vital records sources

bio in progress

There was a notation added to the Little Compton town records and copied by James Arnold in his Rhode Island Vital Recordsthat James was born in 1660 and married Anna in 1686. This was someone's guess. They aren't full dates and they don't appear in the original town records. The undoubtedly are based on the fact that of the two children with births recorded in the Little Compton records, Isaac's is the first in 1688. It was presumed that he was the first born and his parents' marriage then estimated to have been in 1686. In fact, James and Anna had at least six children that were evidently older than Isaac. The oldest was likely Mary, whose birth was about 1670-1672. This puts James and Anna's marriage about 1668-1670 and James's birth roughly between 1640 and 1645. No supportive evidence was found for the claim that Anna was the daughter of William Chamberlain. Her stepmother Catherine married Valentine Huddleston, the father of two sons-in-law of James Case. This may be where the idea originated that Anna was a Chamberlain. There may be a credible source that makes the connection, but the author hasn't found it.

James had a cattle earmark recorded in Portsmouth on 16 December 1674.1 He was called to court with Thomas Butts to explain why they were living in Puncatest (Little Compton) without permission from the court.2 On 10 January 1688/9, James, husbandman, and Anna of Little Compton sell to Joseph Card of Newport for £40 twelve acres in Newport, north on common, east by highway and Knight orchard, south by orchard and on John Greene and John Rogers, west on Card. Witnesses were Larance Turner, Edward Greenman, Elias Williams, and the Cases acknowledged the deed on 11 January 1688/9.3 At the 20 October 1669 session of the General Court of Trials, held in Newport, James was on the grand jury.4 79 Thomas Case was on the docket of that session for a "breach of his bonds," but it seems unlikely James was related to him, given the issue of bias. Perhaps jurors were allowed to abstain in such instances. However, William Case was on the petty jury at the 6 May 1667 session of the court and on the grand jury on 19 October 1670.5 At the 1670 session, he and another man were brought to court over a land dispute. It was ordered to go to arbitration rather than trial.
     There was a James Case of Misquamicut (now Westerly), Rhode Island Colony, who became a freeman on 28 October 1668.6 He wasn't on the freemen list of 1669 and didn't sign the Oath of Fidelity there 1671.

Children of James Case and Anna (ordered partly as they are listed within the deed and among the signatures):

Mary, b. abt. 1672
Elizabeth, b. abt. 1675, m. John Springer, first known ch. James b. 18 June 1698, LC
Anna, b. abt. 1677
Mercy, b. abt. 1679, m. George Huddleston
Sarah, b. abt. 1682, m. Henry Huddleston, 4 Aug. 1702
Susannah, b. 18 May 1686, m. John Lake, 13 Oct. 1709
Isaac, b. 19 August 1688
Penelope, b. abt. 1691, m. Joseph Lake, 11 Feb. 1714(/5?)

vital records sources:

1.The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth (Providence: E. L. Freeman & Sons, 1901), 283.
2.31 October 1682 court, 98.
3.Rhode Island Land Evidences, vol. 1, 1648-1696: Abstracts, Volume 1, 225 (Rhode Island Historical Society, 1921)
4. Rhode Island court records; records of the Court of trials of the colony of Providence Plantations, 1647-1670>, vol. 2 (1662-1670) (Providence: 1922), 79 5.Rhode Island court records, 2:54, 94.
6.Rhode Island Colony Records, vol. 2, 238.