Dr. George Richard James, physician and surgeon of New Haven, was born in Norwich, Connecticut, December 9, 1885, a son of Charles D. James, also born in Norwich and a grandson of Charles James, who was likewise born in Connecticut and was a representative of an old family of this state of English lineage. Charles D James was for some time proprietor of a meat market, which he successfully conducted. He married Katherine Kelley, a native of Taftville, Connecticut, and a daughter of Thomas Kelley, of Irish lineage. She now occupies the old home at Norwich, but the father passed away March 12, 1903, at the age of fifty-one years. In their family were nine children, of whom two died in infancy.
     Dr. James, the second in order of birth, after leaving the high school of Norwich, pursued post-graduate work in the Norwich Academy and thus gained broad literary knowledge to serve as a foundation upon which to build his professional learning. He prepared for the practice of medicine and surgery as a student at Yale, which he entered in 1906, completing his course with the graduating class of 1910, the degree of M. D. being then conferred upon him. During his last two years at Yale he was an interne in St. Raphael's Hospital of New Haven and following his graduation was appointed and served for a year as house physician in the state prison. He afterward entered upon private practice in New Haven and has since followed his profession as a general practitioner. He is also school medical inspector under appointment of the school board and the board of health.
     On the 28th of June, 1916, Dr. James was married in New Haven to Miss Josephine M. O'Connell, a native of this city and a daughter of John F. and Louise (Otell) O'Connell, who formerly lived at Bristol, Connecticut, but are now in New Haven. Dr. James holds membership in St. Mary's Catholic church and in the local organization of the Knights of Columbus. In politics he is a democrat where national issues are involved but casts an independent local ballot. He belongs to the New Haven, the New Haven County, the Connecticut State and the American Medical Associations and thus keeps in touch with the trend of modern professional thought, investigation and research. That he early displayed marked strength of character is indicated in the fact that he worked his own way through Yale. He has ever been most conscientious in the performance of his professional duties, is most careful in the diagnosis of his cases and conforms his practice to a high standard of professional ethics.