Francis James (congressman)

Francis James (April 4, 1799 – January 4, 1886) was an Anti-Masonic and Whig member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

Francis James was born in Thornbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He studied law, was admitted to the bar of Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1825 and commenced practice in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate from 1834 to 1836.

James was elected as an Anti-Masonic candidate to the Twenty-sixth Congress and reelected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress. He served as chairman of the United States House Committee on Revisal and Unfinished Business during the Twenty-seventh Congress. He resumed the practice of his profession in West Chester, and served as chief burgess in 1850. He died in West Chester in 1886. Interment in Oakland Cemetery.

Sources

• Francis James at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard