BrklynBridge,
Yes, John and James are close enough to warrant more than just a casual look. Census takers, especially back then, weren't as meticulous as we'd like, and transcrption errors also crop up.. I can't tell you how my Tucker ancestors were listed in one transcript, but I can tell you they were only one letter off.

The informant on the death certificate was William's second oldest son. I really don't like death records because the only one who we know for sure had the correct information was dead, and the survivors can only go with "to the best of their knowledge." But as I said previously sometimes its all you have.