James Graham (1650 – January 27, 1701) was a Scottish born colonial American politician who served as the Speaker of the New York General Assembly.

Early life

Graham was born in

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbur ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

in 1650 and was the son of John Graham and Isabella (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth ...

Affick) Graham. His paternal grandfather was Scottish nobleman James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who supported King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

in the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of Kingdom of England, England's governanc ...

, and was executed in Scotland in May 1650 after which the Montrose estates were forfeited.Buchan, John (1928). ''Montrose: A History''.

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most ...

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vo ...

The Riverside Press Riverside Insights is a publisher of clinical and educational standardized tests in the United States; it is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It is also a charter member of the Association of Test Publishers. Riverside Insights was establish ...

. His father's older brother,

James Graham, 2nd Marquess of Montrose James Graham, 2nd Marquess of Montrose ( – February 1669) was a Scottish nobleman and judge, surnamed the "Good" Marquess. Early life He was the second son of James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, by his wife, Lady Magdalene Carnegie, daugh ...

, succeeded to the title after his grandfather's death.

Career

In 1678, as a member of the entourage of Governor

Edmund Andros Sir Edmund Andros (6 December 1637 – 24 February 1714) was an English colonial administrator in British America. He was the governor of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. At other times, Andros served ...

(who was appointed by the

Duke of York Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of List of English monarchs, English (later List of British monarchs, British) monarchs. ...

to be the first proprietary governor of the Province of New York in October 1674), Graham sailed to New York aboard the ''Blossom''. Once in

British America British America comprised the colonial territories of the English Empire, which became the British Empire after the 1707 union of the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, in the Americas from 1 ...

, he became a merchant and practiced law. He was granted patents to large tracts of land in

Ulster County Ulster County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is situated along the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was 181,851. The county seat is Kingston. The county is named after the Irish province of Ulster. History F ...

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

. From its inception in 1683, until , Graham served as the first Recorder of New York City, essentially the deputy

mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public proper ...

(under mayors Cornelius Van Steenwyk, Gabriel Minvielle,

Nicholas Bayard Nicholas Bayard (c. 1644–1707 or 1709) was a government official and slave trader in colonial New York. Bayard served as the mayor of New York City from 1685 to 1686. He is historically most notable for being Peter Stuyvesant's nephew and for ...

Stephanus Van Cortlandt Stephanus van Cortlandt (May 7, 1643 – November 25, 1700) was the first native-born mayor of New York City, a position which he held from 1677 to 1678 and from 1686 to 1688. He was the patroon of Van Cortlandt Manor and was on the governor's ...

and Peter Delanoy). On December 10, 1685, while serving as Recorder, Graham was appointed the Attorney General of the Province of New York to succeed

Thomas Rudyard Thomas Rudyard (1640 – buried 2 November 1692) was a Quaker lawyer in London before moving to America and being appointed deputy governor of East Jersey and the first Attorney General of the English Province of New York, the predecessor posit ...

. In 1687, he was appointed to the Governor's Council under Governor

Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick Thomas Dongan, (pronounced "Dungan") 2nd Earl of Limerick (1634 – 14 December 1715), was a member of the Irish Parliament, Royalist military officer during the English Civil War, and Governor of the Province of New York. He is noted for hav ...

. In 1688 when New York was annexed into

Dominion of New England The Dominion of New England in America (1686–1689) was an administrative union of English colonies covering New England and the Mid-Atlantic Colonies (except for Delaware Colony and the Province of Pennsylvania). Its political structure repres ...

, he moved to Boston and became the Attorney General of the Dominion. Following its collapse in April 1689, he was imprisoned along with Governor Andros and was exiled to England.

Return to New York

In 1691, Graham returned to New York after the

Leisler Rebellion Leisler's Rebellion was an uprising in late-17th century colonial New York in which German American merchant and militia captain Jacob Leisler seized control of the southern portion of the colony and ruled it from 1689 to 1691. The uprising too ...

was put down by Governor

Henry Sloughter Henry Sloughter (died July 23, 1691) was briefly colonial governor of New York in 1691. Sloughter was the governor who put down Leisler's Rebellion, which had installed Jacob Leisler as ''de facto'' governor in 1689. He died suddenly in July ...

, and was elected as a member of the

New York General Assembly The General Assembly of New York, commonly known internationally as the New York General Assembly, and domestically simply as General Assembly, was the supreme legislative body of the Province of New York during its period of proprietal colon ...

(the first representative governing body in New York), representing

New York County Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. stat ...

(the current New York County,

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

), from 1691 to 1693 and again from 1695 until his death in 1701. From 1691 to 1694 and again from 1695 to 1698, he served as the Speaker of the Assembly. In April 1691, Thomas Newton, then the Attorney General of the Province, left New York and George Farewell was appointed to succeed him but the General Assembly considered Farewell incompetent and, in May 1691, Graham was again appointed Attorney General, which he held until January 1701. In 1696, he was appointed Advocate General of the Court of Vice-Admiralty and in May 1699, he was again appointed to the Governor's Council under Governor

Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont (sometimes spelled Bellamont, 1636 – 5 March 1700/01In the Julian calendar, then in use in England, the year began on 25 March. To avoid confusion with dates in the Gregorian calendar, then in us ...

. He was appointed to serve as Recorder again in 1693 and served (under mayors Charles Lodwik, William Merritt, Johannes de Peyster, David Provost, and Isaac De Reimer) until 1700 when he "lost favor" with Governor Bellomont and was replaced in January 1701 by Abraham Gouverneur.

Personal life

Graham was first married to Mary Home. Together, they were the parents of: * Isabella Graham (1673–1752), who married Gov.

Lewis Morris Lewis Morris (April 8, 1726 – January 22, 1798) was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County. He signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continen ...

(1671–1746) on November 3, 1691. * Mary Graham (b. ), who married John Corbett on December 14, 1703. * Sarah Graham (b. ), who married Mr. Chappel, emigrated to England and was the mother of Rev. Graham Chappen, a clergyman in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. * Margaret Graham (b. ) * John Graham (b. ) After Mary's death, Graham was married for a second time to Elizabeth Windebank (1655–1701) on July 18, 1684. Together, they were the parents of: * Augustine Graham (d. 1718), who married Jane Chiswell on April 8, 1703. He served as

Surveyor General A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

(from 1691 to 1719) and was a patentee in the

Great Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

and Little Nine Partner grants in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

. Graham died at his daughters residence,

Morrisania Morrisania ( ) is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern Bronx, New York City, New York. Its boundaries are the Cross-Bronx Expressway to the north, Crotona-Prospect Avenue to the east, East 161st Street to the south, and Webster Avenu ...

, on January 27, 1701.

Descendants

Through his son Augustine, he was the grandfather of James Graham, who married his cousin (and James's granddaughter) Arabella Morris in 1738. Through his daughter Isabella, he was the grandfather of twelve, including fellow Speaker

Lewis Morris Jr. Lewis Morris Jr. (September 23, 1698 – July 3, 1762) was a colonial American judge, politician and vast landowner who was the 2nd Lord of the Manor of Morrisania. Early life Morris was born on September 23, 1698, at Morrisania, his family's man ...

and New Jersey Chief Justice

Robert Hunter Morris Robert Hunter Morris ( – 27 January 1764), was a prominent governmental figure in Colonial Pennsylvania, serving as governor of Pennsylvania and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. Early life and education Morris was born in ...

References

External links

James Graham
at the Historical Society of the New York Courts. {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, James 1650 births 1701 deaths Speakers of the New York General Assembly Members of the New York General Assembly New York City Recorders People of the Province of New York People from Midlothian Scottish emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies