He was not the man of the same name who married Elizabeth Flack nor was he a son of Andrew Hall. These are both Internet "urban legends" with no documentary evidence to support either assertion.

James Hall was born in North Carolina (probably Duplin County) out 1770. He removed to Tennessee about 1812 where his son, Peter, was born. He may have been the name of the same name from Clarke County, Alabama (now borders Choctaw County, Alabama) who in 1814 sold a slave and household goods in Bedford County, Tennessee to James H. Bradford, son of Hamilton Bradford of Bedford County (Deed Book E. pp. 308-9). James Hall's land in Washington County (later Choctaw County), Alabama was just across the Tombigbee River from Clarke County, Alabama.

His origins in North Carolina are not known. However, his sons were associated with Nathan Hall who was a son of Louis/Lewis Hall. This family also had its origins in NC (Sampson and Duplin Counties) and settled in Lowndes and Montgomery Cos., AL. Two men, Abraham (Abram) and Louis (Lewis) Hall, both born in the 1780s, headed these families. Later, Nathan Hall, a son of Louis/Lewis, settled in Bowie Co., TX, living very near the sons of James Hall of Washington and Choctaw Cos., AL. In fact, he and his wife, Edna, are buried in the same church cemetery as many of James Hall's children. There were two men named James Hall enumerated in Sampson County in 1810; either could be identical to this James Hall. The Hall family lived near and were associated with the Faircloth and Parker families in Sampson County and later Alabama. James Hall's wife might have been from either family.

James Hall's children have been identified by deeds of gift from him to all except William. However, per family stories, it is known that William was his son, and the earlier deeds of Washington County, Alabama are not extant. The records of Choctaw County, Alabama for the time period in which he died are also not extant.