James Blanks married Sarah Ann Vaughn 1795, in Granville County, North Carolina. Sarah Ann Vaughn was the daughter of John Vaughn and Amelia Jones. Amelia Jones was the daughter of John Jones and sister of Anne Jones, who was the second wife of Joseph Blanks, father of James. James Blanks's mother was Mary Appling, first wife of Joseph.

James and Sarah's children were: John Blanks born about 1797, married Mary Ann Wilkerson; Joseph Blanks born about 1799, died 1882 married Rebecca Pettypool; Mary Ann Blanks born April 11, 1801 married her first cousin Henry Hester; Thomas Blanks born about 1804, married Prudence Hite; James Blanks born about 1806, married Margaret Owen; William Anderson Blanks born about 1809, married Dolly Jones; Sarah Blanks born about 1813; Amelia Blanks born December 25, 1815, died August 14, 1839, Trigg County, KY; Richard Blanks born September 10, 1818, married Lucy Faulkner.

James Blanks, his brothers Richard and Thomas, and sister Elizabeth Blanks (married Francis Hester) were prven to be the children of Joseph Blanks and Mary Appling in the Estate of Thomas Appling, brother of Mary Appling Blanks.

North Carolina
Granville County

Petition of RICHARD BLANKS, JOHN PURYEAR, ROBERT PURYEAR, WILLIAM PURYEAR, FRANK HESTER and ELIZABETH his wife, WILLIAM ROYSTER and SALLY his wife, heirs and representatives of THOMAS APPLING, decd., VS JAMES BLANKS, THOMAS BLANKS, ELIZABETH SMITH, PEGGY BRADSHAW, REUBEN JOHNSON and MARTHA his wife, JOEL TUCKER and ELIZABETH his wife, ROBERT TUCKER and DOLLY his wife, and Anna CLEMENTS, the other heirs and representatives of THOMAS APPLING, deceased.

Humbly complaining sheweth unto your worship that THOMAS APPLING, late of this County, departed this some time within the year intestate, seized and possessed of a tract of land lying on the waters of Jonathan's Creek in said County containing by estimation nine hundred and forty three acres and that he left neither widow nor children him surviving that RICHARD BLANKS, JAMES BLANKS, THOMAS BLANKS, and ELIZABETH HESTER in whose right the said Frank and Elizabeth Hester claim are the children of MARY, sister of said THOMAS APPLING, decd., who intermarried with JOSEPH BLANKS and is since deceased as is also her said husband and that they are the nearest relations of the whole blood of said intestate.
November Term 1819