This is the text of a presentation that I gave at the Green family reunion in August of 2003.
Thomas Davis of Mathews and York Counties
Today I am going to talk to you about our Mathews County and Davis ancestry. Everybody here who descends from the Green family also comes from the Davises.
I also want to tell you that the information that I am giving you is based on research by Thelma Hansford and she has graciously let me use it for my own research.
We are going to start with Thomas Davis Sr. He was born in Abington Parish in Gloucester County in 1740’s He was the son of Thomas Davis and Elizabeth Brown. He married Lucretia Lewis at Kingston Parish on August 17, 1769. I have not been able to find much on the ancestry of Lucretia.
It seems to have been two Lucretia Lewises in Mathews County during this time period with our Lucretia being the older of the two. Doing research in Gloucester and Mathews in made difficult by the fact that most of their court records were destroyed in the Civil War. It is possible that Luctretia may be tied into the Lewis family of Warner Hall in Gloucester. The explorer Meriweather Lewis of Lewis and Clark fame descended from this family.
Kingston Parish is the present day Mathews County.
Gloucester County Revolution records indicate that Thomas Davis served with the county militia during the Revolutionary War.
Thomas and Lucretia had four children. They were:
Elizabeth Davis, Christopher Davis, Lucretia Davis and Thomas Davis. Lucretia Lewis Davis died sometime in the mid-1790’s and Thomas Davis remarried Catherine Armistead. She was the descendant of Robert Armistead, who came from England to the Mathews area in the 1650s. Presidents William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Benjamin Harrison also descended from Robert Armistead.
Thomas and Catherine had five children. One of these was Catherine Davis. Catherine Davis married Peter B. Smith and they moved to Fish Neck and are now the ancestors of the Smith family of Dare.
Thomas Davis Jr. married Sandelia Miller September 20, 1815. Sandelia was the daughter of Gabriel Miller of Mathews County and again I have not been able to find too much about her ancestry.
Thomas and Sandelia moved to York County and bought land at what is now the end of Winsome Haven Road in Seaford. There were several Mathews County families that moved to York County during this time period. These include the Forrests, the Whites, the Hudginses and the Edward Davis family that founded this church. Thomas and Sandelia had the following children:
Polly (Mary) Cary Davis in 1816. She later married William Stroud and after he died she married Thomas Dawson.
Their next child was John Burgess Davis. They had several children.
There next child was Elizabeth Jane Davis. She married James Burcher.
There next child was Seth Shepard Davis.
The next child was Hester Davis. She married Kemp Charles and they lived at what is now Charles Road. Kemp and Hester Charles were my g-g-g-grandparents. They had a daughter Buena Vista who married Hardy Wornom and they have several descendants in the area. One was John Wornom who ran the store and post office at the corner of Dare and Railway for many years.
Thomas and Sandelia’s next child was Thomas Francis Davis. There is not much information on him. There was information in the York County death records of the 1850’s that indicate a Thomas Davis dying as the result of being thrown off of a horse.
There next child was Sarah Frances Davis. She married Benedict Hudgins and they had two children. Benedict Hudgins was killed at the Battle of Sharpsburg in the Civil War and his name in of York County’s war memorial.
There eighth child was Sedelia Davis. She was born on August 25, 1931 and died six days later. Hardy and Hester Wornom had a daughter named Sedilia Wornom. She later marred Harry Spencer and they were Julia Myer’s parents.
Thomas and Sandelia’s ninth child was Larkin Wesley Davis.
He married Elizabeth Powell and they had several children. They had a grand daughter Rosa Davis who married Robert Olson. I knew them.
Their 10th child was Virginia Davis. She married John Green. They had one child Hester Green. John died as the result of wounds suffered at Sharpsburg. Peter Green lost both his brother John Green and brother-in-law as the result of this b battle. Hester married William Provoo and they move from the area. She is buried in Isle of Wight county.
There 11th child was Susan Francis Davis. She was born on Jan. 21st 1838 and died Feb. 3rd 1838.
Thomas and Sandelia Davis’s 12th and last child was Vandelia Davis. Vandelia was born Jan.1 1840 and died Oct.6, 1915. She married Peter Green and they are our common ancestors.
It is safe to say that Thomas Davis Sr. may well be the father of Seaford and Dare as so many of us descend from him.