James Counsell was a resident of Martin County. While any evidence directly implicating Counsel as being a member of the Gourd Patch Conspiracy has not been located, his father and his uncle were both involved in the plot. Whether James too was involved or simply had knowledge of his relatives' involvement, he appeared on a list of witnesses at the Edenton District Court of Oyer and Terminer in 1777 with evidence to provide against John Lewellen, the plot's ringleader who had been charged with high treason.