As promised, here is the update to the chapter on Willis Davis:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/vzqecn0ydjwy35k/Willis%20Davis.pdf?dl=0
Wednesday, February 7, 2018
Monday, February 5, 2018
Travel Update
Thanks to the holidays, it has been a while since I last posted to this blog. I have updated the Willis Davis chapter, and will post the update once we are somewhere with better cell coverage, as I need to do some additional edits before doing so.
Recent changes to the Affordable Care Act have prompted us to reconsider the nomadic lifestyle that we have enjoyed for the past two and a half years. Last year we had high deductible insurance, with a maximum out-of-pocket expense of a bit more than $7,000. For this year, the same policy has a slightly higher deductible, but the policy now differentiates between in-network cover and out-of-network coverage. Now, the slightly higher deductible only applies in-network, which is generally most of Southern Idaho. Everywhere else, our deductible is $40,000, with a max out of pocket of $70,000. We are healthy enough that we aren't likely to need to use that much health insurance while outside of Idaho, but it simply isn't worth the risk. After all, the purpose of insurance is supposed to be to minimize the need to take such risks...
(So much for the campaign promise of better health insurance, from the man who doesn't seem to understand the difference between health insurance and life insurance...)
Thus, we plan to be closer to Idaho for the next few years, while we wait for Medicare eligibility, at which point we will once again be untethered from health insurance concerns. As a result, we will be moving into a rental property that we have there, which we plan to extensively remodel. That means that book research will necessarily go on hold while we are in the midst of that.
As noted in an earlier post, the thought of indexing the book in its current state is a daunting and very unpleasant thought. So, at some point, I will split the book into either two or four volumes.
The two volume option would be to basically take the descendancy lists out of the main volume, and put them in a volume of their own. It would still be a very considerable task to provide a full name index, mostly because there are many, many folks with the same given and surnames. So making it clear which individual was being indexed would be rather onerous. A sub-option would be simply not to index the volume, but I'm not too keen on that option.
The four volume option would be to remove the descendancy lists from the main volume, and to create separate volumes for the descendants of Willis Davis, Aaron Davis and James Davis. I am leaning more towards this option at present. Indexing would be vastly simpler, and time could be spent on improving those volumes in different ways.
The big advantage of this option would be that I wouldn't need to complete all the volumes at the same time. It would also make it more practical to consider including some of the many historic photos of the descendants of these men, making them essentially photo albums of our distant ancestors, all correctly labeled and available publicly, where future descendants can find and enjoy them.
Of course I have direct control of only a handful of photos for my own Davis line, so most of the photos would need to come from the collections of other researchers. If any of you have any thoughts on this subject, please share them.
By the way, we are once again on the road, and are currently near the Florida Panhandle. We will head due west once we get to the north end of the Gulf of Mexico. When we get to New Mexico we will head northward through Utah to Idaho. Our plan is to arrive in Idaho by the first of April.
Recent changes to the Affordable Care Act have prompted us to reconsider the nomadic lifestyle that we have enjoyed for the past two and a half years. Last year we had high deductible insurance, with a maximum out-of-pocket expense of a bit more than $7,000. For this year, the same policy has a slightly higher deductible, but the policy now differentiates between in-network cover and out-of-network coverage. Now, the slightly higher deductible only applies in-network, which is generally most of Southern Idaho. Everywhere else, our deductible is $40,000, with a max out of pocket of $70,000. We are healthy enough that we aren't likely to need to use that much health insurance while outside of Idaho, but it simply isn't worth the risk. After all, the purpose of insurance is supposed to be to minimize the need to take such risks...
(So much for the campaign promise of better health insurance, from the man who doesn't seem to understand the difference between health insurance and life insurance...)
Thus, we plan to be closer to Idaho for the next few years, while we wait for Medicare eligibility, at which point we will once again be untethered from health insurance concerns. As a result, we will be moving into a rental property that we have there, which we plan to extensively remodel. That means that book research will necessarily go on hold while we are in the midst of that.
