Rev. John Davis

DAVIS, THE SETTLERS OF SALEM, WEST VIRGINIA, by Susie Davis Nicholson, Salem, West Virginia, 1992. p. 11, 14, 21

• Parents: William Davis, Tacy Crandall
• Service:  NEW JERSEY    Rank(s): PRIVATE, DRUMMER
• Birth:  5-1-1755    MONMOUTH CO NEW JERSEY
• Death:  6-20-1842     LEWIS CO VIRGINIA
• Pension Number: *W8654
• Service Description: 1) CAPTS.FLEMMING,DENNIS,LONGSTREET,BUCK, 2) WALTON,BENNETT,HAMPTON
• Residence 1) County: MONMOUTH CO. - State: NEW JERSEY
• Spouse Number Name  1) MARVEL MAXSON   2) MARGARET KELSO  

From New Jersey to Salem, West Virginia

• http://www.wvhcgs.com/davisorigins.htm

No place had suffered the ravages of war as much as Monmouth County, New Jersey. The Davis family was no exception to loss. As farmers, shipbuilders, and proprietors of salt producing businesses, their boats carried salt and farm products to New York City from their settlements near the mouths of the Manasquan and Shark Rivers near Shrewsbury(23)

The church record, carried from New Jersey to West Virginia, stated that the first migrant group which set out from Shrewsbury on September 6, 1789, was comprised of "Elder Jacob Davis with his famely (sic), William Davis, Senior, John Davis, Ephraim Maxson, Thomas Badcock, and Zebulon Maxson and Benjamin Thorp, with all their famelys(25)" (sic).

The remainder of the 1789 group departed on September 13th of the same year: "Simeon Maxson, William Davis, Juner and William Maxson with all their famelys" (sic). These were likely among them:

John Davis, Rev.(28)(s/o Wm. & Tacy) and his wife, Marvel Maxson Davis, and daughters, Amy and Jane.

Biography

REV. JOHN DAVIS, 20, was born May I, 1754, in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey. He was the son of William Davis, who was the son of Rev. John Davis, who, in turn, was the son of Rev. William Davis, the founder of the Shrewsbury Church.

John Davis, the subject of this sketch, was a brother of Mary Davis, wife of Rev. Jacob Davis, preceding.

He was elected a ruling elder in the New Salem Church, on November 16, 1799. On the same date the church licenced him to preach, and also voted that he should be ordained. Arrangements were made for the ordination service to take place on the 8th of the succeeding June, but owing to the absence of ministers who were expected to be present, the service was postponed. It took place, however, at some time between January 11 and May 10 of the following year, and was conducted by Rev. Samuel Woodbridge of the Wood-
bridgetown (Pennsylvania) Church, and Rev. John Patterson.

At once he began service for the New Salem Church as its pastor ; and from the date of the organisation of the Lost Creek Church, in 1805, he was pastor of that church also. With the exception of a short period about the year 18n, when, for a short time, he removed to the state of Ohio, where he was a member of the Mad River Church, he ministered to the wants of both the New Salem and Lost Creek Churches, until his death, which occurred June 22, 1842, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. He was buried in the graveyard on Broad Run, about two miles west of Jane Lew, in Lewis County, Virginia. He established his home on the Brushy Fork of Elk Creek, some ten miles distant from the Lost Creek Church.

He sustained an intimate relationship with the Baptists on Brushy Fork, as well as on Broad Run.

Abraham VanHorn, Sr., a native of Holland, came from the vicinity of the Woodbridgetown Church, in Pennsylvania, and settled near the home of Rev. John Davis, on Brushy Fork. The former had a family of five children, — three sons and two daughters. Through the influence of Rev. John Davis, the oldest son of Abram VanHorn, Sr., Jdb, as well as several of his (Job's) family embraced the Sabbath, as follows: — His son-in-law, James Kennedy ; his son William, who was married ; his son Abram, Jr., who was unmarried; his daughter Abby, who married Abner Batten, afterward a deacon in the Lost Creek Church; and Betsey (Elisabeth), who married Moses Hoffman, for several years clerk of the Lost Creek Church.

