Return to Charles Davis reference. How did I conclude that Charles Edwin Davis is my ggggg-grandfather and father of James B Davis? (Use back arrow on browser if you link to extended explanation text file link here document file.) If James Davis was James B Davis father common sense pointed to a missing generation between them that had not yet been discovered. If James Conway Davis were his grandad then the report I'd been given would be true with one added generation between; "that was Charles Edwin Davis," father of James B Davis and the missing or skipped generation in report. Genesis of this idea or belief grew from very gradual realization that the family report that James Davis was father of James B Davis seemed to be more family legend than fact. No supporting documents or sources were offered in report and none could be found in several years of research. The 1810, 1820 and 1830 census for Jessamine County shows only two James Davis families for each year, although under different spellings due to quirks in the way census takers spelled names, but were two different James Davis families that remained over those census years. The 1830 census seems to be the tip off on this, it lists James B Davis family with numbers in age-group breakdown for family members that match my ancestor, and under different spellings are shown on 1820 and 1810 census as well. By age-group breakdown of members of families a comparison shows that one of the James Davis families had as head of household an older James Davis that was 10 to 15 years older than my ancestor James B Davis. That is not enough of an age difference to qualify the older James Davis as possibly being the father of James B Davis as I expected to find the other James Davis family with at least 20 years difference between the two heads of the families and did not find that. If James B Davis is the son of Charles Davis then the age-groups of the census data fits and the other James Davis family is still of unknown origin. If James B Davis were not the son of Charles Davis the census should have shown two James Davis families with head of household in the "same" age group. It does not show that. To derive the age group of the head of household I used a matching between oldest of male and female age group listing with common sense to figure which age group breakdown showed the head of household. The family report I suspect perhaps more family legend than fact stated James B Davis dad James Davis moved to Jessamine Co with family and James Davis family and both families lived there. How did I know that James Davis, son of Charles Edwin Davis, was born anytime in 1780s? Charles and Hannah Davis were married in 1783 in Culpepper Co, VA. Estimated year of birth can be calculated for at least two of the five children, daughters, from their date of marriages. James Davis is one of the remaining children that had to have been born in 1780s by that
calculation and certainly after 1783. Match that with the census records mentioned and it shows James B Davis had to be the son of Charles Edwin Davis. Mr. Ray Janes tracked the descendants of Benjamin Davis, Charles Davis older brother, in his book "Gone to Texas" and from information from him and a page of his book I know that none of Benjamin Davis children were James B Davis. Benjamin Davis did have a son named James Davis. The Polly Davis letters in Dr Joseph L Miller's book "The Descendants of Capt Thomas Carter" drops a clue that "Little Carter" had died in the Nov 1792 letter to her brother Tom. I think she is refering to son of James Carter Davis who also died that year. Page 161 of this book also mentions James Batte Davis, son of John Davis Jr, who is son of John Fielding Davis, who is son of James Conway Davis of Spotsylvania. John Davis Jr will probated Jun 1798 directed that his son James Batte Davis have the proceeds, when he became of age, of a tract of two hundred acres of land. Since more of John Davis Jr descendants are mentioned and remained in Mecklenberg Co I don't think it is to be considered that it could be the same James B Davis as he moved to Kentucky about 1797 where this family remained in Mecklenburg Co, VA. Handwriting: I attempted to compare the signature of James B Davis to the signature of the son of Charles Davis also a James Davis in hopes that the two signatures would match. The signatures do not match but the comparison is not valid anyway, the note dated 1822 was not actually signed by James Davis, but James Davies, a third party wrote note and his name, the county or court clerk that handled marriages in Jessamine Co, KY in 1822. James B Davis is Charles Davis son. I also thought the land bounty when approved for the heirs of Charles Davis was the reason James B Davis moved his family to Illinois in 1835. That could be only part of the reason or have nothing to do with why he moved the family, but I'm guessing they needed land for a family with children soon to reach the "age of marriage and families". James B and Elizabeth Davis probably moved when they were able to buy land in Illinois which looks to be 1835 from all the source records there. One of the ancestry.com records shows land bounty approved in 1831* four years prior to year James B Davis moved to Cass Co, IL. I realize the index cards in files are for 1840 but one document is 1830 and another 1837 in the set. The 1830 document was brief and merely stated than land bounty was approved for heirs of Charles Davis. It required ten years overall to culminate the land bounty for the surviving heirs of Charles Davis. Documents suggested he held land in Jessamine County but found no record of it except for his heirs in the land bounty. Land purchase and bounty records in Illinois do not show James B Davis as having received military land bounty around 1835 to 1840. Illinois land records do show land purchases at $1.25 an acre for James Davis in Cass County in 1826 and two others in Morgan County in 1834 and 1835. I researched land records for the name Heath, Kersey, White, and Lewis in Cass and Morgan Counties. I did find purchase for William R White in Cass County Illinois in same Township that James B Davis settled in for 1834 and 1835. The land purchase of 01/06/1835 for William White adjoined on one corner of the 40 acres to Jasper Buck's land and was about 4 & 1/2 miles from James Davis farm and about 5 miles from Edward and Julia Davis farm. I quicly realized I was up against a "brick wall" in researching the James Davis family after starting a few years ago. It occured to me that the report done for