John Davis (1651 - 1694)

Born 22 Aug 1651 in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Burnham) Davis — married after 12 Jan 1684 in Durham, New Hampshire

Descendants

Died 18 Jul 1694 at age 42 in Oyster River, Durham, Strafford, New Hampshire

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Biography

He was born on 22 Aug 1651 in Haverhill, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay ^{[1] [2][3]} and his parents were Jane Peaslee and John Davis, also known as Ensign John.

John Davis first married before 1684 to a Mary (of unknown maiden surname). She died 12 Jan 1684. As his second wife, John Davis married in Oyster River, New Hampshire to Elizabeth Burnham(1651-1694).^{[4] [5]}

He appears as John Davis, jr. on the 1675 Provision Rate List for Oyster River.^[6]

John served on several scouting parties. On the frontier, during this time period, there were numerous incursions by native raiders. Mostly due to the various small wars (there were actually four) and disputes between New France and New England beginning in the 1660's over borders. In 1675, these escalated into King Philip's War (1675-1678). ^[7] Both sides manipulated local tribes to employ as allies in the various campaigns. This would continue sporadically until the final French and Indians War (1754-1763) would decide the issue permanently

On 18 Jul 1694, the French, under the command of Claude-Sébastien de Villieu with approximately 250 Abenaki natives, commanded by their Sachem Bomazeen, commenced an attack on the Oyster River settlement at daybreak. Approximately 100 settlers were killed and 27 taken captive. Included in the dead were John, wife Elizabeth as well as children whose names I have not uncovered. Taken captive were daughter's Mary and Sarah, with Sarah being the only one to return. Also killed in the attack were John's sister, Sarah, the widow of James Smith and her two son's, James and Samuel. His brothers, James and Joseph were also attacked in their garrison, but all survived. Apparently John agreed to surrender his garrison on condition that their lives would be spared. Those terms were not honored and the occupants put to death or taken captive. ^{[8][9][10][5][11]} This would not be the last time this family would lose a member to an Indian raid. John's brother Moses and his son Moses, Jr. would die in raids in 1724,

In 1699 many of those taken captive in the raid were ransomed and returned to their homes. Daughter Sarah returned and would marry and raise a family. Her sister, Mary, did not. She chose instead to become a nun and remained in Quebec the rest of her life.

It wasn't until 1702, when it became clear that Mary would not be returning that the estate of John Davis was settled. Sarah, who was just fifteen at the time, chose her uncle, Jeremiah Burnham as her guardian.^[12][13]

Sources

1. ↑ "Vital Records of Haverhill, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849" compiled by Topsfield Historical Society of Topsfield, Massachusetts in 1911; on ancestry.com citing v1 p88 Births
2. ↑ Vital records of Haverhill, Massachusetts, to the end of the year 1849; Haverhill Births; Page 88
3. ↑ Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001," database with images, FamilySearch, Jno Davis, 22 Aug 1651; citing Birth, Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts, United States, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, Boston; FHL microfilm 007009726.[1]
4. ↑ New England Marriages Prior to 1700] by Clarence Almon Torrey & Genealogical Publishing Company in 1985; p207 [2]
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} History of the town of Durham, New Hampshire (Oyster River Plantation) with Genealogical Notes, By EVERETT S. STACKPOLE and LUCIEN THOMPSON, IN TWO VOLUMES; Vol 2 - GENEALOGY, published by vote of the town; Reproduced by Internet Archive [3]
6. ↑ Notable events in the history of Dover, New Hampshire, from the first settlement in 1623 to 1865, page 80 by Wadleigh, George Published 1913 [4]
7. ↑ King Philip's War, courtesy of Wikipedia [5]
8. ↑ Documents and Papers relating to the Province of New Hampshire from 1686-1722: being part 1 of papers relating to that period, Published by the authority of the legislature of New Hampshire, Vol II, compiled and edited by Nathaniel Boulton, D.D., printed by John D. Clark State Printer, Manchester N.H. 1868 page 126 [6]
9. ↑ Raid on Oyster River, article provided by Wikipedia; [7]
10. ↑ The border wars of New England, commonly called King William's and Queen Anne's wars by Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905; [8]
11. ↑ History of New Hampshire, Vol 1, by Everett Stackpole. published by the American Historical Society. New York; Reproduced by FamilySearch. [9]
12. ↑ Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire Vol. 1 1635-1717, State Papers Series Vol. 31 Albert Stillman Batchellor, Editor of State Papers Rumford Printing Co., Concord, N.H. 1907 pg 493 [10]
13. ↑ Sophie Seldon Rogers Collection, Vol 22, Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Page 188 [11]

Acknowledgements

Biography and sources provided by Debbie Barrett

• WikiTree profile was created on 03 Jan 2011 through the import of Weaver.ged

• WikiTree profile was created on 05 Jan 2011 through the import of thayer jan11.ged

• WikiTree profile Davis-11434 was created on 26 Jul 2012 by Jamie Henderson through the import of Lozon.ged

• Davis-25619 was created on 20 Oct 2014 by Bryan Sypniewski through the import of LentVise3b_2014-10-20.ged