Ephraim Davis

From http://www.disnorge.no/slektsforum/viewtopic.php?t=40485

Besides the Essex Co. deed above which attests to the marriage of Rev. Knowles and Elizabeth Willis, there is also a late addition to the 1619 Warwickshire Visitation which shows that Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Tomlins) Willis, married John Knowles "of Lincolnshire [sic ]

But to recur to one of Savage's statements about Rev. John Knowles ... "He was not probably a settled minister before coming over to us in Aug. 1638; he joined with the church at Boston 15 Aug. of next year having married probably in England the widow of Ephraim Davis."

I believe this statement is probably correct, even though on the surface it seems at odds with other evidence. Note the following records found in the extracted IGI:

Saint Nicholas Acons, London

• --Epharim Davis, son of Epharim, 5 February 1632
• --Elizabeth Davis, dau. of Ephraim and Elizabeth, 25 Jan. 1633
• --Samuell and William Davis, son of Ephraim and Elizabeth, 16 February 1634
• --John Knoles to Elizabeth Davis, 11 Feb. 1637 As Rev. John Knowles had a biographical sketch in the _DNB_ (and is probably in the new _ODNB_), possibly this could be a correction.

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5. Ephraim was left twenty shillings in the will of his uncle Thomas, and his father in his will of 1626 left him 12 pence. He apparently never left England, but is probably the Ephraim Davis who is mentioned in Massachusetts records as having married the sister of Robert Bills who died December 15, 1635. This Ephraim died in England before January 8, 1638 when his widow's second husband, the Rev. John Knowles of Water­town, was appointed administrator of Bills‘ estate.

References

• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Davis-2259
• Davis, Edwin Pountney. Davis, of Acton Turville, Gloucestershire: The Ancestry of James, Thomas and John Davis, who Settled in Newbury, Massachusetts c1638. (São Paulo, Brazil : privately published, 1984). (document attached).
• https://homepages.rootsweb.com/~cdavis2/
• Ancestry.com. Gloucestershire, England, Wills and Inventories, 1541-1858 . Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014.Ancestry Record 4294 #52090 < AncestryImage >
• “Another possible marriage for Elizabeth Willis, wife of Rev. John Knowles of Watertown.” < soc.genealogy.medieval >