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Show I I THE DAVIs'EAMILY. I By request of Kllshti D.tvls vu print tha follow lug taken fntiu the Chicago I .Kccortl-lIiTftUl: Though of ancient ptniullni; In WVes, the ilntno Davis, orlitlniiUy Dal(,scnrt'c. ly appears In English initials before I tieJSormnn conquest. Modified In tnr- long forms, it )ms produced tunny family iisine, some of which nro vidson, , Daylilge, Duvey, Privy, Davys, Uavycs, D.nlc, D.ivles, Dmts, DaWsou nnd ;. DrtvlH. t ' Davis or Daviea, stand illth in point - -- of numbers In England nntl Wales, yield- ing priority only to Smith, Jones, Will-I Will-I lama nnd Taylor. Of the iMitiro popula-I popula-I tlon of Great lirltnin one in every 421 is I named Davis. An extract from an old I play, i3ir John Oldcimle," erronaously I attributed to" Slinkospea-e, ilhiBtrates I soinoof the idiosynurasles of the Welsh I tougue in regard to this iinin-. ' "Judu-Whatbail? What sureties? I "Davy Her cozen np Nice, ap Kvhu, I " ap M'irlce(ap Morgan, ap Llwellyn, ap 8 Mndor, np Meredith, ap Qrlllln, ap Oncu, ap Miinkln Jone, ap Davis. I "Judge Two of the most sufliclent I are enough. 'Jjherlll 'And it please your lonlshlp, there are but one " In other nords, Mr. DaviB was burdened bur-dened with nearly u dozen names, thus carrying his pedigree with him. The family traces descent from Alfied the Great and Hhodri Mawr, King of Wales, A. D. 8-13. A prominent representative repre-sentative of the family in England at present, Owen Davlp, is seventeenth in I direct descent from Kdnnrd III., King ' of England, nnd tlilrlj-sucoiul in descent from Alfred. The lord mayor of lioudon hi 1(170 was Sir Thomas Davies. He was son of John Davler, a bookseller, who was a friend of the celebrated Samuel l'cpyo. Sir , TlmmnB DavieB wns knighted upon the occasion of tho laying of the lirst Btone of the lloyal Exchange by Charles II. The tablet of while marble, erected in memory of Sir Thomas, 1b to tie seen in St. Sepulcl.ie's Chinch, London. ' , " ' The first American progenitor of the family wob Captain Dolor Davis, who came to this country from England in 1031, IIo eooii after married Margery " Willard, who came over with hei brother Simon in the sntue ship as Cap tain Davis. They lted llret In Cambridge, Cam-bridge, afterward removing to S'cltuuic, 1 'in tho Old Colony. Some portion of his " 'life Dolor DavloB lived in Oanrord, w'liero hulmd'lanJs granted to him in 1050. He was a carpenter and surveyor, -and held "V" the ollice of coiiBtablo for a long time. ,X'' ' He-was "one of to grand inquert of r,' ' l'iyinculh colony',' in 1015, and one of ! tlio petitioners for Groton, and also one ' of tho eiglit men appointed in 105.r to bs tho selectmen "for two yeais from ' the time it was laid out." He nrobtblj- never lived in Groton, but heeame ; identified with lliirnstalile, and there ' spent must ot his life. He, with ''his sonncf," is tin the list of "-Kales that aro able to bear nrnitf, from 10 years old to 03 years," In that town. ' ' Uy will Dolor D.tvls bequeathed tn '. ' ills son John Ids carpenter's tools ami hisi'icrge sultnnd cloke." Uuth Hall, - daughter of Dolor and Margery Davis, ' '1 became tlio wife of Stephen Hall. ' , Airong their descendants were Captain Stephen Hall, a ilistlngulal'ed Kostou-iau. Kostou-iau. Chief Juellcu Euslis of Louisiana and Chief Justice Inane l'arker of Massachusetts. Mass-achusetts. ' Another early settler was Samuel Davis whoso son married the lady Jane More by name who was rrlated to tho family ofGeoigalll. Another im-luigrant im-luigrant was Meredith Davin, a native of Wale'. He wns born about I0!)l), and was n deeeeudaiit of the royal Wblsh line of Meredith up David. IIu arrived in Maryland in ITM and married the , granddaughter of tho early deputy , ,' governor, William Hurgcee. ., Descendants of Inane Davie, a ireat- 'grandson of Dolor Davip, may claim i inoi'nbershlp in tho cocicties of colonial dames or of the soiib of the revolution, for Isaac enlisted In the MamavbuBette militia on iho breaking out of t lie revo- '. lutlonary war and wns cominlssiouer V, ' lieutenant. IIU brother-in-law, Dr. Samuel Hrighnm, who acted as paymaster, pay-master, was pieticnt at tho enptuie of Smith, Andre's guide. Isaac Davfs was man of stroiiR character char-acter ami pttblio iipliit, and was often J chosen delegate to county conventions. Upon ono occasion, among other thing, S '' j , lit) was instructed to vohj to petition the W- general coiiitlodoaay with lawyers. , ' i '- ."""' i. Captain EllahaDiwis, who wob one of ', '"' a cominlttte of thteo to supply tho ' town's quota of beef for the revolution ary army, left by will to each son as much as to two daughters, exi'ept his won Nehomiah, who"hveson my home 'arm, and ho must have 1103.07 moio ' than either other boh, in order to sup port tho dignity of my house in inako-'ng inako-'ng my friends wolcome." Members of (lie family served In the colonial wars. Edward of Oxford, Ma-s., TYU8 cantata of mill tin nt the time of the I w a mmmemmmmmmmtmmmmmimnmimmmammmnmmm French war, and marched with thirty-three thirty-three men of his company to the relief of Fort William Henry. The patriotism of Captain Daniel Davis induced him to sacrifice his own property for the public good during the revolutionary war. Ho advaqc-il money which was repaid lit depreciated currency till hi estate wa seriously involved. Ho entered personally upon the service, and waa promoted to the rank of captain. After the return of pc ice ho Joined the "CoinpBiiy of Ohio Associates," which In 1788 lugan the sottfcinent of Ohio. A tradition among his descendants is that ha was the second man nahoie when the boat which took the company down the rlvur struck upon Point Harmau, April 7, 1788. Wishing, as he declaicd, to do something some-thing of which his posterity tould speak with pride, he cut the ilrst tree felled by a settlor west of the Ohio Hiver. This tree being "buckeye" or horse-chestnut, the Incident gave to the state tho name which It still retains. With his Bous, he participated In the perlU of Indian waifare until Wayne's victory in 1701, when ho settled down to tho peaceful pursuits of life and aided sery materially In forming the institution institu-tion of the new state. 018 Samuel Davis, who was among the first of hia family to give his Influence Influ-ence and support to the Universalis! Society, the story Is told that, being possessed of ureat physical strength, he was known as a wrestler, .and, whan challenged by a "professional," who hnd never seen him, he kept In the background back-ground when the match wai called. His brother Elijah, who waa also a atalwart man, stepped forward, and, grappling with the chnnipluu. was thrown. Samuel, who hnd closely watched his antngOnist for tlix purpose of learning ills game, then walked Into thu ring saying: "I am the man j on came to wiest'e with," and very soon dumonstiatcd Ida rupeiioiily. Another Davis showed hla mettle by curing two prisoners wio had escaped f mi j -til, and matching them back agnin ai the muzzle of an pld unloaded pistol. Many mt-mbeis of this family might pe named who well sustained their re'atloua to society and left enviable en-viable memnrieB. Among others may be mentioned John Davis of Massachusetts, Massachus-etts, who was four times governor of Ids ttato and was chosen United States senator sena-tor several times. The wtjll-knowii historian, George Bancroft, had DavU.blood in hla veins. So had Lion Gardiner, the builder of Fort Saybrook, which he held through the l'equot tioublea. In 11KJD he purchased pur-chased of fflondly Imllans the Island now known as Gardiner's Island, just east of Long Island. Hla grandson John Gaidiner, in 1009, waa instructed witli much treasure by the notorious Captain Kid, who remained some time oil Gnrdh.ui'd Island. When ha du. pnrtcd lis left with Mr. Gaidiner 1,111 ounces of gold and 2,353 uui.cea of sit ver, besides jbwels. Gardiner waa ig-uorfti-.lof the character of hla visitor, and when Kidd w.is arrested he surieu-dered surieu-dered tho properly to the governor of Maasnchu-elts Day. f Olid branch ol the Davis Intully lathe Chandler family, a member uf which was John Chandler, called "Tory Johu" and "The Honest Refugee." He was born in New London in 172U. Hia mistaken mis-taken senso of loyalty brought, him into direct conflict with the .rising Hood ot revolutionary sentiment, and lie was exiled, with live other prominent loyalists. loyal-ists. On hia dcpai ture from his home at Worcester his eblaie waa loutiscated, the valuo being about S0,000. Ho went to England, where he died, Among curious family, nauios are Remembrance and Shadrach, Remember, Remem-ber, Submit, Thankful mid Thankful Prily. Thu reader unfamiliar with thla nomenclature may need lb be told tKal' Remembrance Is a man's name and Remember Re-member a woman's. Among heirlooms in the family Is a Uible pilntei In 1C0U, which waB brought to America In the Biuno vessel vvllli.tlife' founder o' Pennsylvania, Penn-sylvania, William I'enu. r' J$ The D.uib arms are argent, nlievfon nebula between three mullets lh 'chief and nnother in base. 'IhucrcBt is two Indian pikes surmounted by a mullet, pierced, sable, between two wings. |
