James Lester was born November 15, 1871 in the family flat in St Helens, Lancashire, England to Henry and Mary (Watkin) Lester. James was the first born to Henry and Mary. At the time they where residing with Henry's mother Mary and stepfather James Dagnall at 29 Barrow St. By 1881 Henry, Mary and family had moved to 37 Barrow St. St Helens which is across from the townhall in the center of town. As the early years of James life went by his brothers Joseph, Henry, William, and sister Lucy where born. As James got older he went to work with his father Henry in the St Helen's coal mines. James mother Mary died when he was 15 in 1886 during childbirth. His father Henry remarried to a widow Mary Ellen (Chisnell) Morley on December 25, 1886. James immigrated to the United States with his father Henry and step brother Fredrick Morley in 1887 from Liverpool on the SS Indiana they arrived in the port of Philadelphia on October 16, 1887. James first settled with his father and family in Phillipsburg, Centre county Pennsylvania. James married Anna Bennett and as of 1900 he and Anna where living in Jeanette, Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. The family remained in Jeanette where James worked as a metal worker. Later on in life he was a laborer on a WPA Road Project durring the depression of that time.
Henry born 1893
Daisy born 1895
Elsia born 1896
Anna born 1900
Hazel born 1904
James born 1906
Lillian born 1908
Clara born 1910
William born 1913
