Daniel Davisson

Scottish Prisoners of War Society

Biography

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jhwilcox/people/JohnWilcox...

Unlike all other ancestors in this genealogy, Daniel Davisson is unique. Daniel was born in 1630 in Scotland, place and parents unknown. As a young man in 1650 he was drafted into the Scottish Covenanter Army, which was fighting the English Government for Religious Freedom. Oliver Cromwell defeated the Covenanters at the battles of Dunbar and Worcester; killing many and exiling many as indentured servants to the Colonies.

Mr Russell Davisson in his Book, “The Davissons 12 Generations,” indicates that Daniel Davisson was probably sold to the “Undertakers” of the Lynn Ironworks; who placed a number of Scots on farms to cut wood as a raw material for the manufacture of iron at the Lynn Ironworks. The Lynn Ironworks is now known and administered by the National Parks Service, United States Department of the Interior, as the Saugus Ironworks National Historic Site. The ironworks was located near Ipswich (The Hamlet) near what is now Priceton, NJ.

While the place where Daniel served his indenture is not absolutely known, he is located prior to 1657 in Wenham MA on the Daniel Ringe Farm. Owing to his husbandry, Daniel had paid off his indenture by 1657. Also in 1661 at the probate of the will of Daniel Ringe, it was disclosed that Danield Davisson owned 110 acres of the farm.

Daniel Davisson married in Ipswich MA on 13 Apr 1657 to Margaret Low, daughter of Thomas & Margaret Todd Low. Margaret Low, the 2nd of 4 children, was baptized 17 Jun 1632 in Boxford, Suffolk, England . Thomas & Margaret Todd Low migrated with their family to the MA Bay Colony in 1641. They settled in that part of Ipswich called Chebacco, which is now Essex MA. Thomas Low was registered as a “malster” and also as a farmer. Howard Judson Wilcox, Jr. noted a “Malt Mill” on page 30 of an early map of Ipswich in the “Davissons “ Book. This may have been owned by Thomas Low, and possibly the place where the grandson of Daniel, Josiah Davisson, as a boy, learned the “millers” trade.

Daniel & Margaret Low Davisson made their first home on the Daniel Ringe Farm in Wenham, where their first 3 children were born. In 1664 Daniel Davisson purchased two parcels of land from Richard Hubbard, amounting to a total of 170 acres ,for 140 pounds sterling. The purchase of this land transferred to Daniel the right to be a commoner. It was upon this land that Daniel erected his own house for his family. This became the final and permanent home of Daniel & Margaret, where the other 8 children were born to them. This property was in Hamlet, Ipswich (now Hamilton MA)near to Wenham. The location of Daniel Davisson is shown on an early Map of the Ipswich/Wenham area (pg 30 in the referenced “Davissons” Book).

The will of Daniel Davisson was dated 15 dec 1692, and was probated a year later on 5 Dec 1693, indicating he died in late 1693. We do not have a death record for Margaret Low Davisson; however they are buried in the ancient Congregational Church Cemetery in Wenham MA; where a special marker was erected for them by Davisson family descendants.

Family

Wife: Margaret Low
Baptised: 17 JUN 1632, Boxford, England
Father: Thomas Low
Mother: Margaret Tod
Married: 13 APR 1657 in Essex County, Ma Bay Colony

