As much as I write, I've never written anything for our local county Genealogical Journal, despite having belonged to it for 14 years. I think it's about time that I do. The issue of what to write about does not exist. While my roots do spread out to other counties, my family is deeply entrenched in Stanly County, and have been for many generations. So, I have an abundance of subject matter. Narrowing it down is more problematic. Deciding to start at the beginning, with the ancestor who truly inspired my quest into this engrossing obsession that is genealogy, I'm starting with Job Davis.
But what do I focus on as I am not writing a book, Afterall, but an article, and I have a plethora of information. Do I simply highlight events in his life, or do I share incidents and facts that bring out the humanity and personality of his existence? Or do I intertwine both things, to give both facts, and still paint a fuller picture of the man and his life at the same time? I believe I will frame my attempt with fact and fill in middle with both anecdotal stories I've learned, and discoveries made from genetic research. Below is the story I will submit to the journal.
THE MAN WHO WAS JOB DAVIS
The facts are stiff and cold. Job Davis was born April 10, 1773, in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. As a young man he migrated to the Rocky River area, near its confluence with the Pee Dee River, to an area that at that time, was the border of Anson and Montgomery County. He arrived around 1794, accompanied by the Floyd and Tillman families, among others. They were part of a steady trickle of settlers from Southside Virginia moving into South Central North Carolina in the decades during and just after the Revolutionary War.
He married in Marlboro County, South Carolina to Sarah Elizabeth Winfield Howell, a young widow, in 1805. They were married by her cousin, Joel Winfield, who had first arrived in Upper Anson with the Winfield's, Freemans, Stokes, Robertsons, Marshalls and others, in the early 1780's. Some of the younger Winfield family members removed to Marlboro County some decades later.
Sarah Winfield was born the same year and the same place as Job Davis, her birthday being February 7, 1773. As her family lived along the same creek as the Floyds with whom Job traveled to North Carolina with, except the Floyds lived just across the border in Brunswick County, it could be reckoned that Job and Sarah had known each other as children, especially considering there was a Davis family who had came from Surry County and settled in the same upper Northeast corner of the County, near South Hill.
Sarah was the daughter to Peter Winfield, born 1736 in Sussex County, Virginia and dies in Anson County on March 3, 1802 and his wife, Charlotte Freeman Winfield, born January 29, 1742 in Albemarle Parrish, Surry County, Virginia and died August 5, 1836 in Anson County, North Carolina. Peter Winfield was the son of Edward Winfield and Mary Harris, not to be confused with his cousin, Peter Winfield, a few years different in age, who was the son of his uncle, William Winfield and wife, Sarah. That Peter Winfield is known as Leute. Peter Winfield, and remained in Virginia with a wife named Lucretia. Charlotte Freeman Winfield was the daughter of Arthur Freeman and Agnes Stokes. Several members of this family removed to North Carolina, with several of them later migrating west to Tennessee. Peter's brother, Joshua Winfield married Charlotte's sister, Jemima Winfield, but they remained in the Mecklenburg/Brunswick County area. Joshua Winfield had close ties to the Davis family mentioned earlier. Several of Joshua's children and stepchildren had come to North Carolina with Peter. Joshua had married Rebecca Thrower Carloss after the death of Jemima Freeman Winfield, the daughter of Hezekiah Thrower and Francis Robinson Thrower.
I must intercede with a note here that Robinson is also seem as Robertson, and other variations for the same family and that Winfield is also seen as Winkfield and Wingfield for the same family. Briefly, Joshua Winfield and Jemima Freeman were the parents of Elizabeth Winfield Meredith, Mary 'Polly' Winfield Robinson, Arthur Freeman Winfield, (note: Peter's son Edward would also name a son Arthur Freeman Winfield), Rebecca Winfield Barner, Nancy Winfield Jones and Joel Winfield. Joshua Winfield and Rebecca Thrower Carloss Winfield were the parents of : John Thrower Winfield, Dorothy Winfield Walker and Martha Winfield Robinson.
Rebecca Thrower Carloss had with her first husband, Edward (Don Carlos) Carloss: Frances "Fannie" Carloss Thomas, Archelaus Carloss and Robinson Carloss.
When the Winfield/Freeman/ Robinson Group migrated to Upper Anson County, (some spillover into what is now Stanly), the following came with them: Joel Winfield who married Mary Marler Booth, John Thrower Winfield, Dorothy Winfield who married Robley Walker, Mary Winfield who married Drury Robinson, Jr., Martha Winfield who married his brother, James Winfield and Robinson Carloss. While Drury Robinson, Sr, and the members of the older generation remained in Anson County, these members of the Joshua Winfield family moved to and helped found Bennettsville, in Marlboro County, South Carolina. Also with the Freeman caravan was Richard Meanly (later Manly), who had married the youngest Freeman sister, Keziah. They would later move Tennessee.
