Meanwhile, still in Moffat, in 1896 he married local girl, Jeanie Laidlaw and they were to have four surviving children, two of whom were born in Scotland and two in Liverpool after the couple moved there in the early years of the new century, where again he worked again in the grocery trade before becoming a travelling salesman. And on Merseyside he was soon to involve himself in the local game, for at least a decade from 1910 being the match secretary for the Liverpool City Football League. And the family too continue to be involved. James Bryden Niven, James Snr.'s s elder and Scotds-born son would, a left-back, in the 1920 play for both New Brighton and Tranmere Rovers. 

And it would be in Liverpool that James and Jeanie would live out the rest of their days, he passing away in 1933 in hospital aged eighty-two to be buried in Anfield Cemetery.