Children

• 01 (M): Daniel Davison Born: about 1662 in Ipswich Hamlet, Wenham, Massachusetts Bay Colony Died: before 03 JUL 1703 (or 17 Jan 1703) in North Stonington, New London County, Ct Married: 28 June 1685 at Wenham, MA to Sarah Dodge
• 02 (M): John Davison Born: 1657 at Wenham, MA Died: 22 NOV 1657 (infant death) at Wenham, MA
• 03 (F): Margaret "of Daniell" Davison Born: 24 Aug or Sept 1658 at Wenham, MA Died: JUL 1666 (age 8) atg Wenham, MA
• 04 (M): William Davison Born 1664, Wenham, MA Married: ca 1684 or 1692 to Mary Whipple at Wenham, MA Died: 17 Jan 1730 (age 66) Wenham, MA (Hamilton tombstone) Died: 16 Jan 1728 Ipswich records
• 05 (F): Sarah "of Daniell" Davison Born: 30 MAR 1660 at Wenham, MA Married: 26 Nov 1688 to Anthony Dike, Topsfield, MA Died: Topsfield, MA or Ipswich, MA
• 06 (M): John Davison Born: about 1666 in Ipswich Hamlet, Wenham, Massachusetts Bay Colony Married: 1686 to Martha Dodge at Wenham, MA Died: 1735 at Ipswich, MA
• 07 (M): Peter Davison Born: ca 1670 at Wenham, MA Married: 6 Jan 1695/96 to Ann Morgan at Preston, CT Died: 1724 at Preston, CT or Pomfret, CT
• 08 (M): Thomas Davison Born: ca 1670 at Wenham, MA Married: 18 Nov 1695 at Preston, CT to Hannah Tracey Owned the Covenant:. 25 Dec 1698 (Preston, CT Congregational Church) Died: 2 Dec 1724 at Preston, CT
• 09 (F): Bridgett Davison Born: 26 Jan 1669 at Wenham, MA Died: after 1693 since she was mentioned in her father's will
• 10 (F): Elizabeth Davison Born: Wenham, MA (in Thomas Lowe will gfather) Married: 23 Mar 1681 to Daniel Reddington at Topsfield, MA Died: 8 Oct 1732 at Topsfield, MA
• 11 (F): Dorcas Davison Born: ca 1623 at Wenham, MA Married: 16 Nov 1705 at Beverly, MA to Nicholas Williams Died: bef 1720 at Preston, CT

Comments

(09) Bridgett Davison was named in her father's will. Otherwise, nothing has been found on Bridgett. Bridgett and Elizabeth may actually be the same person.
(11) Dorcas Davison is mentioned in her father's will.
(12) Margaret Davison is mentioned in will of her grandfather, Thomas Low, 1677, but not her father's will, 1693; no further records have been found.

• Scottish Prisoners of War Society -https://spows.org
• Scottish Prisoners of War Society Group on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/SPOWS/
• THE DAVISSONS - A FOUNDING FAMILY OF HARRISON COUNTY, WV Six Generations Part I. Submitted by Diane Zimmerman. < link > “ Most of this information is paraphrased from A History and Genealogy of The Davissons - Twelve Generations 1630-1992 by Russell Lee Davisson. He built his research upon earlier work completed by Arthur Henry Davison.”
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10807900/daniel-davison

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Daniel Davison Sr.
BIRTH
1630
Scotland
DEATH
1693 (aged 62–63)
Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA
BURIAL
Wenham Cemetery
Wenham, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

The immigrant ancestor of the most numerous families of Davison in America of that period, was a Scotch Convenanter, a group in Scotland, which struggled for religious liberty. They were calld thus because they found themselves in a series of covenants to maintain the Presbyterian doctrines. The Convenanter Army was defeated at the Battle of Dunbar Scotland by Oliver Cromwell in 1650. Daniel is supposed to ahve been a prisoner of war, who was exiled or deported to the Colonies in 1651 or 52. He built a house in Ispwich Hamlet, Essex Co., MA in the year 1667. He served in King Philips War 1675-1675. His will was dated Dec. 5, 1693. THe earliest record of Daniel Davison is the marriage record in the Essex court record. He was 27, Margaret was 22.
The placing of Daniel as one of the Scotch exiles was in the instance largely upon circumstantial evidence, and family traditions. Wehn this solution was once accepted, it was found so well secured in circumstances that it seemed impossible to rove a flaw of genuineness of the same. The traditions, while indistinct as to the historical facts, were founded in lines of the family descent, and had been separated for two centuries, and could have only a common source at the beginning. Daniel Davison being an industrious, frugal thinking man under the conditions named in Rev. John Cotton's letter, soon found himself able to reimburse the person who paid for his passage to America and in the short period of six years accumulated enough substance to become a farmer upon his own account, and married into a substantial English family, that was a borne a worthy name through the centuries since. His children were able to make marriage alliance with the best families, the Dodges, the Whipples, the Morgans, the Tracys, the Williams, and the Reddingtons who took and maintained, during the eight to ten generations since, leaving good repute thoughtout the continent. He was an educated man to any degree. The record indicates he did not write. If by any chance, he was taken into the Scotch army on the levy of 1643, he could have had the oppurtunity for education. While it seems improbable at this time, that a boy of fourteen years would be called, yet in the Revolutionary War, Benjamin Davison, who enlisted at fourteen year of age, and fought in the lines for eight years, was only one of Several of Daniel Davison's descendants of similar ages, who fought to make this nation possible.
Daniel Davison was a member of the Convenanter Army stands as the strongest evidence that his people were of that faith, and that he was baptized as a child in Scotland.