But this is about Job and Sarah, who planted roots along the Rocky River in Stanly County, Anson County, and Cumberland County.
The above deed shows that Job Davis was settled into what would become his home county by 1797. He and John Hall were chain carriers in a 100 acre Land Grant for John Stokes on Cooper Creek. Job, himself, would settle on Coopers Creek. The Stokes are among my ancestors and I am not sure if this John Stokes were among those who had came to this area from Mecklenburg and Brunswick Counties in Virginia, or if he was related to my GGGG Grandmother, Agnes Stokes Freeman, or her Sylvanius Stokes crew, but it was likely he was.
In 1796, Job Davis, with John Lilly, witnessed a deed involving Green Roper. Job appears in many land records and purchased many of his own, but these were some of the earliest.
One of the first of his own purchases, was the 50 acres tract shown below, on the waters of Coopers Creek.
The Spencer tract is often referred to in documents involving the Davis lands for decades, as it will become part of their plantation. John Spencer Esq. must have been the original owner. William Floyd was the son of Josiah and Mary Tillman Floyd, Job's cousin and fellow journeyman from Virginia. The document reveals that this 50 acres was not Job's first land purchase on this creek, and this one adjoined his own. Job was still single at this time. This shows he had his own property before marrying Sarah Winfield Howell.
Cooper's Creek is a tributary of the Rocky River, and runs just west of Cottonville, following the path of "Old Davis Road", named for Job and his family, and empties into the Rocky near the bridge between Old Davis Road and Gaddy's Ferry., on the Stanly/Anson County border.
There was a second purchase the next year of a small, triangular tract, advantageously placed next to his previous purchase, connected to that of John Richardson, on Cooper's creek. The plat showed some odd spiral, perhaps a pond.
In 1801, Job added a little triangular tract to his property on Cooper's Creek. It goes on with regular purchases, adjoining or fairly near his growing acquisitions. I found this one interesting, not only because of the small size, but also in the chain carriers, John Richarson and John Stokes.
| Name | Josiah Floyd |
|---|---|
| Home in 1800 (City, County, State) | Montgomery, North Carolina |
| Free White Persons - Males - Under 10 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Males -10 thru 15 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25 | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44 | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Females - Under 10 | 2 |
| Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15 | 1 |
| Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44 | 1 |
| Number of Household Members Under 16 | 7 |
| Number of Household Members Over 25 | 2 |
| Number of Household Members 10 |
John Spencer, Esq. was living in a singular household and those listed around him were Abner Stokes, two John Smiths, Young Stokes and many Taylors, Edmund, Richard, Henry and Hudson. But looking at John Richardson in 1800, he is listed among names like William Kindel (Kendall) Sr., James Lee, William Lee, Joel Ledbetter, (who was from Southside Virginia and may have arrived with the Floyd/Tillman or Winfield/Robertson/Freeman group), Joseph Nash, Isham Randle, 'Param' (Parham) Randle, Tyne Robinson, Sr. and primarily, John Stokes.
A note on the census record from a Richardson states that this was John L. Richardson, not John R. Richardson Sr. of Montgomery County (the part that remained Montgomery), but a cousin. This is a grouping of the neighborhood I believe Job was in, and maybe staying with one of these. One of his sons will marry a Lee, another a Kendall, and John Stokes was probably related to the girl he will marry.
Sarah Winfield Howell was a young widow. Her husband, Richard Howell, was alive, and had received a portion of her father's estate, in lieu of Sarah, his wife, when Peter Winfield's estate was divided in March of 1802. The estate was divided among the widow, Charlotte Freeman Winfield, and the four children:
Edward Winfield (1766-1836) who married Susannah Lee.
Ancena (Arrena) Winfield (1771-1846) married James Morrison, then Thomas Avett.
Sarah Winfield (1773-1856) married Richard Howell, then Job Davis
Jemima Winfield (1775-1848) married Griffin Nash.
Richard Howells estate was probated in May of 1802, suggesting he passed away shortly, within a few months, of his father-in-law. The Executor was Jordan Howell, a man just a few years his junior. Richard's own son, Jordan was just a toddler. It can be easily educed that Jordan Howell and Richard Howell were most likely brother, as Richard had a son named Jordan and Jordan had a son named Richard. Jordan would run in the same circles with the Davis and Winfield group, and married a Randall. The parents of Richard Howell are yet to be determined, although there is a long-standing rumor that they were cousins of Varina Howell who married Jefferson Davis, and Anson County educator, Rednap Howell.
Sarah was left a young widow, with a considerable property and four small children:
Peter Howell (1794-1866) was 8 years old when his father and grandfather died.
Jordan Howell (1796-1835) was 6 years old.
John Winfield Howell (1799-1854) was 3 years old.