Abram VanHorn, Sr., who was at first sadly disappointed at the course of his son and grandchildren, at length became reconciled to what they had done, and finally embraced the Sabbath himself.1

Rev. John Davis was a soldier in the War of the Revolution, and drew a pension for that service. For several years previous to his death, he was too enfeebled physically and mentally to preach. At the time of his death he was the oldest minister among the Seventh Day Baptists.

Some of his children were as follows: —

1. Rev. Lewis A. Davis;
2. Sarah, wife of Jacob Davis, 3d, and grandmother of Rev. Lewis A. Platts;
3. Amy, wife of George Davis, and grandmother of Rev. Darius K. Davis, the son of Eliona Davis;
4. Zippa, wife of Samuel F. Randolph, the son of Jesse F. Randolph;
5. Mary (Polly), wife of William F. Randolph, and mother of Rev. Lewis F. Randolph, and grandmother of Rev. William L. Burdick.

from A History of the Seventh Day Baptists in West Virginia

By Corliss Fitz Randolph

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Notes for REV. JOHN DAVIS, JR.:

Elder John Davis owned a single geared over-shot water-mill on Coburns Creek, a branch of the West Fork of the Monongahea River in Harrison Co., W. Va. In 1802 he removed to a place called Laurel Garden about 10 miles west of Clarksburg. Here he owned a mull built on the same plan as the one mentioned above. He remained at this place about four years when he sold out and removed to a farm on Hacker's Creek, fourteen miles south of Clarksburg. On this farm had once been a government fort. In the year 1812 he emigrated to the state of Ohio and bought a farm on Mad River, midway between Dayton & Springfield, in what was then Greene Co., now Clark Co. Here his wife, Marvel died in the autumn of 1813. She was buried on the farm of Christopher Miller. In the spring of 1814 he moved again to Harrison Co., W. Va. where he bought a tract of 340 acres, 4 1/2 miles S.E. of Clarksburg on the Brushy Fork of Elk Creek. The family at this time consisted of Zipporah, John, Lewis and Mary. Elder John was chosen pastor of the S.D. B. Church of New Salem, which was 8 miles form his home.

More About REV. JOHN DAVIS, JR.:

Burial: Broad Run S.D. Baptist Cemetery

1. Military Service: BET MAR 1777 AND DEC 1781 Revolutionary War
2. ORDN: 1800 Salem, Harrison Co., WV
3. Event: Pastored 1805 Lost Creek Church, WV
4. Event: Migration 1812 Springfield, Clark Co., OH
5. Event: Migration 1814 Harrison Co., WV
6. Burial: Broad Run Cemetery, Jane Lew, Lewis Co., WV
7. Religion: SDB Minister

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• Updated from Find A Grave Memorial via sister Martha Babcock (born Davis) by SmartCopy: Dec 7 2015, 7:24:25 UTC

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GEDCOM Note

Thomas William Davis, Sr. MPPlace of Burial:White Day Creek Cemetery , Morgantown, Monmouth, New Jersey, United StatesBirth:May 15, 1719 Westerly, Washington, Rhode IslandDeath:July 15, 1791 (72) White Day Creek, , Monongalia, West Virginia, United StatesImmediate Family:Son of John Davis, Sr, Reverend and Elizabeth Davis (Maxson) Husband of Tacy Davis Father of Elizabeth Maxson; Rev. Nathan Davis; Mary Davis;Rev. John Davis; William Davis and 3 others Brother of Elizabeth Brand; Martha Davis; John Davis, Jr., Reverend; Joseph Davis, Rev; Anna Havens and 4 others

Added by:Steven Kelley on July 1, 2007Managed by:Kira Rachele Jay and 24 othersCurated by:Erica Howton, (c)treeAbouthistoryDAVIS, JOHN DAR Ancestor #: A030420 · Parents: William Davis, Tacy Crandall · Service: NEW JERSEY Rank(s): PRIVATE, DRUMMER · Birth: 5-1-1755 MONMOUTH CO NEW JERSEY · Death: 6-20-1842 LEWIS CO VIRGINIA · Pension Number: *W8654 · Service Description: 1) CAPTS.FLEMMING,DENNIS,LONGSTREET,BUCK, 2) WALTON,BENNETT,HAMPTON · Residence 1) County: MONMOUTH CO. - State: NEW JERSEY