Researching the DAVIS Family and the Davis Allied Families of BRISLEY, BUTLER, CARTWRIGHT, ECKSTRÖM, HENRY, KENT, DICKINSON, HOXIE, MAXSON, MONEY, MOON, PETTIT, ROGERS, STRAIGHT, and WEX.
I have assembled some DAVIS Family genealogical data that I have acquired through several different sources. It is difficult to prove a good share of it beyond 1850 as vital records were not generally required. With this in mind there is a greater likelihood for error. I needed a place to post this data so that other researchers of this historic American colonial family could view and challenge the data uncovered to this point in time.
The immigrant DAVIS ancestor was purportedly the Reverend William DAVIS (1663-1745) of South Wales. Several sources report his birth in either the Shire of Glamorgan or Carmarthen but this uncertainty only intensifies my research. Perhaps if I research the surname DAVIES as most DAVISES were known in Wales, I may find the answer. More often that not, William's father was noted also as William, born in 1640 but some conjecture that his father was David. William was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Wales and spent two years at Oxford University. William apparently followed William Penn and immigrated in 1684 to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and settled with the Quakers. There was a significant immigration of Welsh steel and coal miners of this particular faith who selected this area for obvious employment reasons.
Click on the dragon flag for information on the national symbol of Wales.
Following the birth of his son, the Reverend Johnathan DAVIS (1692-1750), William removed to Washington Co., Rhode Island and took up with the Seventh Day Baptist Church and later to Shrewsbury, Monmouth Co., NJ which he founded. Johnathan's son the Reverend John DAVIS, Jr. (1723-1792), my 5th great-grandfather, married and settled in New London, Connecticut. Another son, Thomas William, settled in Harrison Co. West Virginia. In an era when families remained in the same county for generations I find it curious that this family spread so far and so wide braving this largely uncharted and uncivilized wilderness by covered wagon. I can only assume it was the mission of the lord that gave them fortitude to make these journeys. At some point John Jr. moved back to Rhode Island as most of his 11 children were born in Westerly. Boundries were constantly redrawn including state lines making it difficult to know if people actually relocated or merely acquired a new address.
The U.S. government had ordered the Indians of upstate New York to vacate this area just prior to the Revolutionary War. This massive Native American exodus made a great deal of lush farm land available and in turn an influx of New Englanders ensued. A recently discovered cousin who married into my PETTIT line, is a member of the Brothertown Tribe of Wisconsin. Land that was unjustly acquired by my ancestors was promised to this tribe who had relocated from CT and RI, was forced to relocate again to Wisconsin.
This New England to New York odyssey included John Jr. and his family, including my 4th ggrandfather, the Reverend David Rogers DAVIS (born abt.1744, died aft.1827). I had only found six of David's children until the recent acquisition of his will. He talks of 3 additonal daughters that I'd not been aware of. Judging from the birthplaces of David's 9th and 10th child, I can assume that he migrated to NY about 1781 making him one of the earliest Anglo-American inhabitants of this area.
Most public documentation of this family appeared to cease after my 3rd ggrandfather, Joshua DAVIS (1775-1840). Joshua apparently was not a member of the clergy like the four generations that preceeded him. Perhaps this has something to do with the lack of documentation. He married Angelina "Amy" STRAIGHT (1779-1837) in 1795 and a couple of years later they migrated to Chenango Co., New York. Joshua and Amy were both born in RI and married in 1795 making the trek to NY around the beginning of the 19th century.
Through the acquisition of two Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) records, I have found the documentation I needed to confirm that Joshua's son was my 2nd ggrandfather Job G. DAVIS, born sometime between 1799-1804. Job married Susan MONEY (1803-1871) in 1824. Job had a brother named Eliphalet who I believe may have travelled south to Wisconsin with them in addition to their children.
Job helped build and minister the first Methodist Episcopal Church in Lincklaen, New York. Ministering was nothing new to this family as Job's grandfather David Rogers Davis was a reverend of the Seventh Day Baptist Church. Additionally David's father, grandfather and great-grandfather were SDB ministers. These sects later evolved into the Congregational Church and eventually the United (Methodist) Church of Christ. Job and Susan had Jerome A. DAVIS in 1843, the fifth of seven children. After the family was complete, they moved on to Waupaca County, Wisconsin around 1856 along with Susan's father Ashel and several of the Davis extended family members.
After the start of the Civil War, Jerome age 16 and his brother Eugene age 14, signed on with the all volunteer Wisconsin 17th Infantry, Company I. After travelling all over the south by rail and on foot and fighting hand to hand combat, Jerome and Eugene returned to Wisconsin and mustered out in Madison. Upon their return in 1865, Jerome purchased Job and Susan's farm and married Eunice DICKINSON in 1891. My great-grandfather Orson J. DAVIS was born in 1867, the 3rd of three children. Jerome later married Charlotte Rose BUTLER, a widow, and they had four children together.
Orson married Stella A. KENT from a prominent New York family. Stella and Orson engendered 6 children including my grandfather Walter Orson DAVIS born in 1891. Walter married Francis "Fannie" HENRY who was the daughter of Philip HENRY and Lydia PETTIT and they also had six children. Although not uncommon today, Lydia gave birth for the first time at age 32, a set of twin girls. The noteworthy detail here is that Lydia, at the age of 60, died 10 days after giving birth to my grandmother Fannie, her 11th child. Farm life undoubtedly made this dairyland pioneer one tough lady.
The DAVIS family, in addition to the families MONEY, DICKINSON, KENT, HENRY, PETTIT, and BUTLER all migrated from upstate New York. Inexpensive, fertile farmland was being offered in the state of Wisconsin in a plea to settle and develop this wooded wilderness. This pre-railroad era found many people migrating from New York to the upper Midwest via steamships through the Great Lakes. The Davis family settled and pioneered the New London area and has inhabited this Wisconsin community for the past 150 years. One thing that became evident from my initial search in Wisconsin and working backwards, was that many towns of the same name were in each state I found this family and carried across the Atlantic from Wales.
This Welsh clan was re-generated on American soil firstly in Pennsylvania and the pilgrimage continued to Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Minnesota where my brother Dale Walter DAVIS, son of Glenn George DAVIS, was born. The DAVIS family has come full circle since William's birth in 1663 and returned to New England in 1983 with the birth of my nephew, Matthew Rooney DAVIS of Barre, Vermont.
Our American Colonial ancestors of the past 360 years, now into the 13th generation, have accomplished many things to make our lives as comfortable as they are today. There is so much more to learn about their journey and the reasons they left Wales. My desire is to find out who these courageous people were that sacrificed all and gave me life.
Click here for the Last Will and Testament of
David Rogers Davis, DeRuyter, Madison Co., NY
Please sign my guestbook
Glenna Maria Davis-Johnson
Yuma, 
Arizona USA