Charlotte Howell (1801-1877) was one year old, the only girl in the bunch.
When Job and Sarah married, he took on these four little ones and raised them as his own, and acquired Sarah's property just across the county line in Anson County. Job banked in Fayetteville, and would begin purchasing property there, too. He and Sarah joined Hay Street Methodist Episcopal Church and he purchased a brick home on Hay Street and some property on a hill outside of town, and now well within it, called "Haymount".
The Howell portion of the Winfield Plantation was located where Howell Road, Woodall Road and Kendall Road form a triangle off of Plank Road, just across the Rocky River from where Job's property was. Woodall Road hits Concord Church Road, and so does Plank Road. The Church was built on the property of Griffin Nash, on his part of the Winfield Plantation inherited through his wife, Jemima Winfield, so from there to the River, we can get an idea of where the Winfield Plantation was. Winfield Road once ran from near Albemarle, past Rehobeth Church, down through Cottonville and across the river through Burnsville and on to Brown Creek, where the surviving Winfield's took root, descendants of Peter's only son, Edward.
Job and Sarah would begin transferring portions of what had been Richard Howells' property, for two short months, or her portion of her father's landholdings, to Peter Howell, named for Peter Winfield, when he was just 15 years old. Peter, the oldest of the eight children, a man with wooly, dark blondish hair and piercing light (blue or green) eyes, would enlarge his property over the years and eventually reclaim all that had been Richards. Only one of Peter Howells sons would remain in Stanly County, James Edward, who was crucial and active in the Concord Church. Peter, in his old age, would also gain custody of two of his grandchildren, Theresa Florence and Robert, after their father, Richard, named for his grandfather, passed away. Their mother would marry a Threadgill and have another son, Patrick Randolph Threadgill. Robert Howell died a young man of about 22, but Florence lived a long life, and married a McSwain. Peter had left his two grandchildren a legacy and a portion of his property, and when Robert died, Florence inherited her brother's portion. The McSwain's who live on the property now are descendants of Florence, and therefore Peter and his wife, Betsy Floyd, a daughter of Josiah and Mary Tillman Floyd, taking them back to the Winfield's, Floyds and Davis's of old Virginia.
Job and Sarah would soon have four sons of their own, no daughters, save Charlotte Howell, who would marry a minister, Levi Stancil and remove to Newton County, Georgia.
The four Davis brothers were:
Henry Davis (1806-1862) who married Sarah Kendall and then Martha Palmer.
James M. "Jim" Davis (1808-1883) who married Rowena Lee.
Edward Winfield "Neddie" Davis, (1811-1882) who married late in life to Rebecca Hathcock.
Marriott (asa Merritt) Freeman Davis (1815-1880) who married Elizabeth Turner, and then Mary Ann Pickler
Edward Winfield Davis would become the second Sheriff of the newly founded Stanly County. His father, Job Davis and older brothers, Henry and James M. Davis were securities, along with Albemarle movers and shakers, Eben Hearne, the first Sheriff, Joshua Hearne and Parham Smith.
But before I get too ahead of myself, let's go back to the beginning.
In the years 1792, 1793 and 1794, the year he migrated to the Rocky River area of North Carolina with the Floyds, Tillmans and others, Job Davis appeared in the tax rolls of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, as a Taxable of Anthony Evans. In the last year, William Evans also appeared as a taxable of Anthony Evans, and all those years, so did a man named Peter, a slave. Who was Anthony Evans and what did this mean?
A taxable, or tithable, in old records referred to any male over the age of 16, which would later be raised to 18, and any enslaved person, male or female, over 16. So, Anthony Evans was head of a household in Mecklenburg County, Virginia, in the early years of the 1790's, and two young men lived with him, Job Davis and William Evans, and one slave, a man named Peter.
Serendipitously, there was a book written about Anthony Evans titled, "Anthony Evans of Colonial Southside Virginia", written by June Banks Evans, and I was fortunate enough to find a signed copy online that an Auntie had given to her nephew in 1983. The Anthony Evans to which this tax document referred was Anthony Evans, Jr., born about 1741 in Surry County, Virginia, who married Mary Davis, a daughter of Henry Davis and Mary Marriott of Surry County. Does any of this sound familiar?
Mary Tillman Floyd was the daughter of Roger Tillman and Rebecca Davis, a daughter of Henry Davis and Mary Marriott Davis. Rebecca would have three children with Roger Tillman, who died a young man, and then marry James Taylor, one of two sons of a Thomas Taylor who would marry daughters of this couple.
Job and Sarah Winfield Davis had a son named Henry and a son named Marriott. Josiah and Mary Tillman Floyd had sons named Henry and Marriott. Anthony Evans had followed most of the children of Henry Davis and Mary Marriott Davis from Surry to Mecklenburg and Brunswick Counties after the death of Henry in 1868, five years before Job Davis was born. This was his family.
The children of Henry and Mary Marriott Davis were something to work out. People have attributed children to them that were not theirs. Others were left out. He hadn't mentioned his married daughters directly in his Will, but his probate papers were another thing. In the book, "Anthony Evans of Colonial Southside Virginia", "Lines of Banks, Blackwell, Bugg, Burnett, Davis, Evans, Fox, Ingram, Mathews, Smith, Walker," by June Banks Evans reveals the following:
Henry Davis, Mary's father, died in early 1767. (SC/W 10:488-9) By law, financial bonds were required fomr the designated guardians of any survivors who were underage.
On April 12, 1770, Henry's daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) was identified as being in the guardianship of Anthony Evans; Thomas Davis, probably Betsy's uncle, was the security for the bond of 200 pound.
Note: Thomas Davis was a brother of Henry Davis of Surry and is mentioned in the Will of both Henry and their father, James, the grandfather of the heirs of Henry Davis.
Two years later when her brother Isham was listed as guardian for her younger brother, Henry, the bond for 250 pounds was secured by Anthony Evans and Randall (Randolph) Davis, another of her brothers. (VA GEN 25:175).
Later, "the itemization of the account suggests that Anthony Evans was married to Henry's fourth child". ...... The Surry estate account for Henry Davis in 1776, the Southampton Guardians Bonds for 1770 and 1772, and the 1768 Evans/Wrenn Deed in Southampton which names Anthony's wife Mary all suggest by a combination of the evidence that Anthony Evans was married to Mary, daughter of Henry and Mary (Marriott) Davis.
James Taylor and William Taylor, husbands of two of Mary's sisters, are identified in the account as being "of Mecklenburg". There is not such phrase associated in the account with the name Anthony, so it is believed that in 1776 he and Mary were living in Surry."
*******************************************************************************
James Taylor and William Taylor, brothers and sons of a Thomas Taylor, were from Mecklenburg County, where most of the Davis family would relocate. Maybe the Taylor brothers had convinced them to. William would marry Hannah Davis and James would marry the young widow, Rebecca Davis Tillman, the mother of Mary Tillman Floyd. There was a big event happening in Virginia at this time, the Revolutionary War.
Job was but a child during this time, but as he grew up during the War years, he would witness the activities of the adults and teens around him, and later the stories overheard from the soldiers who returned. One of those soldiers was Josiah Floyd, who would marry a granddaughter of Henry Davis, Mary Tillman Floyd. On March 10, 1839, Job, now 66 years old, would give a deposition as to his knowledge of the military service of Josiah Floyd, who had passed away on November 29, 1828. Josiah, born in 1759, had left Mary a widow, and she had applied for relief from his pension due her.
From this document, seen above, we get much of the personal information we know about Job Davis. One of the most limerant moments in my genealogical quests was the epiphany of beholding the actual signature of my ancestor born in long ago 1773, on this document, seen above. That I could actually behold the personal scrawl of this man born nearly 200 years before I was, was simply awe inducing. As ancient text is not easy read, I will attempt my one transcription below.
State of North Carolina, Montgomery County (Stanly was not founded until 1841),
Be it known that before me Solomon Efird one of the judges of the court of Pleas and Quarters Sessions appeared Jobe Davis and after being duly sworn according to law doth on his oath State that he was raised in Mecklenburg County state of Virginia born the 10th day of April 1773 and that Josiah Floyd resided in Brunswick County joining Mecklenburg County that he became personally acquainted with said Floyd about four years after the close of the War and he was then Married and I came to the above county with said Floyd 45 years past and I resided with him eighteen months. My long acquaintance with him I have often heard him speak of his services in the revolutionary war that he served seven tours of duty either Volunteer or acts as Substitute he states that he cannot recall the length of each tour but states that it could not been less than three months that he does not recall dates or his officers names except Daniel Waggner& he believes his service of the Militia of said Floyd was considered a man of Credit & I considered him the same the above in as far as he now recollects that I believe that Josiah Floyd died the 2nd of November, 1828.
That Mary Floyd now claiming pension for the services of her husband in the revolution is now deranged & has been so for seven years past & is not capable of filing a declaration that I have resided in two miles of Mary Floyd 23 years, I have no recollection of date of the service of Josiah Floyd in the revolution given and subscribed this 27th day of March 1839- Jobe Davis
S. Efird #
In this deposition Job tells us when he arrived at the Rocky River and with whom he arrived with, living with the family for 18 months and being a neighbor of two miles distance for 23 years. I was intrigued by the spelling of Job including an 'e' at the end, Jobe. I also emphasized the word 'raised', that he stated instead of the word "born", because I now wonder if he may have been born in another county and brought to Mecklenburg as a very small child, where he was raised.
