Henry(The Man)

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1. The first definite proof we have of Henry Davis’ whereabouts is when he left the Princeton area of New Jersey and migrated to Romulus, Seneca County, New Jersey with his family “circa” 1812. In 1812, Henry Davis purchased 136 acres in the township of Romulus, Lot 84, in Seneca County from a Tomkins C. Delevan.  We believe this is the year that he moved there (From 3×5 notecard submitted by Seneca Co. Historian; quote “HENRY DAVIS from tomkins c. delevan, rom. 84, 136 acr $1457, 7/10/1812, f/187)”  

2. We do know the identity of three of his children (Randolph 1798 NJ, Sarah Jane 1800 NJ, Charles 1815 Romulus, NY; and his wife Phebe, origin unknown.  On the death record of Charles d. 12/10/1901 it states mother Phebe Davis, so we know it was a Phebe who came to New York with Henry. 

• {Phebe was probably much younger than Henry.  On the 1820 census her age is shown as 26-45 while his is over 45…  This “could” mean that Phebe was not Henry’s first wife??}
• {A friend in New York furnished info about Phebe with one caveat; On Charles’ death record, in the mother column, Phebe Davis is written with same ink and hand as rest of entry, but right after word Davis, in different hand and ink, is the word “Georgia”.. This mystery could be Phebe’s maiden name, origin, or some other meaning still a mystery.  } 

3. On the 1820 census for Romulus, Seneca County, NY, Henry had in the household, himself over 45, three boys under age 10, one boy 16-26 {this is Randolph, who was 22 in 1820}, one girl 10-15, one girl 16-26 and his wife (total of 8 in the household).  We assume Sarah Jane, who was 20 at the time, was no longer in the home as she had married Jonathan Ogden in 1817 and one of her children, Charles, was born in December 1818.  Counting everyone that would have been at least 7 children for Henry.

4.  Henry was indicted on two misdeameanor counts (1815 and 1818) while living in Romulus (From 3×5 notecard submitted by Seneca Co. Historian; quote:

• “JU 1-5. 2/5/1818 indictment, misdeameanor, romulus stopped jonathan thayer while on his way to burying ground to bury his daughter.” 
• “JU 1-6. narr. 6/16/1815. john reynolds and tompkins c. delavan owed money. same. peter van eps, lewis t. miller.”

 {I would be interested to see what is actually in these indictments and the circumstances of each, perhaps mention of other family member names. }

5.  From the “History of Seneca County 1830-1876, page 37 para 1; Henry Davis, from New Jersey, once owned the place now occupied by Leander Covert on the northeast corner {probably lot 84}.  Daniel Herbert also lived in the vicinity, and was one of those men, found in most neighborhoods, ready to practice a joke, with sufficiency of wit to make it interesting.  Upon one occasion, when employed by Mr. Davis to assist in throwing a dead hog into the lake, the lattter requested Mr. Herbert to “waltz him off handsomely” with a few appropriate words.  His surprise and indignation can only be imagined when Herbert, lifting his hat in reverence to the dead, pronounced the following couplet -

• “Oh ! cruel death, thy sad disaster; Why take the hog and leave it’s master !”

• What we don’t know:

1.  We don’t know Henry Davis’ parentage or origin, nor do we know of siblings he may of had.  Other than the three children we have identified, we don’t know the identities of the other four we suspect he had, though it’s possible he may have had more earlier in New Jersey or elsewhere we aren’t aware of. 

• {What somewhat arouses my interest is a notice sent to me by a NY lookup volunteer; quote: George Davis of Romulus married Elizabeth Williams of Romulus; newspaper “Seneca Farmer and Waterloo Advertiser”; January 27, 1830.  This George would be about the right age to match one of Henry’s under 10 years old sons on the 1820 Romulus census.   It’s also interesting that Henry’s son Randolph named his third son George A. as well as Henry’s son Charles naming his third boy George W.  This is purely conjecture and what-if thinking though.} 

2. We don’t know when Henry was born (we assume 1760-1770), but we are quite certain when he died.  This is based on a note written in a journal kept by Minirva Lorinda Geddes (wife of Randolph’s son Charles Melvin (grandson of Henry)) that Grandfather Henry Davis died Nov 25th, 1836.  This would have made Henry over 50 years of age when he moved to Romulus.

