Upon his return to Connecticut in the spring of 1789, James and his brother William were summoned to the home of their father's prominent and wealthy second cousin, Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth of American Revolutionary War and Continental Congress fame, in Hartford.

They claimed the land and built a log cabin in a meadow near the east bank of the Genesee River about half a mile west of the present site of "The Homestead" at Geneseo, New York.

James was a theorist, planner, colonist and lover of books while William was more down-to-earth, a working farmer, militia officer and a "man with the common touch."

James was the more scholarly of the two, and had a shrewd mind for business and a talented negotiator, while William was a rugged hands-on type with a natural penchant for husbandry, agriculture and public duty.

He then traveled on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, visiting Massachusetts, and returned to Connecticut, all while frequently encouraging settlement by offering incentives for prospective settlers.

When James returned, he found his brother, William, had built a large proper cobblestone house for their occupancy, quite different from the first small log cabin they had lived in for over six years.

This treaty effectively extinguished the Indian title to the land west of the Genesee River and created ten reservations for the Seneca in New York State.

In January 1829, he wrote former clerk, Philo Fuller, a state assemblyman, to urge the passage of legislation to establish county high schools with well-educated teachers.

James created a trust to compile, print and distribute to the trustees of each common school in New York State courses of popular lectures "adapted to the capacities of children" which could be "conveniently read in half an hour."

The lectures were to be on six subjects: On the Application of Science for the Arts, On Agriculture and Horticulture, On the Principles of Legislation, On Political Economy, On Astronomy and Chemistry, and On the Intellectual, Moral and Religious Instruction of the Youth of this State by Means of Common Schools.

[5] In 1838, New York Governor George W. Patterson wrote, “In regard to the origin of the School District Library System of this state, I will say to you, that the whole credit belongs to the Honorable James Wadsworth, of Geneseo..." Patterson insisted that he had just performed his "duty" to obtain a bill permanently earmarking funds for school libraries, over what he considered violent objections.