Return to GoldenWest Marketing homepage
DESCENDANTS OF SAMUEL DAVIS, I, (1610-1667)
OF ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, VIRGINIA
Compiled and edited by: Richard R. Dietz.
©2002 Richard R. Dietz, Temple City, CA 91780-2112. All rights reserved.
Order item B343 - 4th edition, print version. FORMAT: PRINT
The book is 300+ pages, INDEXED, soft cover with a plastic comb binding, and available for $29.98 plus $3.99 shipping & handling charge (Add $1.00 S&H for each additional volume ordered). Scroll down this page to view a description of the book.
This is the 4th edition of the genealogy of Samuel Davis, I, of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. 2,114 descendants are detailed in this edition, that's 768 more than are named in the 3rd edition. The 4th edition has names and information updated to 2002.
Order item B343.1 - 4th edition on CD-ROM disk.
FORMAT: ELECTRONIC
The cost of the CD-ROM disk version is $14.95, plus $3.99 S&H. Add $1.00 for each additional item ordered.
The Adobe Acrobat Reader software program is required in order to view the book on the disk. Using the Acrobat Reader program you can easily search for names, dates, locations, etc., which appear in the book. You can also print paper copies of the book. The Acrobat Reader software program and installation instructions are included on the disk at no additional cost.
This file is being released to the public under the "publish now, revise later" theory. It is hoped that researchers whose data has not been included in the original book will make their information available to the publisher for inclusion in subsequent editions of the book with additional, new, and recently corrected information. The third edition contains the research data of thirty-six genealogical researchers; approximately 6,525 Davises and spouses are identified in this edition. They resided mainly in Pasquotank, Edgecombe, Nash, Warren, Halifax, and Franklin Counties of North Carolina; Morgan, Newton, Baldwin, Washington, and Johnson Counties of Georgia; Davidson and Williamson Counties of Tennessee; Walker and Shelby Counties of Alabama; St. Helena and Catahoula Parishes of Louisiana, and in recent generations, Texas, California and Florida.
The following is excerpted from the third edition of the book:
No complete account of Samuel Davis' arrival and life in the New World has yet been discovered; therefore after extensive and careful examination of existing civil, church, military, and other published records, the following is offered as his story:
Local legend says that three brothers named Davis settled in Isle of Wight County, Virginia very early in its history. They arrived at Jamestown in the Virginia Colony from London, England on 6 July 1635, aboard the ship Paule, the master of which was Mr. Leonard Betts. Samuel and his two brothers, John and Richard, were part of a group of 115 persons from the town of Gravesend, in county Kent, England which carried with them a "certificate from the Minister of Gravesend of their Conformitie to the Church of England." His name on the ship's manifest is spelled "Samvell Davies" and his age is shown as 24 years. Also listed on the manifest were "John Davies", age 23; and "Richard Davies", age 20.
All three brothers probably initially lived in Charles River County, along with Samuel's father-in-law, John Benton. In 1642, Samuel assigned 400 acres in that county to John Benton. Brother John remained in Charles River, later called York County. Brothers Richard and Samuel removed to Isle of Wight County with their families.
1. Samuel Davis, I was born 1610 in Gravesend, co. Kent, England, and married about 1631 in England, Elizabeth Benton, daughter of John Benton, Sr. and Joane (_______), who was born about 1612 in England. Samuel died 1667 in Upper Parish, Isle of Wight Co., Va. Elizabeth died about 1675 in probably Lawnes Creek Parish, Surry Co., Va.
The first mention of Samuel's name in the records of Virginia does not occur until 4 Oct 1640. On that date "Sir Francis Wyatt grants to Samuel Davis 100 acres on a branch of Pagan Creek, adjoining Nathaniel Floyd", in Isle of Wight County. On 22 April 1668, after his father's death, Samuel Davis II, of Albemarle County, Carolina, deeded this tract to his brother, John Davis of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. On 15 June 1642, he purchased another 100 acres in Isle of Wight County from William Strange(*). In the same month, Isle of Wight County was divided into two parishes, the Upper and the Lower. The boundary between the two parishes was made at Sam Davis' second plantation on Lawne's Creek. This tract was sold by Samuel Davis II, to John Bond on 12 May 1668. (*)There is a conflict between two sources as to the name of the man from whom Samuel Davis I, purchased this tract. Boddie, in his book Seventeenth Century Isle of Wight County, Virginia, states the man's name to be "William Stringer"; while Winslow in her book, History of Perquimans County, North Carolina, gives the name as "William Strange". One of the other passengers listed in the group that arrived at the Virginia Colony aboard the Paule in July, 1635 with "Samvell Davies" and his brothers was "William Strange". This discrepancy will not be resolved until further research or perhaps examination of the original document can be made.
Neither a will, nor an inventory of his estate, nor any other document detailing the division of the estate of Samuel Davis I, has been located, therefore two of his sons are linked to him by circumstantial evidence at present. Three sons lived on plantations which were very near to each other in the Lawnes Creek and Southwark Parishes of Isle of Wight and Surry Counties of Virginia. The eldest son, Samuel II, removed to the Carolina Colony in about 1660.
Return to GoldenWest Marketing homepage