Davis Family
The Nathaniel Davis Families
of
Reisterstown, MD and Weirton Heights, WV
Nathaniel Davis Sr. was born about 1700, as on 13 Feb. 1776 he attested that he was age 76 years. He first appeared in Baltimore Co. records in the early 1700s. It is not known whether he immigrated or merely removed from somewhere else in the Colonies. He married his first wife Mary (last name unknown), who was probably born before 1715, probably in Baltimore Co., MD. Nathaniel first acquired farmland in 1727 just east of Reisterstown in Baltimore Co. and then began a much larger series of land acquisitions adjacent to the west side of Reisterstown that by 1760 reached a total of about 270 acres.
Between 1729 and about 1742 Nathaniel's wife Mary gave birth to 7 children --Zeporah, Susannah, Richard, Margaret, Robert, Thomas, and Nathaniel Jr. According to the rule in those years, the first 5 children were baptized in St. Pauls Parish Church, which required a 30 mile round trip from Reisterstown to Baltimore Town and back. About 1740, newborn son Thomas was baptized in the newly created St. Thomas Parish, which was only a 6 mile round trip. In 1742, Nathaniel Jr. was born, probably on their farm at Reisterstown, and so far no baptismal record for him has been found.
About 1766, Nathaniel Davis Jr. married Catherine (last name not proven). Beginning in 1770, Nathaniel Davis Sr. began selling pieces of his farmland to his sons. Nathaniel Davis Sr's. first wife Mary died sometime after the birth of Nathaniel Jr. and Nathaniel Sr. married Hannah (last name unknown) sometime between then and 1783, when he sold 62 acres of his land to Nathaniel Jr. with the provision that the latter take care of his father until his death. Nathaniel Sr. probably died in 1785.
About 1785, the Nathaniel Davis Jr. family moved from Reisterstown, MD to Holidays Cove, which then was in Ohio Co. of the state of Virginia. Nathaniel Jr. first appears on the Ohio, VA titheable and taxable list in 1786. The 198 acre farmland he owned was located in the Northern part of Ohio County which became Brooke County, VA when it was created in 1796, and which became located at the southern edge of Hancock Co., VA when it was created in 1848. All of the early documents refer to the location of this farmland as in Holidays Cove and on Harmons Creek, as at that time Holidays Cove was the nearest existing community. Its actual location is in the what is now Weirton Heights -- one of the six communities, including Holidays Cove, that were incorporated in 1947 into the city of Weirton, Hancock Co., WV. Nathaniel's farmland was originally a part of land granted in 1788 by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Richard Boyce, and through him to John Goodman Young. Nathaniel Davis Jr. purchased the 198 acres from Young for $600. The survey of that tract was filed for Nathaniel in the Ohio County Court in 1792.
Catherine gave birth in Baltimore Co. to 10 children -- Rachael (married Richard Manning), Benjamin, Nancy (married Mathew Richardson), Carrie (married Thomas Swearingen), Ruth (married James Morrow), Joshua (married Isabel Logan), Jemima (married William Crogan), Susanna (married Jesse Wells), Nathaniel 3rd (married Sarah Graham), and Aquilla (married Lucretia Hatfield). Probably all of these children moved west with their parents, except Rachael who was already married. Catherine gave birth to 2 more children -- Catherine 2nd, born in 1787 probably after the family moved from Reisterstown to then Holidays Cove and married Samuel Hindman, and Honor, born in 1790 in Holidays Cove and married Thomas Agnew Graham.
The Davis farm in Weirton Heights is about 4/5ths of a mile from north to south and about 1/2 mile east to west. It is now paved over with shopping centers, homes, banks and churches. It is bisected by two main roads -- Pennsylvania Ave. and Cove Road, which are joined in the middle of the tract by Penco Road. Adjacent to the southwest corner of the tract is the historic Three Springs Cemetery.
Nathaniel Davis Jr. and his wife Catherine probably both died on their farm -- Nathaniel apparently died about 1796 and Catherine in 1818. So far the graves of Nathaniel Davis Jr. and his wife Catherine have not been located. The graves of their daughter Honor and her husband Thomas A. Graham Jr. are in Three Springs Cemetery.
Both Benjamin and Joshua Davis are mentioned in several histories written about life in the "panhandle" in the 1700s. They appear to have had several experiences helping other settlers protect themselves from Indian raids. [See for example, Allan W. Eckert, "That Dark and Bloody River", Mary Shakley Ferguson, "The History of Holidays Cove", and Newton, Nichols, and Sprankle, " "History of the Pan-Handle".
Additional information on this family is welcomed.