As noted in an earlier post, the thought of indexing the book in its current state is a daunting and very unpleasant thought. So, at some point, I will split the book into either two or four volumes.
The two volume option would be to basically take the descendancy lists out of the main volume, and put them in a volume of their own. It would still be a very considerable task to provide a full name index, mostly because there are many, many folks with the same given and surnames. So making it clear which individual was being indexed would be rather onerous. A sub-option would be simply not to index the volume, but I'm not too keen on that option.
The four volume option would be to remove the descendancy lists from the main volume, and to create separate volumes for the descendants of Willis Davis, Aaron Davis and James Davis. I am leaning more towards this option at present. Indexing would be vastly simpler, and time could be spent on improving those volumes in different ways.
The big advantage of this option would be that I wouldn't need to complete all the volumes at the same time. It would also make it more practical to consider including some of the many historic photos of the descendants of these men, making them essentially photo albums of our distant ancestors, all correctly labeled and available publicly, where future descendants can find and enjoy them.
Of course I have direct control of only a handful of photos for my own Davis line, so most of the photos would need to come from the collections of other researchers. If any of you have any thoughts on this subject, please share them.
By the way, we are once again on the road, and are currently near the Florida Panhandle. We will head due west once we get to the north end of the Gulf of Mexico. When we get to New Mexico we will head northward through Utah to Idaho. Our plan is to arrive in Idaho by the first of April.
Friday, November 24, 2017
Aaron Davis' son, Jahu Davis
I've finally finished the section for Jahu (Jehu, Jahue, etc) Davis, whom most people find mis-identified in public records as John Davis. The bulk of his descendants are from his son, Thomas Anderson Davis, though three of his daughters are known to have also started families.
Rather than creating a PDF of just the section for Jahu Davis, I have made one for the entire Aaron Davis Chapter:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppstqvhbe33vefp/Aaron%20Davis.pdf?dl=0
Thus, there are some minor changes to the three earlier sections that I had produced for this chapter.
At some point I will reformat the book so that only a few generations of descendants are included. When I do that, I will create a second volume that includes only the descendancy lists for the three Davis families. A big reason for doing this is because indexing the book with the number of people that it currently includes will be a nightmare. So the plan is to include a full name index for the first volume and probably no index for the second volume (that really is a decision for later in the process, so who knows what will actually happen?).
Rather than creating a PDF of just the section for Jahu Davis, I have made one for the entire Aaron Davis Chapter:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppstqvhbe33vefp/Aaron%20Davis.pdf?dl=0
Thus, there are some minor changes to the three earlier sections that I had produced for this chapter.
At some point I will reformat the book so that only a few generations of descendants are included. When I do that, I will create a second volume that includes only the descendancy lists for the three Davis families. A big reason for doing this is because indexing the book with the number of people that it currently includes will be a nightmare. So the plan is to include a full name index for the first volume and probably no index for the second volume (that really is a decision for later in the process, so who knows what will actually happen?).
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Aaron Davis' Daughter, Elizabeth (Davis) Henson
I actually had finished the re-write of this section of the Aaron Davis chapter at the same time as I had done the previous section, but figured it was best not to put both sections out at the same time.
Most of this section was done after I subscribed to Newspapers.com, so the listings are a bit more detailed and the citations are somewhat abbreviated. I've decided to include living people, but generally do not provide birth and death information after the mid-1940s or so.
You might have noticed in the previous section that I have added chapter name headers to each chapter, making it clear (if a single page is printed) that these are descendants of, for instance, Aaron Davis. I had also re-titled the book to The First Davis Family of Jackson County, Illinois, but have since changed it back to the original title because Nathan and Clement Davis had also arrived in Jackson County around 1808 or so. Thus it is not possible to determine which family arrived first.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9o55ikzo05t4cr7/Elizabeth%20Davis%20Henson.pdf?dl=0
Since printing the above I've improved the newspaper citations, so that it is as easy as possible to find the right newspaper and zoom in on the information of interest. I've also started replacing the citations Find A Grave bios and obits with the same information from a specific newspaper, where possible.
