THE STUART FAMILY ARCHIVE
James L. Diven biography (1886) — Brewster cousin branch correlation
Evidence reference: WEB-20261102-213811-dcb10344
Evidence status: Added by a family editor; independent verification not established
Historical date: 1886
Collection: Person: james_diven_junior_land
Franklin Ellis and Austin N. Hungerford, eds., History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder (Philadelphia: Everts, Peck & Richards, 1886), volume 2 part 1, printed pp. 979–980, biography "James L. Diven." Full scanned pages visually inspected from Internet Archive, Allen County Public Library copy, identifier historyofthatpar21elli. This is an original scan of a published secondary family history, not a contemporary record of the earlier births. Informant is not stated; James L. was living at publication. Do not assume its earlier ancestry independent of other compiled histories.
READING: p.979 identifies James L. as grandson of James Diven, Scotch-Irish, who moved from York County to Cumberland before the Revolutionary War and married Miss Waddell. It lists sons Alexander, James, John, William, Joseph and five daughters. John, born in Spring Township, Perry County, about1778, married Annie, daughter of Rev. John Linn. Their children include James L. born29May1819, Mary G. born7February1821/died23June1831, Anna B. (wife of William R. Fetter) born5September1825, and John L. born18April1827. Page980 continues: mother died26July1838, father2May1839. James L. retained a tannery interest with brother John L. and married Margaret J., daughter of Anthony Black,25October1858; their children include a son James L.
CORRELATION: Margaret Brewster's1868 will (WEB-20261102-195929-8fd08a9d) explicitly calls James L. Diven and Anna Bella Fetter cousins and names young James L., son of James L. and Margaret J. Diven. The sibling and spouse/child combination makes identification of these particular legatees substantially stronger than matching surnames alone. It also agrees with the previously inspected1839 John Diven guardianship naming James L., Annabella and John L. This anchors a collateral branch to Senior, subject to the published biography's limitations.
LIMITS: The biography does NOT name Junior's wife Nancy, identify Junior's son James A., identify Margaret Brewster or explain their common ancestor. No exact vital date or new kinship edge is imported from this history. It supplies no support for Junior being Alexander's son; the working hypothesis remains James Senior as father of both Junior and Alexander. Alexander's son James, husband of Mary Jane, was alive in1840 and must remain distinct from Junior, deceased before20October1813. James L.'s1847 tanning activity versus the1849 conveyance is a chronology lead, not proof that James A. was a cousin.
PRESERVATION: Full-resolution unaltered JPEG derivatives served by Internet Archive BookReader, files ending _0191.jp2 (printed979) and _0193.jp2 (printed980). Blank plate reverses interrupt the image sequence; IA navigation page labels are offset, so cite printed page numbers and actual image filenames. The two full scans are preserved with this entry; not screenshots. Association to Junior is research context only.