Mrs. Autumn Cox on James Davis family was confusing at best concerning the earliest two generations of James Davis it cited; James Davis and son James B Davis. I could not seem to find any records that verified this report as it was written for those two generations. I found the Jesse Davis family of Nelson County, Kentucky that may or may not have had a tie with Jessamine County, Kentucky and guessed this was the reference made in that report but the only relationship I thought existed were quite a few generations earlier in Thomas Davis and William Davis of Prince William County, both born in 1690s, and I had mistakenly believed them to be brothers. Jesse Davis is descendant of William Davis while our Elijah Davis, born Jessamine Co., KY 1820, is a descendant of Thomas Davis and do not appear to be related. Jesse Davis did have a son named Elijah Davis born in Nelson Co., KY I presume but dates on Elijah do not match our Elijah Davis as shown by reference documentation. I had also found a James Conway Davis in Spotsylvania County, Virginia who had a son James Davis but he did not seem to fit the details of the report done for Mrs. Cox. I realized that in the report done for Mrs. Cox that it was likely that it had skipped a generation or missed a generation between James Davis and James B Davis. The report done for her stated that James Davis lost for sons in the American Revolution. Randy Davis pointed out that James B. Davis was born in 1785 as shown on the 1850 Census for Cass County, IL. This new finding brought the preceeding statement into question. How could James B Davis, b. 1785, have lost four brothers in the American Revolution, 1775 - 1781(fighting ceased)? I think for that to happen his brothers would have to be at least 16 to participate which is too young really. A more realistic guess would be 18 to 21 for the young patriots. His oldest brother would have been about 26 years older and his father born about 1740. This seemed to be a possible error in research and I started looking at other possibilities. I remained with any verifiable part of that report as it came from oral history passed down from generation to generation for much of the informtion in it. References in the report were too vague and often not verifiable. The reference cited in the report that James B Davis had moved his family to Cass County, Illinois by 1830 was not correct. First Cass County Illinois was not formed untill 1834 or 1835 or after but James "Daviss" is listed in Morgan County Illinois and is likely the father of Julia Ann Davis who later married Edward Davis son of James B Davis. The 1830 Census for Jessamine County, lists James B Davis family on page 212A. Obituary newpaper article written in 1909 for Edward Davis stated he was son of James Davis and Elizabeth (Hawkins)Davis and that they moved to Cass County Illinois in 1835. Edward is Elijah Davis younger brother. The James B Davis family does appear on the 1840 Census for Cass County, Illinois. Julia Ann Davis dad, also James Davis of Kentucky, had moved into that part of Morgan County Illinois that later became Cass County Illinois in 1822 and lost his homestead near Ashland to a quirk in the law that some speculator took advantage of in a land grab. For that reason I considered other possibilities and discovered our ancestor James Conway Davis and his grandfather John Davis in Virginia. I haven't been able to figure out which family James Davis referred to below belongs to. Could be in the Carter Davis family but I really do not know without additional information. Another James Davis/Daviss/Davies family appears on the census for 1810, 1820, and 1830. This James Davis is 10 to 15 years older than James B Davis, I suspect he is related to a Samuel Davis listed within a page or two of James Davis on one of the census listings. I will research as best I can the family of James Carter Davis and Benjamin Davis. There were only two listing for James Davis as head of family in the 1830 Census for Jessamine Co, KY. Fortunately one of them was James B Davis my ancestor listed on Page 212A, within North Liberty, Western Division of Jessamine County Census area for that year's census. North Liberty is now Keene, KY. The other James Davis listed must belong to the James Davis that wrote his will in 1835 in Jessamine County, He lived in the Eastern Division and from will near Hickman Creek taken from both the census and will combined. From this I conclude that if James B Davis dad were James Davis he does not show up on the 1830 Census. James B Davis lived about 2.4 miles from Woodford County line with Jessamine County Kentucky, and Charles Davis brother lived in Woodford County. Hannah Davis widow of Charles Davis is not listed, but suspect she lived with daughter Sally Kersey in Hickman Kersey household because her other daughter that married Hartwell Heath was not listed for that family. The names of his children intuitively did not repeat any of the names of Charles Davis brothers, aunts, father or granparents except for John and William Davis. Reflecting on age group breakdown of family member on census listing for 1810, 1820 and 1830 for the two James Davis families reveals that James B Davis was the son of Charles Edwin Davis. I suspect the other James Davis family may be the son of James Carter Davis, and possibly the James Davis that left a will in 1835 in Jessamine Co, KY.
+ Hannah Gaines, 11 Mar 1783, in Culpeper Co, VA; Ancestry.com & Family Tree CD ROM;
m; Elizabeth Hawkins 16 Dec 1806 Jessamine Co, Ky.
married Hickman Kersey, 8 Jun 1822
Charles Davis died Feb 1 1807 in Jessamine County, KY. His parents were James Conway Davis and Mary (Carter)Davis of Spotsylvania Co, VA. James Conway Davis was born Nov 3 1719 in Northumberland County, VA. He was the son of Thomas Davis and Sarah Fielding. Sarah Fielding was the daughter of Edward Fielding Esquire and Winnifred Conway. Thomas Davis was born Aug 8 1693, Northumberland Co, VA and owned land in both Prince William Co, VA and Charles Co, MD. Thomas Davis was the son of John Davis and Susannah Wyatt. Susannah Wyatt was the daughter of Richard Wyatt who was the son of William Wyatt the original Virginia immigrant on that line. Susannah Wyatt had been married before to a man named Solomon Day who had died.
MichaelAnne Guido provided a copy of the 1822 permission note Hannah Gaines signed for her daughter's marriage to Hickman Kersey. It was witnessed by James Davis and Hartwell Heath, Sally Davis older brother and brother-in-law.
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