Road Trip!

The Davis families “go West,” 1789-1792

In 1789, a group of Davis families and others who were members of the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, New Jersey, decided they were going to try their luck by “going West.”

“West” was Virginia (the area that is now West Virginia), and the route to Virginia went through Pennsylvania, the first state west of New Jersey. Why they left was never put in writing but the most obvious reason was the Revolutionary War. It had just ended in 1783.

Washington Rallying the Troops at Monmouth
by Emanuel Leutze. Monmouth County, New Jersey, 28 June 1778 -Wikipedia

Davis researcher Susie Davis Nicholson mentions in her book, “Davis, The Settlers of Salem, West Virginia, 1979,” one instance of destruction and death to the Davis family by the British. James Davis Sr., son of Rev. William, had a shipbuilding business in Monmouth County, NJ. The British burned it down, prompting James to change allegiance from Loyalist (for British) to Patriot (against the British).

This same James, born 1720, was killed, at age 58, by a “stray bullet of the British” as he rode out to watch the Battle of Monmouth, which took place in Monmouth County, the Davis family home.

Leading up to the Battle of Monmouth, Monmouth County’s people had suffered socially. Their community was torn apart when what amounted to a civil war broke out in 1777, with some Monmouth County residents fighting as Loyalists in the British Army and plotting against their neighbors, who they called the “rebels.” These Loyalists gave strategic information about local Patriots to the British, setting up their previous neighbors for unexpected deadly ambushes.

Loss of lives, business and friendships must have caused great resentment and disappointment in the Davis community.

For this or other reasons, the members of the Seventh Day Baptist Shrewsbury Church decided, on Sept 8, 1789, to leave their New Jersey home in order to “setle in the state of Verginey.”

Their destination was Woodbridgetown, Fayette County, PA, some 400 miles due west, about 7 hours by car. In their case, they were traveling with horse, mule or oxen, pulling about 70 wagons, camping out along the way. They were following an old Indian trail that went West, probably stopping wherever there was a source of water. A horse and wagon travels at the speed of a walking horse, which is about 2-3 miles per hour. That is about the same speed that a walking person averages.

So they were essentially walking across the country. In good weather, they might cover 10 miles in a day. But bad weather, difficult terrain (including at least six mountains), wagon breakdowns, sickness, deaths, births and who knows what other problems, might halt their progress for one or several days. One might also consider that there might not have even been much of an actual “road,” since these were unsettled areas.

Although this was taken in 1920 or so, and the Davis families probably used oxen, this gives you an idea of what they might have been traveling in.

They left Shrewsbury in two groups:  one Sept 6, 1789 and another Sept 13, 1789. They stopped for some time after arriving in Woodbridgetown, Fayette County, PA, then changed their mind about settling there. Instead, they continued south into VA (WV).

The death of Thomas William Davis (husband of Tacy Crandall), age 72, was recorded on July 1791 at White Day Creek, Monongalia County, VA (WV), 35 miles S of Woodbridgetown, almost two years after leaving NJ.

They arrived in May 1792 at Harrison County, VA (WV), another 46 miles SW of White Day Creek, almost three years after they left NJ. There they settled the village of “New Salem,” the name of which the Post Office shorted to “Salem” in 1884.

Routes “West” from New Jersey to “Virginia” and Ohio, 1789-1792

West Virginia was not the only place to which the Davis family migrated. Some of the Davis family in this “going West” migration traveled further SW, past Salem, to Gallia, OH. Some did not go South at all. Instead they continued due West of Woodbridgetown, some 300 further miles, to Jackson Center, Shelby County, Ohio. Other branches of the Davis family had already traveled north of Shrewsbury, New Jersey and settled in Lincklaen and Brookfield, New York, and later, other Davis branches traveled even further west to Antigo, WI and out to Oregon.

One way we know these towns are accurate locations of the migration trek is because we find autosomal and Y-DNA matches from descendants of Davis ancestors who originated in these towns along the route.

Of our recent new Davis matches, 3 Y-testers and 1 autosomal, all come from places along this migration trail, including Parkersburg WV, Gallia Ohio, and Shelby County Ohio.

Let’s start with the Shelby County descendant.

In 2014, I got a query from someone whose line had originated in Shelby County, Ohio, but part of that family had returned East to Pennsylvania, losing contact with their Shelby ancestors. She gave me the name of her ancestor and asked me to let her know if I found any living descendants. She thought there were many. Her ancestor was a William P. Davis, born about 1819 in Ohio.

Well, another Davis descendant of that branch has finally appeared, from Sidney, Shelby, Ohio. Melissa Cook, daughter of Lucille Elizabeth Davis, comes from a “daughtered out” line and so has no living male Davis to test. She did test autosomally, though, and her autosomal test does match some known Davis descendants.

In her words: “Daniel was brother to my grandfather, Oliver Franklin Davis. Oliver and Sophia had my mother, Lucille Elizabeth Davis 1922 – 1981; and two sons, Arthur and Vernon Davis, but both of them adopted. That is where the Davis Male line ends on my side.”

And she brings to us a photo.

This is a photo of Daniel Webster Davis, Melissa’s great uncle, who lived in Shelby County, Ohio.

Great Uncle of Melissa Cook:
Daniel Webster Davis, born 1895 Shelby County, Ohio
(Original photo: Kelly Williams)

Daniel’s grandfather was William P. Davis, born 1819 Ohio, son of Zebulon Davis, born 1786 New Jersey.

Zebulon was the son of Rev. Jacob Davis born 1748, New Jersey.

Rev. Jacob Davis was a chaplain in the Rev. War and migrated with the group in 1789 to Woodbridgetown, at age 41. Rev. Jacob was son of James Davis, Sr. and Judith Maxson, the same James whose shipyard burned down and who died watching the Battle of Monmouth. Rev. Jacob’s wife was Mary S. Davis, daughter of Thomas William Davis born 1719 and Tacy Crandall.

Rev. Jacob Davis founded a Seventh Day Baptist Church in Woodbridgetown, PA, while their group temporarily lived there. When they continued south and founded their first church in 1792 in Salem, VA (WV), Rev. Jacob Davis was their first minister. Rev. Jacob died a year later, in 1793, en route back to Woodbridgetown to minister at his old church. His son, Zebulon, was just 7 years old.

TO BE CONTINUED. We have more testers who are descendants of the Rev. William Davis family and more stories of their ancestors who originated in towns along this migration trail! Do your Davis ancestors come from any other towns along this path?

 

If you are a Davis descendant and have autosomal DNA results, please contact me and I will compare your results to the autosomal results of others who are known Davis descendants. Even if you don’t need to corroborate your ancestry with DNA, your results could help place someone else’s line. And your results might possibly, one day, help determine the probable DNA signature of Rev. William Davis, himself.

Comments, corrections, further details or other responses respectfully received.

 

 

Copyright, 2019
Jan Davis Markle, M.A.
Founder, William Davis DNA Project