IV. James, the fourth son of Master Sullivan, was born in Somersworth in May, 1744, and died in Boston, Dec. 10, 1808. He was thoroughly educated by his father, quite the equal of a Harvard graduate of that period; he studied law with his brother John; opened an office at Saco about 1767 and practised his profession there until about 1780; he was very successful, and with his brother John did the larger part of the law business in York County. When he was twenty-six years old he was appointed attorney-general for the district of Maine and held the office until the Revolution began; he was delegate in the first Continental Congress, when he was thirty years old; when he was thirty-one he was appointed judge of admiralty; the next year he was promoted to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court, which office he held several years; he removed to Boston in 1782. While he was in Maine, John Adams, who used to go down there once or twice a year to attend court at Saco and Portland, said that he always found the Sullivans in possession of all the best and most important cases. In 1783, ’84 and ’85 he was delegate in the Continental Congress, and also was representative from Boston in the Massachusetts General Court; he was member of the Executive Council in 1787; judge of probate from 1788 to 1790; attorney-general from 1790 to 1807; in 1804 he was presidential elector, casting his vote for Thomas Jefferson, of whom he was a great admirer. The _Federalist_ abused him fearfully for so voting. He was governor of Massachusetts in 1807 and 1808, dying a short time before his term expired. Notwithstanding he gave so much time to official business, he was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Historical Society and its president many years; he wrote and published a history of Maine; he published numerous pamphlets on various questions that concerned current business affairs; he was a clear and forcible writer and an eloquent advocate; he delivered innumerable addresses on public occasions and stood in the front rank of literary men and the legal fraternity of Boston.