Descendant surnames in this section:
Shrewsberry, Lynch, Bartlett, Vollmer, Mattingly, Fry, Drumtra, Morris, Elmore, Callahan, Isom, Aselmeier, Davis, Mills, Zitta, Blumyer, Goehl, King, Bouck, Evans, Keck, Riseling, Patterson, Lancey, Tweedy, Will, Treadway, Stanford, Overstreet, Whisler, Talbot, Williamson, Wright, Bowman, Cairns, Philp, Bowers, Crisler, Bagley, Levan, Borgsmiller, Imhoff, Shannon, Vancil, Hanna, Eatherly, Carden, Smith, Morgan, Popejoy, Klein, Anderson, Miller, McBride, Thompson, Hamblen, Kessel, Rohlfing, Enders, Moeller, Tope, Heiple, Bryant, Fuhrhop, Summers, Weseloh, Morrow.
Most of this section was done after I subscribed to Newspapers.com, so the listings are a bit more detailed and the citations are somewhat abbreviated. I've decided to include living people, but generally do not provide birth and death information after the mid-1940s or so.
You might have noticed in the previous section that I have added chapter name headers to each chapter, making it clear (if a single page is printed) that these are descendants of, for instance, Aaron Davis. I had also re-titled the book to The First Davis Family of Jackson County, Illinois, but have since changed it back to the original title because Nathan and Clement Davis had also arrived in Jackson County around 1808 or so. Thus it is not possible to determine which family arrived first.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/9o55ikzo05t4cr7/Elizabeth%20Davis%20Henson.pdf?dl=0
Since printing the above I've improved the newspaper citations, so that it is as easy as possible to find the right newspaper and zoom in on the information of interest. I've also started replacing the citations Find A Grave bios and obits with the same information from a specific newspaper, where possible.
Descendant surnames in this section:
Shrewsberry, Lynch, Bartlett, Vollmer, Mattingly, Fry, Drumtra, Morris, Elmore, Callahan, Isom, Aselmeier, Davis, Mills, Zitta, Blumyer, Goehl, King, Bouck, Evans, Keck, Riseling, Patterson, Lancey, Tweedy, Will, Treadway, Stanford, Overstreet, Whisler, Talbot, Williamson, Wright, Bowman, Cairns, Philp, Bowers, Crisler, Bagley, Levan, Borgsmiller, Imhoff, Shannon, Vancil, Hanna, Eatherly, Carden, Smith, Morgan, Popejoy, Klein, Anderson, Miller, McBride, Thompson, Hamblen, Kessel, Rohlfing, Enders, Moeller, Tope, Heiple, Bryant, Fuhrhop, Summers, Weseloh, Morrow.
Thursday, November 16, 2017
Aaron Davis' daughter, Matilda Priscilla (Davis) Bradshaw
This section of the chapter on Aaron Davis has taken a while to work through, mainly because of the depth of research necessary to try to make sense of Eliza Evaline Bradshaw (daughter of John and Matilda Priscilla [Davis] Bradshaw) and her marriages to Henry Painter and Joseph Victor Glodo. The result of that effort is somewhat speculative, but I believe I am on far more solid ground than speculation that has been done by others. And I suspect that whoever in the future pays to get a copy of Joseph Victor Glodo, Sr.'s Civil War pension application will likely find that I am correct in most, if not all, important details.
So here is the link to the recent draft of the section about Matilda Priscilla (Davis) Bradshaw:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0hs4w3s2ifbamhh/Matilda%20Priscilla%20Davis%20Bradshaw.pdf?dl=0
Note that the citations in this section are a bit too detailed, and I will likely pare them down the next time I review it. In the next section that I am working on (Elizabeth [Davis] Henson), the citations are pretty much limited to those that prove a family connection, and even some minor connections are not cited.
