James Family Archives
• Researching the Past
• Education for the Present
• Preservation for the Future
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It is important to note that following David Meredith’s patent of 1704, he did not eject David James from the land or demand his departure. David Meredith himself had settled in neighboring Plymouth Township and had no interest in actually occupying this land in Radnor Township. So how to resolve this seemingly impassible quandary? The solution lie in events that would occur during the following year.
On July 4, 1705 David James eldest daughter Mary James who is now approximately 29 years old married John David/Davies of Gwynedd at the Radnor Quaker Meeting House in Radnor Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. John David/Davies was the son of David Meredith, originally of Llanbister, Radnorshire, Wales and presently of Plymouth Township. So what appeared to be an intractable situation as of 1704 was resolved in 1705 with the intermarriage of the James family with the Meredith family through the union of their children. Mary would go on to have four children of her own including: Elizabeth Davies, David Davies, Jane Davies and Susannah Davies – all of whom the grandchildren of David Meredith. Interestingly, on either July or September 12, 1705, the patent to David Meredith of May 1, 1704 was recorded in the “Enrollment Office” in the city of Philadelphia in Patent Book “A,” Volume 3 on page 130.
The year 1705 also saw the birth of David’s third child, a daughter, and second child born in Pennsylvania – Rebecca James. Rebecca would be the first child born to Margaret James in the James family’s stone house. So with the departure of one daughter, Mary, 1705 saw the arrival of a new daughter to the James family.
By 1706 the attention of David James and his fellow Baptists has now turned to the divisions that are rising between the various Baptist churches in the area. On July 22, 1706 members of the congregation of the Welsh Tract Baptist Church meet at the home of Richard Miles in Radnor Township for the purpose of coming to terms with the principles espoused by the main body of Baptists already present in the Welsh Tract in hopes of finding unity between the two bodies. At this gathering an agreement is entered into and put into writing in which principles common to the two denominational groups are identified. The agreement contained eight founding principles or “rules” of the Baptist faith that both groups identified as common ground and were willing to adhere to. This landmark agreement is preserved and recorded among the records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Church.
In 1708 David Meredith decides to turn the property that he owns but is still occupied by David James over to a pair of real estate brokers to make arrangements for its final disposition. It is not clear whether the men hired by David Meredith were intended to facilitate the sale of the property directly to David James, but what is known is that on May 22, 1708 an agreement is made between David Meredith of the first part, and Robert Jones of Marion Township and Meredith Davies of Plymouth Township of the second part for the benefit of David Meredith’s daughter Sarah and her husband Rees Prees who are described as being of the “third part.” In this agreement, David Meredith agrees to “rent” this 253 acres of land to Robert Jones and Meredith Davies for a period of one year (1708-1709). During this one year period Robert Jones and Meredith Davies were to act as real estate agents for David Meredith and sell the 253 acres with the proceeds of the sale to be given to David Meredith’s daughter Sarah and her husband Rees Prees. Whether or not David James was the intended purchaser “at this time” is unknown but what is clear from the documented record is that these two men, Robert Jones and Meredith Davies made no effort whatsoever to conclude any sales transaction concerning the land. In fact, the two men literally took no action for a period of ten years before David Meredith would once again take matters into his own hands.