In the same document is a full list of the children of Josiah and Mary Floyd living in 1839, William, Ann, Henry, James, Eliza, Joseph, Sarah, John, Marriott, and Martha.
As mentioned earlier, Job Davis did not only own property along the Rocky River in Stanly County (earlier Montgomery), but also bought property in Anson and Cumberland Counties.
The above is an excerpt from the Will of Phillip Lynch. In the estate division, he mentioned properties adjoining Job Davis, Thomas Avett (married Ancena Winfield) and Edward Winfield, another of Job's brothers-in-laws. Phillip Lynch was also a neighbor of a man named Joshua Davis who married a Hogan. Wondering if this Joshua was a possible relative of Job's, I've looked into him, and into the Lynch family, and don't find any connection at all with Job's family or other close associates. They were simply two people with the same surname who lived in the same general area, in about the same time frame.
Cumberland
The following deed is from Cumberland County, North Carolina. During Job Davis's productive years, Fayetteville, NC, formerly Cross Creek, and renamed in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, whose 1825 visit was a very big deal in the region, was a center of trade in North Carolina. The region's largest inland port at the time, due to its advantageous location along the Cape Fear River, it was a banking center, as well as a social and trade center.
The above deed is one of the shorter ones involving Job Davis in Cumberland County. Dated September 18, 1844, between Job and his stepson, John W. Howell, Job sells to John one half of a parcel of land situated in the town of Fayetteville, on the south side of Hay Street at the foot of Haymount. Beginning at the intersection of Hay Street and the arched alley in the row of Brick Buildings on the south side of Hay Street, to the partition of the Brick house, being Lot #4 in the deed of William Moore, trustee for F. J. Redfield of the Town of Petersburg. After all the legal jargon, it was signed by Job and witnesses by his two younger sons, Edward and Marriott Davis.
These two little boys were small children when Job married their mother. They were well educated, obviously loved dearly and set up to succeed in life. While Peter, the eldest, stepped in both his biological and stepfathers' footsteps to become a Planter, Jordan and John Winfield were businessmen. The ads for Jordan's Mercantile can be found in The Fayetteville Observer, an early North Carolina newspaper. John W. Howell chose to be a lumberman and landlord. The longest lived of the two, John was noted as a kind and good man, and both became fairly wealthy in their time in Fayetteville, helped on their way by their parents, Job and Sarah Davis.
Jordan Howell, the second born, married Hannah Handy, a widow from New York, and was the father of three children who made it to adulthood. A son, Edward, seems to have died young. The surviving son, Jordan Lafayette Howell, was apprenticed to Jordan's business partner, Paris Tillinghast, and moved with him to Columbus, Georgia, where he became a businessman in his father's footsteps. The daughters, Charlotte and Clarissa, moved to the Stanly County farm of their grandparents, Job and Sarah Davis. Oldest daughter, Charlotte, met a businessman and planter from Davidson County, who had dealings in Stanly County, Allen D. Newsome. They raised a large family in Jackson Hill, in southern Davidson County, where Allen was Postmaster, Merchant, Planter and sometimes lawman. Charlotte died in Gonzalez, Texas, after following one of her sons there. Youngest daughter, Clarissa, married a Rocky River boy, Jeremiah Broadway. They lived in Burnsville, Anson County, before moving to Pike County, Alabama, where Jeremiah lost Clarissa and one son, Edward, to illness. He then joined his brother-in-law, Jordan Lafayette Howell, in Columbus, Georgia and remarried.
John W. Howell married a wealthy widow from Connecticut, Clarissa Harlow Phelps Pearce, widow of Nathan Pearce. John Winfield Howell died in 1854, and his stepson, John Wesley Pearce was the executor of his estate.
The above grant from Stanly County, shows 100 acres for Job Davis, I call the "Four Grant", because it resembles a blocky number 4. It was on the Waters of Rocky River and joined the land of son E.W. Davis, "formerly William Nash's land", a cousin. It also joined "Jerry Broadway's" land, which referred to Jeremiah Broadway, who married Clarissa Winfield, showing him as a neighbor, who also had land near Job Davis. Chain Carriers were Job's son 'Merritt F. Davis" and neighbor, Lewis Brown.
Also in 1844, the same year that Job would be transferring property in Cumberland County over to his stepson, my guess being his and Sarah's advancing age, both at 68 by then, and the rough stagecoach ride it would have taken to arrive there and back, the below road orders were taking place.
"Ordered by the Court that Marit F. Davis be appointed overseer of the road from the Widow Parham to Rocky River and that Henry Davis's hands, E. W. Davis, Job Davis's hands, Ludwell Carpenter's hands, + James M. Davis & hands work as hands on said Road." To my understanding and review, this may have been the beginnings of the Old Davis Road. Ludwell Carpenter is also an ancestor of mine, which makes sense as he and his family were longtime neighbors of the Davis family. The Carpenter Cemetery lies at the end of a brief dead-end road off of Old Davis Road. The Davis family cemetery is less than one quarter of a mile away. I don't know who the Widow Parham might have been.