Also, I recently subscribed to Newspapers.com, so some of the citations for this section will eventually be replaced with newspaper citations.
Descendant surnames for this section include:
Woodward, Dorway, Layne, Gillooly, Sloan, Claussen, Herring, Ledbetter, Sanders, Paulus, Tucker, Cattoor, Pinkston, Cornwell, Friedemann, Kessler, Reeves, Prater, Fry, Harasek, Bradshaw, Craig, Carmack, Lee, Fly, Bateman, Balling, Hill, Danback, Douthitt, Painter, Glodo, Sickmeier, Speis, Whelchel, Callahan, Guetersloh, Heeszel, Gannon, Ogle, Todd, Morgan, Carter, Hawkins, Kueker, Holcomb, Richardson, Brown, Cuttill, Mason, Ralls, Holderfield, Flood, Jelley, Cochran, Gola, Querling, Hagemier, Verble, Fricke, Stewart, Kilby, Hodge, Schuenke, Burcham, Maciejewski, Daniels, Spearhouse, Dunn, Reeder, Rogers, Cox, Thurman, Phelps, and Gasawski.
It is probably worth noting our current situation. As most of you know, Alea and I have spent the past two+ years traveling around the U.S., camping in our 12' Camp Inn teardrop trailer. For the winter (from now through at least February) we will be camping within 100 miles or so of Orlando, Florida. Most of the time we will have decent cell reception, which is necessary for me to continue to research and write the book. But that won't always be the case, and at times camping conditions will be far from favorable for making much progress. So I will continue to plug away at it, but don't be surprised if the pace of progress varies considerably.
So here is the link to the recent draft of the section about Matilda Priscilla (Davis) Bradshaw:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0hs4w3s2ifbamhh/Matilda%20Priscilla%20Davis%20Bradshaw.pdf?dl=0
Note that the citations in this section are a bit too detailed, and I will likely pare them down the next time I review it. In the next section that I am working on (Elizabeth [Davis] Henson), the citations are pretty much limited to those that prove a family connection, and even some minor connections are not cited.
Also, I recently subscribed to Newspapers.com, so some of the citations for this section will eventually be replaced with newspaper citations.
Descendant surnames for this section include:
Woodward, Dorway, Layne, Gillooly, Sloan, Claussen, Herring, Ledbetter, Sanders, Paulus, Tucker, Cattoor, Pinkston, Cornwell, Friedemann, Kessler, Reeves, Prater, Fry, Harasek, Bradshaw, Craig, Carmack, Lee, Fly, Bateman, Balling, Hill, Danback, Douthitt, Painter, Glodo, Sickmeier, Speis, Whelchel, Callahan, Guetersloh, Heeszel, Gannon, Ogle, Todd, Morgan, Carter, Hawkins, Kueker, Holcomb, Richardson, Brown, Cuttill, Mason, Ralls, Holderfield, Flood, Jelley, Cochran, Gola, Querling, Hagemier, Verble, Fricke, Stewart, Kilby, Hodge, Schuenke, Burcham, Maciejewski, Daniels, Spearhouse, Dunn, Reeder, Rogers, Cox, Thurman, Phelps, and Gasawski.
It is probably worth noting our current situation. As most of you know, Alea and I have spent the past two+ years traveling around the U.S., camping in our 12' Camp Inn teardrop trailer. For the winter (from now through at least February) we will be camping within 100 miles or so of Orlando, Florida. Most of the time we will have decent cell reception, which is necessary for me to continue to research and write the book. But that won't always be the case, and at times camping conditions will be far from favorable for making much progress. So I will continue to plug away at it, but don't be surprised if the pace of progress varies considerably.
