James was enslaved by Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, Massachusetts. When he bought James in 1719, the minister was a young man early in his career and newly married. Just prior to purchasing James, Williams sold a child named Nicholas. On March 26, 1719, Williams recorded in his diary, “This day I bought me a Servant Man—some of my neighbours think it may be for the better, others think not. I pray to help me do my Duty towards him.”  In a household accounting record, Williams recorded, “to paying for my man James: 10£.”  The only other mentions of James deal with his perceived transgressions for which Williams wrote, “I was forced to check him,” once for “being out of frame” and once for “being out last night unseasonably.” James appears in the diary three times between March and July of 1719 and then disappears from the record. Nothing is known of James after July 1719.