In another road order...
"Ordered by the court that Joseph T. Floyd be appointed overseer of the Road from Rocky River to the fork at Ben Murrays and that Job Davis's hands, Merriott F. Davis and hands, James Floyd's hands, Shelby Carpenter Josiah Aldridge, Lud Carpenters hands Doctor Carpenter and Benjamin Murray work as hands on said Road.
Mentioned within this one are two of Josiah and Mary Floyds son, Joseph and James, Ludwell Carpenter and two of his sons, Job Davis and one of his sons and some members of the family that one of Jobs grandsons, and my second Great Grandfather would marry into: Josiah Aldridge, whose brother, Garner, would marry a sister of Benjamin Murray, mentioned above. As Ben Murray lived just south of Aquadale and the old Rehobeth Church was built on his property, I believe this road would be what is now known as "Plank Road" and the fork would be the Winfield Road, with one path leading west towards Big Lick and the other north toward Albemarle, or Smith's Store in 1844.
In the above deed, dated 1845, Job is in the process of thinning out his holdings, like he did with his stepson in Cumberland the year before, and this time to his three youngest sons. Oldest son Henry had moved closer to the County Seat being developed at this time. Henry was quickly developing a problem with alcohol and within a decade would go from a county founder, religious leader in the community, a judge and state senate candidate to be legally declared an idiot, or incapacitated person, and his younger brother taking over his affairs to ensure his wife and minor children were cared for. Perhaps by 1845, Henry had already received all the property from his father he would get and was probably indebted to his father and family. Job wanted to make sure all of his family was taken care of before he passed on. He was a conscientious and caring parent.
Job's Will is the next document to give us a glimpse into the kind of man that was Job Davis. Dated March 2, 1852, only eight months before he passed away, we can see the health of the nearly 79-year-old man getting worse, and he with a knowledge that his time upon the earth was drawing to an end. Much of it was the traditional jargon, or etymology of the legal documents of the time. But there were personal touches that give us a peek at the tired old man of faith and fatherhood, morals and justice.
" In the name of God Amen, I Job Davis of the State of North Carolina Stanly County 2nd Day March 1852, being of sound mind and knowing that all flesh dies, and I hope to go to heaven after death, I set to write last Will. I leave this place to my wife as long as she lives and every thing every thing she all household and kitchen, shop and tools within to be sold, all cattle, hogs, all horse and nothing sold without her consent. I leave her Dennis, Jim and Jack and Nance, and Harriett and Betty, all the rest be divided and Neddy take two parts to pay what he was out with Henry. James, Merriott Davis see to that their out to be compelled to give them little or much but to see to it if same as their own children."
I could be wrong, but I took this last part to mean that he wished for his three younger sons to treat the children of Henry as fairly as they would their own children and ensure that they have a part in the proceeds of the sale of his remaining possessions.
Later in the Will, he sets up the division of the portions of the property he wants each of the three youngest sons to have. He also reveals that there was a Meeting House, or Church, on his plantation, and he devises a cut out of 4 acres of land for a grave yard, or cemetery, "at Old Meeting", which I take to mean near the Meeting House, or church, giving us a general idea of where the Meeting House was, as the cemetery still exists.
After Job's signature, is a brief addendum, "Neddy Merriott and this plantation must have privilege Nash and Cagle place and get timber to support her this plantation and Nashes and all the lands out there. "
Signed Headley Thomas and ___ Brooks
"Job Davis Will Continued
This land where I live worth 1 thousand 4 hundred dollars and where Merriott Davis lives 6 hundred both tracts 2 thousand dollars and they must get timber if they need from Nash's land and elsewhere J. Davis."
Job was very concerned about timber rights and also seemed to be distrusting that this property would be undervalued, so he listed his own evaluations in his will.
Job's Will was brought to Court in the February Session of 1863 on the oaths of Headley Thomas and Alex Brooks. These two were odd choices, in my observations, as Alex Brooks was a young man from the western part of the county, and Headley Thomas was from Olive Branch in Union County. Neddie Davis gave a $4000 bond to receive the letters of Administration with Eben Hearne and David Kendall as his Securities. None of these men were relatives, except Neddie, of course, who was the dominant son. There's always that one child in a bunch, who is the 'take charge' person despite their birth order. For the Davis brothers, that was E. W. Davis. Eben Hearne and Davis Kendall were friends of Neddie, but the other two, Thomas and Brooks, came out of nowhere.
After the Will comes the Probate of the Estate and the Divisions among heirs. These can give a great deal of genealogical information for those searching. Be prepared for the ones that predate 1865, as those can be quite disconcerting. Job Davis was a Planter, with considerable, but not ostentatious, properties. It should be no surprise that he was also a Slave Holder. As with the founding fathers, it can be difficult to mesh all of the good that they had done, or the offset morality they held themselves to, with this aspect of their lives and who they were as men. It can be best explained that they were men of their times. A child born into a society where people were owned would not grow up to consider that a wrong or abnormal thing. It would have to be brought to them by an outside influence, or thinker, before they could see the evil in their lifestyle. That would come, but not in Job's lifetime. He was a man of his time.
Job has already willed six people to his wife, Sarah; Dennis, Jack, Jim, Nance, Harriett and Betty. In this portion of the Estate Division, the remaining slaves are divided among the four sons. Values were places on each person based upon their age, gender, skills and health. Young, strong, older teens and young adults were valued most. The aged and the very young, the least. These records are hurtful treasure to persons of African descent trying to trace their heritage back as far as they can. As this document was from 1853, most of the names of these people will pop up in the 1870 census, and even in land records, and will help us to see who was related to each to other, and even where they had moved from, by following the trails of the people they lived with.
The enslaved people were divided in Lots, for each son.
1st Lot
Drury $400
Lucy $200
Charles $900
Martha $800
John - Nance's son $700
Anna $450
Drawn by Henry Davis
2nd Lot
Green $ 800
Fanny & Eliza $600
Clarissa $550
Ben $800
Drawn by James M. Davis
3rd Lot
Bob $700
Mary & Rosetta $750
Dockery $350
Liz $500
John Mary's son $530..
Daniel $650
Drawn by EdwardW. Davis
Wiley $700
Charlotte & Isabella $900
Columbus $350
Maria $450
Austin $600
Frank $300
Drawn by Merriott F. Davis
There would be balances of value afterwards, but altogether, Job left 31 people to his wife and sons. Some of these, we know, came from Virginia, from the later census records, either with Job or the Winfields. Most had probably been born during the 58 years he had been in North Carolina. Some may have came from other places and ended up with the Davis family. What we do know is that after the War, some property was allotted to each head of a family, like Dennis, Jack, Ben, and Green, where they remained in the community that would come to be known as Davis, with it's own Meeting House and school.
As Henry was incapable of running his own affairs in a manner that would adequately provide for his family, some conditions were made on his allotment. His share was given to Neddie for guardianship and control reasons, "for the use and benefit of Henry Davis and his family". The balance of the sale or price of Henry's share was to be used after deductions. He owed $1927.20 to a Company or Partnership called "C. M. E." and the amount he owed to brother Jim to balance out the inequalities in value allotted. This left a balance of $1391.53 for the care of Henry and his family, which was nothing to sneeze at in 1852, about $60,000.
It was 1855 before the sale of Henry's share of the estate was finalized and brought before a committee consisting of Eben Hearne, J. F. Stone and J. Crump. What this tells me about the character of Job Davis is that while he was aware of his eldest sons' shortcomings, he was a loving father who wanted to ensure his ailing son and his grandchildren by him were not left out in the cold, and while allowing that his son was not able to oversee his own inheritance.
The Inventory of Job's Estate can not only give us a glimpse into the kind of things an estate from that era held, but a look at who was in the neighborhood at the time, even if from a distance away. It's of interest to me, as several of the people who lived near the Davis Plantation are also my ancestors, due to the intermarriage of later generations.
Cash on hand was $87.50 and afterwards is listed notes of money owed Job and therefore, his estate.
Caleb Aldridge was also one of my fourth Great Grandfathers, as Job's grandson would marry Caleb's granddaughter. He owed $20.84.
Lewis Brown, a longtime neighbor, owed $13.80.
Of course, Henry owed his father the most, a sum of $61.94.
Benjamin Hudson is an odd name to find among these, as he lived in Anson County. This is a family I've looked into for a long-time, but not put the findings out anywhere, not yet, because they're not written in stone, but Benjamin Hudson was the brother of Stanly County resident Joshua Hudson of Ugly Creek, who lived a long life and sired a huge brood. Both were sons of Joshua Hudson, Sr., who died a young man in Anson County. There are records of the children of Ben stating that they remembered visiting their uncle, Joshua, in Stanly County.
Other names were Alexander Foreman, Kimball Cooper, Jeremiah Broadway, (who had married Sarah's Granddaughter, Clarrissa), George Kimra (Kimrey), Celia Easley, ( a free woman of color from Cottonville, she has quite a story of her own), Edmund Coley (who also went by Edmund Murray, a son of Ben Murray) and Josiah Aldridge, the younger son of Caleb Aldridge.
The inventory of items to sell show that Job was a well-read an devoutly religious man. Among his possessions were: One Large Family Bible (boy do I wish I knew where that ended up), Two Volumes of Wesley's Notes, One on Methodist Conferences, One Volume of Wesley Hymnals, One on Potters Justice, one of the Life of Garrison, one Family Advisor, a book on the Life of Benjamin Abbott, one called The Experience of Methodist Preachers, a volume of Wesley's Sermons, a Walkers Dictionary, a large Hymnal and a small Hymn Book. I would say this was a Weslyn Methodist man and over 100 years later, the church I was raised in by my Davis family was the local Wesleyan Methodist Church. When we laid my Uncle Douglas Davis to rest a little over a month ago, the funeral was at the same church. The influence of Job Davis carried on for generations.
The Inventory list of Jobs items was lengthy and showed he had collected enough worldly goods to conduct a large farming operation. He had a mill, a cotton gin, and many implements for the harvesting and processing of cotton, which tells me that was his largest crop, and what he sent to Fayetteville to sell. He also had large lots of vegetables like peas, and some grains. He only kept enough animals to care for his household, having 4 horses, 12 adult cows, 2 yearlings and 2 calves, 11 sheep and lambs, but they must have ate a great deal of pork, as he had 40 head of hogs. They may have hunted Wild Boar along the Rocky River, too, as I can attest, there are still Wild Boar roaming the old Davis lands along the Rocky River, because we've been witness to a parade of them, all sizes, while down there walking the old property. And a few decades ago, at least, the remains of a large, two-story stable still stood, dilapidated, on a wish and a prayer, covered in vines.
This portion of the Will names the thirty plus people left to the Widow, Sarah.
Sarah Winfield Howell Davis would follow her loving husband to the grave on July 10, 1856, just four years after his passing. Her own Will, shown below, was definitely written with a mother's touch.
My transcription:
"In the name of God Amen
I, Sarah Davis of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina being far advanced in Life but of sound and disposing mind and memory do make ordain and publish this my last will and testament in the manner following to wit:
First I will my soul to God who gave it and my body to the earth from whence it came to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner by my Executor who I shall hereafter appoint.
Secondly I give and bequeath to my beloved son Edward Winfield Davis the following negroes namely Jim Dennis Jack Nancy Harriett Sarah Betty and George to be his absolute property to all intents and purposes. Third it is my will wish and desire in consideration of the above bequest made to my son E. W. Davis that he pay to my beloved son Peter Howell the sum of one hundred dollars and that he also pay to my beloved daughter Charlotte Stancil one hundred dollars and to my beloved Granddaughter Sarah Elizabeth _______(eldest daughter of Levi and Charlotte Stancill) fifty dollars and to my Beloved Grandson Benjamin Franklin Davis fifty dollars and to my beloved granddaughter Nancy Davis fifty dollars and to my beloved...
Sarah Davis Will Continued
son Merit F Davis one hundred dollars and to my beloved son James M. Davis one hundred dollars and to my beloved son Henry Davis one hundred dollars to be held by the said E. W. Davis as trustee for Henry Davis, the interest and profits arising from the same to be paid over to him as the occasion may require or at the discretion of the said trustee.
Fourth, I appoint my son E. W. Davis my lawful Executor to execute this my last wil land testament and I the said Sarah Davis do hereby revoke disclaim and disown all wills heretofore made by me and I do make ordain and establish this to be my last will and testament. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this 24th day of January AD 1853."
The Will was signed by Sarah and witnesses by J.F. Stone and John Brown, men who were attorneys and Magistrates of the County. Sarah's will was made a year after Job's death and three years before her own. It was probated in the August Sessions of 1856.
Sarah gives the impression of a loving mother, who cared for her entire family, even her wayward boy, Henry. She included all six of her surviving children. Oddly, she had survived her two sons who had settled in Fayetteville, Jordan and John Winfield Howell. Maybe the waters of the Cape Fear River were not so healthy in those days.
The man who was Job Davis was a deeply reverent, and well read servant of the Lord. A Methodist Episcopal, he comes across as a fair and loving father. Despite being a slaveholder, as was the custom for men of his wealth and status for the day, I can't see evidence of him being other than a kind and Christian man, as far as Christian edicts went with the status he held in society.
He had arrived at the area as a very young man and had something in hand at that time to start with. He was a caring father to both his stepchildren and his own four sons. He transferred property to the oldest son of Richard Howell, Peter, who was Job's stepson, as soon as he felt the boy was old enough to start with a tract of his own. He financed his next two stepsons to start businesses in Fayetteville. He shared his good fortune equally between his own four sons, while understanding the obvious shortcomings of his eldest.
He was a good neighbor and a good citizen. He helped build roads and made loans to needy neighbors
This concludes the story of the life of Job Davis, but the big question remained, Where did he come from and who were his parents? That question was the Holy Grail of my entire genealogical quest. It began with him and has never ended. He told us when and where he was born, but unless that "Big Family Bible" turns up, the rest remains a journey.
