James Nash, was a son of James and Alice Nash. He may have been the James Nash baptized 6 February 1634, at the parish of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of James and Alice (Higgins) Nash. [Great Missenden Parish Registers, Buckinghamshire County Record Office.]
James married Sarah Simmons, daughter of Moses and Sarah Simmons of Duxbury, Massachusetts as evidenced in the will of Moses Simmons dated 17 July 1689, in which Moses mentioned "daughter Sarah, now the wife of James Nash." Moses left her two pounds, ten shillings, "of which the said James hath 2 pounds, 5 shillings in his hands." Abstracts of Plymouth County, Mass. Probate Records and Files, Mayflower Descendant, 31(1933):60.
James and Sarah lived in Weymouth, Massachusetts, buy may have also resided or owned property at times in Scituate and Boston. A deed of 17 November 1686 mentions land in the northerly end of Boston on a street from the Battery to Charlestown Ferry Place bounded on land of James Nash. [Suffolk County Deeds, 14:173.] James operated a tide mill in Weymouth that was known as "Nash's grist mill" and was located on Mill Cove on the east side of the Fore River. Gilbert Nash, Historical Sketch of the Town of Weymouth (Weymouth Historical Society, 1885), page 21. In his will of 1695/6, he left it to his grandson, James Drake. [Suffolk County Probate #2297.]
James also operated a sloop that ran between Boston, Weymouth and neighboring towns. [Called a "sloopman" in Suffolk County Probate, 8:245.] He was probably the James Nash who was paid ten pounds by the General Court of Plymouth Colony on 3 June 1673, for "carriage of plank to Boston." Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Plymouth Colony Records (Boston, 1857), 5:19.
James was on the Weymouth list of freemen in 1665 and was town constable in 1685. Lucius R. Paige, List of Freemen, Register, 3(1849):240; Gilbert Nash, Historical Sketch of the Town of Weymouth (Weymouth Historical Society, 1885), page 12.
James died about 1695. His estate was appraised 6 February 1695/6 and included his grist mill, dwelling house with land and meadows. On 18 May 1698, an agreement was made between the widow and only child of James Nash, whereby Sarah, his daughter, and her husband, William Drake, agreed to, "provide for and deliver to our said mother, Sarah Nash, 26 bushels of good sound merchantable Indian Corn yearly. [Suffolk County Probabte, 8:245.]
