James Weeden emigrated to New England in the ship (sloop) Martin in the summer of 1638, as is proved by his testimony, dated in Boston 13 July 1638, that he had witnessed the will of Sylvester Baldwin, a fellow passenger and also a native of Buckinghamshire. In 1648 he was a juryman at a court of trials held at Newport, but by 1651 he had removed to Portsmouth, where on 16 May of that year he was chosen on a committee for the General Court next ensuing. On 2 June 1653 he was chosen juryman for the next General Court, and on 17 June 1654 he was chosen, with four others, to make a rate. In 1655 he was on the list of freemen, and on 4 June 1655 and 4 Oct. 1656 he was chosen juryman. On 31 Aug. 1657 he made an agreement with William Freborne regarding land, and on 10 Dec. following he had a grant of 8 acres. On 31 Mar. 1658 he sold to Daniel Grinnell 6 acres of land, but no further record of him has been found.
The Wampanoag tribe of south-east Massachusetts and Rhode Island currently includes a prominent Weeden family. They would more logically trace back to James Weeden (1585-1673) who settled in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; or to a slave belonging to one of his descendants, who assumed his last name when freed.
James Weeden, the immigrant ancestor, settled first in Boston, afterward in Newport, Rhode Island, where he died about 1673. He married, second, in 1650, Rose Paine, widow, first of Mathew Grinnell, second of Anthony Paine. James Weeden was a rnember of the court of trials at Newport in 1648; admitted a freeman in 1655.