James Brown McLea (1859-1926)

James Brown MacLea/McLea (see this page for a discussion of spelling differences of the surname MacLea) was the ancestor of the (main) branch of the family that left Scotland and come to America.

James and his wife Margaret (Maggie) came to North America about 1880, having their first child in Chicago in 1883, and the rest in Paterson, New Jersey, between 1884 and 1896. Margaret died in 1897, which caused the family to leave and move to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the family lived and thrived for many years, spreading out across Massachusetts, and eventually, beyond.

The migration of James is described on its own page.

James eventually remarried Mary Hughes (who he always called Mary Hughes and not Mary McLea) in 1911. His mother, Janet Brown, who arrived in America after the death of Margaret in 1897, stayed on with the family through early 1900, but eventually returned to Glasgow. She did, however, return in 1911 with James's second wife Mary, a few months after he had ventured home to find her.

The MacLeas lived out their life in Cambridge, Somerville, and Watertown. James sired an entire family of MacLeas, the subject of this entire history.

This page will be fleshed out more over time.