James Graham (speaker)


James Graham was an English born colonial American politician who served as the Speaker of the New York General Assembly.

Early life

Graham was born in Midlothian, Scotland in 1650 and was the son of John Graham and Isabella Graham. His paternal grandfather was Scottish nobleman James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who supported King Charles I in the English Civil War, and was executed in Scotland in May 1650 after which the Montrose estates were forfeited. His father's older brother, James Graham, 2nd Marquess of Montrose, succeeded to the title after his grandfather's death.

Career

In 1678, as a member of the entourage of Governor Edmund Andros, Graham sailed to New York aboard the Blossom. Once in British America, he became a merchant and practiced law. He was granted patents to large tracts of land in Ulster County, Staten Island, and New Jersey.
From its inception in 1683, until, Graham served as the first Recorder of New York City, essentially the deputy mayor of New York City.
On December 10, 1685, while serving as Recorder, Graham was appointed the Attorney General of the Province of New York to succeed Thomas Rudyard. In 1687, he was appointed to the Governor's Council under Governor Thomas Dongan, 2nd Earl of Limerick. In 1688 when New York was annexed into Dominion of New England, 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 was put down by Governor Henry Sloughter, and was elected as a member of the New York General Assembly, representing New York County, 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.
He was appointed to serve as Recorder again in 1693 and served 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:
After Mary's death, Graham was married for a second time to Elizabeth Windebank on July 18, 1684. Together, they were the parents of:
Graham died at his daughters residence, Morrisania, on January 27, 1701.

Descendants

Through his son Augustine, he was the grandfather of James Graham, who married his cousin Arabella Morris in 1738. Through his daughter Isabella, he was the grandfather of twelve, including fellow Speaker Lewis Morris Jr. and New Jersey Chief Justice Robert Hunter Morris.