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
Aaron Davis' son, Andrew Jackson Davis
I am currently updating the chapter of the book for Aaron Davis and his descendants. Below is a link to the changes to the section about his son Andrew Jackson Davis. This section alone took about a week of working full time to update, so I decided that it would probably be best to post these smaller book section updates as I complete them, as opposed to waiting for full chapter updates. Aaron's chapter was the only chapter not fully updated in draft two, so I am hoping that the other chapters will be less time consuming to update (and I've already made quite a few changes to most other chapters). The PDF below uses revision marks - so it is clear what has been updated since the last draft and what hasn't. You will see that a very large portion of this section has been updated.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvw74kpr54htep6/Davis-Aaron-AndrewJ.pdf?dl=0
Hopefully one or more of you will have the time and inclination to review this and provide comments, suggestions, changes, deletions, additions, etc. For descendants who were born after 1940 I generally don't provide birth or death information, though I have included marriage information when I find a source for that.
Regarding source citations, I've tried to limit citations to the minimum necessary to prove the relationships between people. I generally won't source marriage records, except for licenses that list parents and other details.
I believe this is a fairly complete listing of Andrew Jackson Davis' descendants, though it is always possible that someone had moved out of state and has fallen through the cracks.
Descendant surnames in this section: Carter, Morgan, Gillespie, Blankenstein, Kasperzick, Asbury, Kuegler, Tucker, Chavaux, Dickhans, Sellers, Pobst, Mobley, Mabuce, Peterman, Hawn, Fishburn, Reed, Forbis, Criss, Robison, Zook, Bullinger, and Eakins.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xvw74kpr54htep6/Davis-Aaron-AndrewJ.pdf?dl=0
Hopefully one or more of you will have the time and inclination to review this and provide comments, suggestions, changes, deletions, additions, etc. For descendants who were born after 1940 I generally don't provide birth or death information, though I have included marriage information when I find a source for that.
Regarding source citations, I've tried to limit citations to the minimum necessary to prove the relationships between people. I generally won't source marriage records, except for licenses that list parents and other details.
I believe this is a fairly complete listing of Andrew Jackson Davis' descendants, though it is always possible that someone had moved out of state and has fallen through the cracks.
Descendant surnames in this section: Carter, Morgan, Gillespie, Blankenstein, Kasperzick, Asbury, Kuegler, Tucker, Chavaux, Dickhans, Sellers, Pobst, Mobley, Mabuce, Peterman, Hawn, Fishburn, Reed, Forbis, Criss, Robison, Zook, Bullinger, and Eakins.
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Moore and Cumberland Counties, NC
I spent the afternoon in Charlottesville, NC and completed my research of Cumberland County records. There was a record of Mathis and others living east of Governors Creek around 1786, which could have been in Cumberland County. But their deed indexes are online and there was no deed where Mathis sold that property. It could also have been in Harnett or Lee County, but the former only has land records from 1855 and the latter from 1908. So it looks as though land records are exhausted, unless I find a source for surveys related to land grants (I found online records for the grants, so I suspect the surveys are not available).
I found where Mathis Davis was involved in at least two lawsuits, one against the state of North Carolina. I suspect these were both settled in Moore County, where the records have been destroyed, so I won't pursue those.
I found no grantor deeds from Mathis, only grantee deeds. The former would likely have required the signature of his spouse, since she would have a dower interest in the property. If such a deed had shown that his wife's name was Martha, it would have been another brick in the foundation proving that he was the father of James, Aaron and Amos.
I found where Mathis Davis was involved in at least two lawsuits, one against the state of North Carolina. I suspect these were both settled in Moore County, where the records have been destroyed, so I won't pursue those.
I found no grantor deeds from Mathis, only grantee deeds. The former would likely have required the signature of his spouse, since she would have a dower interest in the property. If such a deed had shown that his wife's name was Martha, it would have been another brick in the foundation proving that he was the father of James, Aaron and Amos.
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