Lester A. Davis
April 28, 2000
Between 1729 and about 1742 Nathaniel's wife Mary gave birth to 7 children --Zeporah, Susannah, Richard, Margaret, Robert, Thomas, and Nathaniel Jr. According to the rule in those years, the first 5 children were baptized in St. Pauls Parish Church, which required a 30 mile round trip from Reisterstown to Baltimore Town and back. About 1740, newborn son Thomas was baptized in the newly created St. Thomas Parish, which was only a 6 mile round trip. In 1742, Nathaniel Jr. was born, probably on their farm at Reisterstown, and so far no baptismal record for him has been found.
About 1766, Nathaniel Davis Jr. married Catherine (last name not proven). Beginning in 1770, Nathaniel Davis Sr. began selling pieces of his farmland to his sons. Nathaniel Davis Sr's. first wife Mary died sometime after the birth of Nathaniel Jr. and Nathaniel Sr. married Hannah (last name unknown) sometime between then and 1783, when he sold 62 acres of his land to Nathaniel Jr. with the provision that the latter take care of his father until his death. Nathaniel Sr. probably died in 1785.
About 1785, the Nathaniel Davis Jr. family moved from Reisterstown, MD to Holidays Cove, which then was in Ohio Co. of the state of Virginia. Nathaniel Jr. first appears on the Ohio, VA titheable and taxable list in 1786. The 198 acre farmland he owned was located in the Northern part of Ohio County which became Brooke County, VA when it was created in 1796, and which became located at the southern edge of Hancock Co., VA when it was created in 1848. All of the early documents refer to the location of this farmland as in Holidays Cove and on Harmons Creek, as at that time Holidays Cove was the nearest existing community. Its actual location is in the what is now Weirton Heights -- one of the six communities, including Holidays Cove, that were incorporated in 1947 into the city of Weirton, Hancock Co., WV. Nathaniel's farmland was originally a part of land granted in 1788 by the Commonwealth of Virginia to Richard Boyce, and through him to John Goodman Young. Nathaniel Davis Jr. purchased the 198 acres from Young for $600. The survey of that tract was filed for Nathaniel in the Ohio County Court in 1792.
Catherine gave birth in Baltimore Co. to 10 children -- Rachael (married Richard Manning), Benjamin, Nancy (married Mathew Richardson), Carrie (married Thomas Swearingen), Ruth (married James Morrow), Joshua (married Isabel Logan), Jemima (married William Crogan), Susanna (married Jesse Wells), Nathaniel 3rd (married Sarah Graham), and Aquilla (married Lucretia Hatfield). Probably all of these children moved west with their parents, except Rachael who was already married. Catherine gave birth to 2 more children -- Catherine 2nd, born in 1787 probably after the family moved from Reisterstown to then Holidays Cove and married Samuel Hindman, and Honor, born in 1790 in Holidays Cove and married Thomas Agnew Graham.
The Davis farm in Weirton Heights is about 4/5ths of a mile from north to south and about 1/2 mile east to west. It is now paved over with shopping centers, homes, banks and churches. It is bisected by two main roads -- Pennsylvania Ave. and Cove Road, which are joined in the middle of the tract by Penco Road. Adjacent to the southwest corner of the tract is the historic Three Springs Cemetery.
Nathaniel Davis Jr. and his wife Catherine probably both died on their farm -- Nathaniel apparently died about 1796 and Catherine in 1818. So far the graves of Nathaniel Davis Jr. and his wife Catherine have not been located. The graves of their daughter Honor and her husband Thomas A. Graham Jr. are in Three Springs Cemetery.
Both Benjamin and Joshua Davis are mentioned in several histories written about life in the "panhandle" in the 1700s. They appear to have had several experiences helping other settlers protect themselves from Indian raids. [See for example, Allan W. Eckert, "That Dark and Bloody River", Mary Shakley Ferguson, "The History of Holidays Cove", and Newton, Nichols, and Sprankle, " "History of the Pan-Handle".
Additional information on this family is welcomed.
Lester A. Davis
April 28, 2000
Source History of the Pan-Handle West Virginia 1879 Page 316
Joshua Davis
A RACE FOR LIFE
Joshua Davis
A RACE FOR LIFE
Among a number of other quite interesting incidents of early times in Brooke county, and on the opposite side of the Ohio, resided at the pioneers association at Steubenville, as one narrated by Colonial Nathaniel Wells, of Joshua Davis, which is illustrative of the perils of those times which so sorely "tried men's souls".
