Barnabas Davis - 1599-1685
10th great
grandfather
My oldest ancestor? My oldest is probably my Mayflower
descendant Thomas Rogers. But he died the first winter in Plymouth probably in
his early 40s. My oldest, longest living, 17th century ancestor
would be Barnabus Davis; business man, soldier, tallow chandler and planter. I descend from Barnabas through my mother’s
Martin family. My great-great grandfather Edward Martin married Elizabeth
Larkins, daughter of Margaret Davis and then back seven more generations to
Barnabus Davis. That would be Michigan to New York to Massachusetts to England.
Three hundred and forty-eight years
ago my 10th great grandfather was born in 1599 in Tewkesbury,
Gloucestershire, England. Tewkesbury is about 100 miles northwest of
London. As a business man Barnabas left
many records of his transactions and after 45 years of life in Massachusetts he
also created several deed records that help document his life. He married
Patience James July 1, 1625 in Tewkesbury, England[i]
and died November 28, 1685 in Charlestown, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.[ii]
Barnabas first came to America in July,1635 on the
ship “Blessing” on a business trip[iii]. He gave his age then as
thirty-six years when he left London. He landed in Boston and walked to
Connecticut to check on his employer, Mr. Woodcock’s, business. When he arrived
in Connecticut he found that Mr. Woodcock’s employee Francis Stiles had built a
house but had not laid out 400 acres for a farm as he should have in his
agreement.[iv] Barnabas was advised to
return to England with letters concerning Mr. Woodcock’s estate in the colony.
After a three-month trip aboard ship he returned to England and delivered the
letters. 1635 was in the midst of the Great Migration when hundreds of middle-class
educated and skilled English families were choosing to leave their
country.
Barnabas was again sent to the colonies in 1637 to check up on Francis Stiles and landed in Boston in the year of the Pequot War.[v] He traveled to Connecticut in a small sailing vessel and found that Stiles had not acquired the land he should have and was sent back to England with more letters. Before he could leave he was forced to become a soldier for about a year to fight in the Pequot War. The Pequot War was the first major conflict between the English colonists in New England and the native population. The Pequots, who lived in coastal Connecticut, had angered the English by offering sanctuary to Indians who had killed an English trader. The Treaty of Hartford, September 21, 1638,[vi] ended the war, not so much by ceasing hostilities as by dissolving the Pequot tribe.
He was sent to Connecticut a third
time to recover the Woodcock’s estate from Stiles. This time Barnabas took his
wife and five children with him. I find it hard to believe that business men in
the seventeenth century traveled three months aboard a ship to traverse from
London to Boston. Barnabas landed in Boston in mid-1639.[vii]
The Woodcocks never paid Barnabas and he brought suit against them for wages in
1640-41. He won the suit. Later, he owned Lovell's Island and considerable
other real estate. On March 1, 1657/58 when land was divided in Charlestown,
Barnabas received lot 50 of 27 acres of woodland and 4.5 acres on the side of
common land.[viii]
Barnabas and his wife, Patience,
came to New England in 1639 with their five children; Samuel, John, James,
Patience and Barnabas and settled in the small town of Charlestown justoutside
of Boston. Their last two children, Nathaniel and Hopewell were born in
Charlestown. Here in Charlestown
Barnabas practiced the occupation of tallow chandler, or candle maker.[ix]
Barnabas died November 27, 1685 in Charlestown[x]
and Patience died November 15, 1690 in Charlestown.[xi]
Nancy Simmons
Josephine Martin
Edward Martin
Francis Martin
Margaret Davis
Joel Davis
Isaac Davis
Isaac Davis
Simon Davis
Samuel Davis
Samuel Davis
Barnabas Davis 10th Grandfather
[i]
Anderson, Robert Charles, The Great
Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Vol 2, Boston: New
England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011, page 288.
[ii] Hotten,
John Camden, ed., Original List of Persons of Quality, London 1874, rpt Baltimore 1974, page 108.
[iii] Anderson,
page 286.
[iv] Pope,
Charles H., Pioneers of Massachusetts
1620-1650, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2013,p 131.
[v] Lechford, Thomas, Note-book kept
by Thomas Lechford, Esq., lawyer : in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27,
1638 to July 29, 1641, American Antiquarian Society, Vol III, 1885, page 367.
[vii] Anderson,
page 286.
[viii]
Frothingham, Richard, The History of
Charlestown, Massachusetts, Charles Little & James Brown, 1845, p. 152.
[ix] Anderson,
page 286.
[x] Ancestry,
Massachusetts Town and Vital Records
1620-1988, Barnabas Davis, page 553.
[xi] Anderson,
page 288.
