of March, 1870; their children are William Rupert (deceased), Albin, Irwin, Correll, and Cidney F. James Curtis, born April 20, 1851; he married Phebe Pyle in January, 1871; their children were George (deceased), Anna (also deceased), and Lottie M. After the death of Phebe, in 1878, James married Rachel Yarnall on the 16th day of March, 1882; their child, Edith, died in infancy. Sarah Emily, born Dec. 10, 1857, married to Eli E. Pyle Oct. 31, 1878, - children, Lillie B., Lavinia, and Florence. Lavinia Jackson, born June 24, 1860; she married, Feb. 21, 1883, Charles B. Hawes, to them was born one child, Susannah. Charles Anna, the daughter of Ann Mary and Lewis W. Kitzelman, married, in 1882, to G. D. Ladell, and has one child, Harry. George Evanson, youngest child by Mr. Brinton's first marriage, was born April 20, 1863, and is unmarried. Mrs. Brinton died Oct. 28, 1868, and Mr. Brinton was, on the 8th day of February, 1871, married to Lydia E. Manley, sister of his first wife, whose birth occurred Feb. 25, 1832; their only child is Lizzie Bolden, born Sept. 2,1873. Mr. Brinton, after his marriage, cultivated his father's farm on shares, and eventually purchased a small place adjacent to it, to which he removed, and where he remained until the death of his parent, when a portion of the estate became his by inheritance, and the remainder by pur-