In those early days, all the salt procured by the settlers in this vicinity was transported from Baltimore on horseback, and in return for it people dug up through the forests here large quantities of ginseng, for which at that time there was a great demand in the markets of Baltimore. At the time in which this incident happened, there were no settlers on the Ohio side of the river, but when there were no rumors of Indians about, those on the Virginia side were frequently in the habit of crossing over from the settlement at the fort to gather "sang root" as it was then popularly called, on the hills near where Steubenville now stands. At the time of the occurrence we are about to relate, Joshua Davis, of whom many of the old citizens have heard, and who was then a young man, in company with a number of others, had crossed in canoes and proceeded to a little clearing upon what is not the farm owned by John Bustard, for the purpose of laying in a supply of this marketable vegetable. The manner of digging was by sharpening a long stick with which the root was "pried" up from its native earth, and afterwards dried, when it was ready for market.
The party had reached the clearings, but only two had entered it- young Davis, and an old man named Anderson. The old man had kneeled down on the ground and was busy at his work, while Davis was standing by him, engaged in sharpening his stick, when suddenly, a wild whoop was uttered, two rifles rang out on the air, and old man Anderson fell a corps, over his work, but Davis was untouched. The remainder of the party the savages did not appear to have seen. They immediately made for their canoes and hurriedly cross the river, and reported the tidings to the distracted families, at the settlement that Anderson and Davis had both fallen under the bullets of the savages. This was incorrect however. At the fall of Anderson, Davis realized the perilous situation at once, and being exceedingly fleet of foot darted into the forest, in a southerly direction, leading toward what is now called Jacksonville. Then began a fearful race for life, between this young unarmed boy and the band of screeching, bloodthirsty demons that were after him, whose terrific yells as they rent the forest, would have frozen to stone the heart of the modern youth of this land with terror. Twice after his start did his pursuers get sight of him and sent the leaden messenger of death on its errand, but God's hand shielded this brave lad who was so nobly striving to save his companions form massacre by misleading the howling heathen who were on his track. Fortunately through the thickness of the forest, he succeeded in out distancing them and throwing them off his track he finally reached the river, near the present site of the roiling mill, into which he plunged and swan across. His friends were shortly after greatly astonished as well as gratified to see him bound into the cabin with his knife still open in one hand and the stick he had been whittling, in the other, both of which in his terrible race for live and his long dive through the river, he had never dropped from his hands.
In those early days, all the salt procured by the settlers in this vicinity was transported from Baltimore on horseback, and in return for it people dug up through the forests here large quantities of ginseng, for which at that time there was a great demand in the markets of Baltimore. At the time in which this incident happened, there were no settlers on the Ohio side of the river, but when there were no rumors of Indians about, those on the Virginia side were frequently in the habit of crossing over from the settlement at the fort to gather "sang root" as it was then popularly called, on the hills near where Steubenville now stands. At the time of the occurrence we are about to relate, Joshua Davis, of whom many of the old citizens have heard, and who was then a young man, in company with a number of others, had crossed in canoes and proceeded to a little clearing upon what is not the farm owned by John Bustard, for the purpose of laying in a supply of this marketable vegetable. The manner of digging was by sharpening a long stick with which the root was "pried" up from its native earth, and afterwards dried, when it was ready for market.
The party had reached the clearings, but only two had entered it- young Davis, and an old man named Anderson. The old man had kneeled down on the ground and was busy at his work, while Davis was standing by him, engaged in sharpening his stick, when suddenly, a wild whoop was uttered, two rifles rang out on the air, and old man Anderson fell a corps, over his work, but Davis was untouched. The remainder of the party the savages did not appear to have seen. They immediately made for their canoes and hurriedly cross the river, and reported the tidings to the distracted families, at the settlement that Anderson and Davis had both fallen under the bullets of the savages. This was incorrect however. At the fall of Anderson, Davis realized the perilous situation at once, and being exceedingly fleet of foot darted into the forest, in a southerly direction, leading toward what is now called Jacksonville. Then began a fearful race for life, between this young unarmed boy and the band of screeching, bloodthirsty demons that were after him, whose terrific yells as they rent the forest, would have frozen to stone the heart of the modern youth of this land with terror. Twice after his start did his pursuers get sight of him and sent the leaden messenger of death on its errand, but God's hand shielded this brave lad who was so nobly striving to save his companions form massacre by misleading the howling heathen who were on his track. Fortunately through the thickness of the forest, he succeeded in out distancing them and throwing them off his track he finally reached the river, near the present site of the roiling mill, into which he plunged and swan across. His friends were shortly after greatly astonished as well as gratified to see him bound into the cabin with his knife still open in one hand and the stick he had been whittling, in the other, both of which in his terrible race for live and his long dive through the river, he had never dropped from his hands.
