NANCY AND AMOS DAVIS
Background
Nancy Crawford was born on 5 August 1807 in Ohio. Her parents were both from Ireland.
Her 1850-60-70-80 federal censuses census record her birth in Ohio. Was she born in Ohio just a few years after the Lewis & Clark Expedition? Just a few years after Ohio became a state in 1803? Most likely.
When Ohio became a state, in 1803, the area that later became Wayne County was Killbuck Township, Columbiana County. In the 1810 US census, listed there was one Josiah Crawford. He was most probably Nancy Crawford’s father. He also was listed there in the 1820 US census.
Click here for a small page about the State of Ohio.
Marriage
Nancy Crawford married Amos Davis about 1824.
Amos was born in 1800. Most likely his mother was Rachel Davis, who received land as an original patentee in 1831 from the United States President Andrew Jackson (see below).
We know that the families were acquainted, if not close friends. Aaron Griffin had bought land in Ohio that had earlier been in the Davis family. Amos Davis also was witness in 1840 to Aaron Griffin’s purchase of some land.
Amos died in 1848, so when the 1850 Ohio census (Ashland Co, Lake Twp) was taken on 27 Nov 1850, he wasn’t on it. We see Nancy was a widow with her children, all born in Ohio:
Davis, Nancy, 44
Davis, Robert, 25, farmer
Davis, Samuel, 23, farmer
Davis, Maria, 21
Davis, William, 15
Davis, L., 14
Davis, John, 10
Davis, J. [James] A., 8
Davis, Mary J., 6
Children
Robert W. Davis, b. about 1825. Went to McDonough Co IL in 1853; bought land there on 14 Nov 1854 (see below). He d. 1894, and is buried in the Glade City Cemetery, Blandinsville IL, in the original section, Lot 120, Space 7. [It’s possible his wife’s name was Eliza (1826-1912) as she is buried in Lot 120, Space 6.]
Samuel B. Davis, b. about 1827.
Maria Davis, b. about 1829.
William Davis, b. about 1835.
Simeon B. Davis, b. 7 Dec 1836, at Ashland Co OH. He went to Illinois in 1855, and became “the Honorable S. B. Davis.” [In the 1850 census, a 14 year old was listed. This would be Simeon B., but the census has him simply as “L. Davis”.] There is much in this county about Davises.
An Illinois county history article about Simeon’s family states the following:
Simeon B. Davis, a Hire Township resident, was born at Ashland County, Ohio, on 7 December 1836, the son of Amos and Nancy Crawford Davis. It continues that Amos was born in 1800, and died in 1848. Nancy was born on 25 August 1807, and died on 14 August 1884.
Simeon Davis learned the trade of boot and shoemaking in Ohio. He moved to Macomb (Illinois) where he lived for two years; to Sciota Township as a farmer and taught school for ten years. In 1864, he purchased 80 acres in Section 17, where he lived for 3 ½ years, then moved to Blandinsville Township, until 1869 when he moved to Hire Township.
In 1881, he was elected to the Illinois state legislature as a representative. He married on 27 September 1860, Artemisa Stambaugh, the daughter of Rev. Adam Stambaugh. They were the parents of 9 children.”
John Davis, b. about 1840. [He may be the John who d. 14 Jan 1941 and is buried in Blandinsville (Glade City Cemetery) in Lot 120 Space 2 near his brother Robert. There is a Belle Allshouse in Space 3, possibly his wife.]
James Davis, b. about 1841.
Mary J. Davis, b. about 1844.
Some Davis Land Deals in Ohio
For interested Davis descendants, I include here mention of a land transaction between Amos/Nancy Davis and Robert Hill because the land involved was in 1831 a presidential land grant from President Andrew Jackson to Rachel Davis. The assumption is made, that Rachel was Amos’s mother and he inherited after her death, due to he and Nancy sold that same property in April of 1837, in two parcels.
Wayne County, Ohio.
12 April 1837
Amos/Nancy Davis to Robert Davis.
22+ acres - Sec 18 - NW1/4 of NE corner, T20 R15. $80.
Original land grant in 1831 was from President Jackson to Rachel Davis.
This Robert Davis may have been a brother of Amos; his son Robert was too young at this time.
12 April 1837
Amos/Nancy Davis to Robert Hill.
11+ acres - Sec 18 - NW1/4, T20 R15. $18. Vol. 16, pg. 387.
Who was Hill? The husband of one of Amos’s sisters?
Question:
Was Rachel Davis the mother of Amos? Did Amos and Nancy, as husband and wife, go to OH from NY together and live on that land with Rachel; and then, when Rachel died, Amos inherited it? Or, ... did Amos have his own farm and inherit Rachel’s land after she died? Because Amos and Nancy sold the land in 1837, I might assume to family members, it is likely they had their own farm (no documents yet located).
In addition, we don’t know when, or where, Amos died. Therefore, we don’t know if he and Nancy went together to Illinois, or if she went there alone, or with some of her children. She didn’t remarry until she was in Illinois.
Some Davis Land Deals in McDonough Co IL
Three Davis family records are listed below:
3 Nov 1840.
Deed, United States to James B. Davis. Sec 6, Hire Twp.
James B. Davis may have been Amos Davis’s brother, and the motivating reason the family went to Illinois in the 1850s. Amos had a son James (b. about 1841), who may have been named after a favored brother.
22 Nov 1841.
Mortgage, between Jno. W. DuBois and James B. Davis. [Section and township unknown.]
14 Nov 1854.
Robert W. Davis bought land in NE1/4 of Section 24.
He had gone to McDonough Co IL in 1853.
RESOURCES
History of McDonough County, Illinois (Springfield, IL: Continental Historical Co., 1885), 290-91.
Phillips, C. Arthur, comp. Wayne County, Ohio: early censuses and tax lists. (Wooster OH: Wayne County Historical Society, 195-?) pp. 1-3. At Seattle Public Library, Call No. R929.1771 P541W.
|