3. Where Henry was in 1830.  On February 6, 1830, Varick Township was formed from the then northern portion of Romulus.  On the 1830 census, Henry is not to be found but his son Randolph is living in Varick with his family.  By 1831 Randolph migrated to Washtenaw County, Michigan.

4. A Henry Davis submitted to us by the Seneca County Historian as a possible match for our Henry Davis was a fifer in the New York line with Bliss’s Company during the Revolutionary War (Source- Donnolly’s Original Return and Return by Col. John Lamb).  All veterans of the Revolutionary War were given land grants for services to the country.  This Henry Davis was granted 600 acres of land in Township 9 (Marcellus)  of the Military Tract in Seneca County on July 9, 1790 (This from the Balloting Book, New-York Regiment of Artillery). Henry’s grant, as well as grants for a Richard, Samuel, Peter, and Patrick Davis were delivered to a Captain William Jackson (Source-Delivery of Patents for Lands in the Military Tract).  There is no 100% definitive proof that this Henry Davis given acreage in Marcellus is our Henry Davis line, nor that he actually claimed this acreage in Marcellus, or these other Davis names are related.

Also lending confusion to accepting this particular Henry to our line is that if he did come from New Jersey to New York in 1812, how did he end up in New Jersey after the revolution? A number of Henry Davis’ did serve from New York, though some of them “could have been the same person”, as often they were called up for as little as three months, discharged and went home, then called up again into another unit.  Various units where a Henry Davis served as an enlisted man or given bounty rights follow:

• In the Balloting Book      pg 48 - Henry Davis Fifer Twnshp 9 Lot 96 600 acres 1790, July 9.
• Donnolly’s Original Return pg 94 - Bliss’s Company Henry Davis Fifer 600 acres.
• Return by Col John Lamb pg 99-100- Henry Davis, Bliss’s Company Fifer
• Military Twnshps & Lots pg 123   - Henry Davis, Marcellus, #9, Lot 96
• Ulster County Militia (Land Bounty Rights) - Third Regiment, Capt. Depue (pg. 262-263) Enlisted Men Henry Davis
• The Line - Artillery Regiments (Not Identified) Commander Ebenezer Stevens (pg. 65-66) Enlisted Men Henry Davis
• The Line - Fourth Regiment (pg 47-49) Commander James Holmes Enlisted Men Henry Davis
• The Line - Artillery, Second Regiment - (Col. John Lamb, Capt. Thoms Bliss) (pg. 63-64). No Henry Davis listed here, but this is the unit that the Historian reported as finding a fifer Henry Davis. 

The book “New York in the Revolution” does shows Col. John Lamb and Thomas Theodore Bliss in “The Line - Artillery, Second Regiment but Henry Davis not an enlisted member..  The book does show Henry Davis, as well as most of the other names the Historian sent me as belonging to Bliss’s Company, in the Artillery Regiments (Not Identified)..  Also per our dialogue we agreed that this could possibly happen as the Unidentified Artillery could have been a pool and one of these Henry’s,one of which could be ours, was transferred to the 2nd Artillery.

5.   Another bit of data that may or may not have an impact on Henry’s whereabouts after 1820, since he is missing from the 1830 census in New York..  A volunteer did find a Pheobe Davis 91 wid. living with sister Kate 86 both born in NJ (Year: 1880; Census Place: New Brunswick, Middlesex, New Jersey; Roll: T9_790; Family History Film: 1254790; Page: 87B; Enumeration District: 123 ).  Food for thought.

• What we think: