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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 257   View pdf image (33K)
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BIOGRAPHIES DAV

young; William (1763-?), who married Mary
Nichols. DAUGHTERS: Henney (1758-ca. 1787),
who married Josiah Dashiell (1746-1784); Pa-
tience (1761-?); and Jane (1765-?), who married
William Cottman. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION:
literate. RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, Step-
ney Parish, Somerset County. SOCIAL STATUS
AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., 1758; fourth generation
legislator. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: probably a
planter. PUBLIC CAREER. LEGISLATIVE SERVICE:
Lower House, Somerset County, 1768-1770. LO-
CAL OFFICES: sheriff, Somerset County, 1764-
1767; visitor for a free school that was to be
erected for Somerset and Worcester counties (to
be named Eden School), appointed 1770. WEALTH

DURING LIFETIME. LAND AT FIRST ELECTION.

426 acres in Somerset County (probably all inher-
ited). WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: between May 13
and August 26, 1771, in Somerset County. PER-
SONAL PROPERTY: TEV, £1,564.12.3 current
money (including 13 slaves); FB, £1,447.10.6.
LAND: ca. 426 acres in Somerset County.

DAVIDSON, JOHN (1754-1807). BORN: on June
21, 1754. IMMIGRATED: probably, if so, probably
from another colony before 1776. RESIDED, in
Anne Arundel County; in Annapolis, Anne Arun-
del County, from the late 1790s until at least 1801;
lived in the Adams-Kilty House on Charles Street,
Annapolis. MARRIED on October 2, 1796, Anne
Marie Luthall (Lutrell) (ca. 1775-1815), daughter
of Thomas Grason (?-by 1786). Her first cousin
was probably William Grason (ca. 1788-1868),
governor of Maryland from 1839 to 1842. CHIL-
DREN. SONS: John Thomas (?-1821), lieutenant,
Eleventh Regiment, U.S. Artillery, who died in St.
Augustine, Florida; Pinkney (1803-1821), who
died as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy,
West Point, New York. DAUGHTER: Ann Janette,
who married in 1821 William Montgomery Wa-
ters. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. RELI-
GIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican, St. Anne's Parish,
Annapolis. SOCIAL STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Esq.,
by 1784; Gent., by 1786. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
played the violin at Annapolis parties; director of
the Washington Tontine Company, 1806. OCCUPA-
TIONAL PROFILE: land speculator; owned a priva-
teer during the Revolution; officeholder. PUBLIC
CAREER. STATE OFFICES: naval officer, Third Dis-
trict, appointed 1777; Executive Council, 1783-
1784, 1784-1785, 1786-1787, 1787-1788, 1788-
1789, 1789-1790, 1790-1791, 1791-1792, 1792-
1793, 1793-1794, 1794-1795, 1795-1796, 1796-
1797, 1797-1798, 1798-1799, 1799-1800, 1800-
1801. LOCAL OFFICES: common councilman, An-

napolis, 1797-1799; churchwarden, St. Anne's
Parish, Anne Arundel County, in office, 1797; St.
Anne's Parish Vestry, Anne Arundel County, in
office 1798-1801; alderman, Annapolis, in office
1799, 1801-1805 (resigned); mayor, Annapolis,
1799-1800. MILITARY SERVICE: 2nd lieutenant,
Alien's Independent Maryland Company, 1776;
captain, Second Maryland Regiment, 1776; major,
Fifth Maryland Regiment, 1781-1783 (retired);
brigadier general, Eighth Brigade (Calvert and
Anne Arundel counties), Maryland Militia, 1794-
1795 (resigned). WEALTH DURING LIFETIME.
LAND AT FIRST ELECTION: at least 2,000 acres in
Anne Arundel and Baltimore counties. SIGNIFI-
CANT CHANGES IN LAND BETWEEN FIRST ELEC-
TION AND DEATH: purchased 829 acres of confis-
cated British property in Baltimore County in the
1780s and took out certificates of survey, but sold
the land before patenting it. Sold most of his other
Baltimore County land in 1786, and bought 235
acres in Montgomery County and a small amount
of acreage in Allegany County between 1794 and
1796. Acquired 250 acres in Queen Anne's County
by marriage, 1796. Took out certificates of survey
on more than 10,500 acres in Washington and Al-
legany counties in 1797. Was entitled to 400 acres
in Allegany County for his service in the Revolu-
tion. WEALTH AT DEATH. DIED: on February 2,
1807, in Baltimore County; buried in Annapolis
with full military honors. PERSONAL PROPERTY:
TEV, £1,622.10.8 current money (including 3
slaves, books, and paintings); FB, estate overpaid
£520.10.4. LAND, probably 522 acres in Anne
Arundel, Montgomery, and Allegany counties,
and at least 7,500 acres in un paten ted certificates,
plus houses leased out in Annapolis, Georgetown,
and Washington, D.C.

DAVIS, JOHN (?-1779). BORN: before 1710 when
he is described as a minor, probably in Queen An-
ne's County. NATIVE: at least second generation.
RESIDED: in Wye Hundred, Queen Anne's County.
FAMILY BACKGROUND. FATHER: John Davis (?-
1710), of Queen Anne's County, planter. MOTHER:
Anne. BROTHER: Thomas (?-1745), of Queen An-
ne's County, who married Elizabeth. SISTERS:
Ann; Mary; Rebeccah; and Hester. OTHER KIN-
SHIP: his brothers-in-law were Matthew Williams
and Daniel Walker. MARRIED first, before 1745
(name unknown). MARRIED second, by 1761 Mar-
garet, widow of John Alley (?-1756), of Queen
Anne's County. CHILDREN. SONS: Thomas, of age
by 1750; probably John, Jr. (?-1790), who married
by 1761 his probable stepsister Katherine Alley.
STEPSONS: John Alley, of age by 1761; William

257



 

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A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature 1635-1789 by Edward C. Papenfuse, et. al.
Volume 426, Page 257   View pdf image (33K)
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