Launcelot Davenport · Moore Family Stories

Launcelot Davenport

As far as we know, Launcelot was born in 1594-1998, in England.
He came on the ship, 'Duty', to the James River Colony in Virginia in 1617.
He came as a convict under a 20-year sentence.
Launcelot was sold as an indentured servant at Jamestown in 1617 for 20 years.
He was the servant of Edward Blaney. He completed the 20-years in 1638,
and then, he was granted a 50-acre tract of land to start his life with.

Launcelot was the first Davenport to settle in America - although it was involuntary.

The name of Launcelot Davenport appears in "The List of the Living in Virginia,"
which was made in the year 1623, following the great massacre of 1622.

The list places Launcelot Davenport "At James Citye and w(ith) the corporation
thereof at ye plantacon over ag(ainst) James Cittie,"

The next documented record of Launcelot Davenport is dated July 20, 1639, when he
received 50acres of land in James City County, "due for his personal adventure."
The land was located south of the James River, in what now is Surry County, Virginia.
He had sons, Davis and Martin.

Martin (Mart) Davenport -(16??-17??) born and died in Virginia
In 1704, Governor Francis Nicholson of Virginia required the sheriffs of Virginia
to make up "Quit Rent Rolls" for all the landowners in their counties.
Martin, Mart), owned land in both King William County and New Kent County.
His brother Davis owned land in King William County He had a son named Davis, also.

Davis Davenport -(ca 1650-ca 1730) born in Virginia and died in King William Co. Va.
He had a daughter and three sons.
One son, Thomas and his sons,( Davis' grandsons,) Thomas and Stephen, served in the
Georgia Line, during the Revolution War.
Thomas was granted 311 acres in King William County. December 13, 1714
It was near the Davis Davenport home.

One son, Richard, was granted 396 acres of land , Herring Branch, in Caroline County,.
Sept, 5,1752. It was near the old Davis Davenport home
The property was described as being on the old road from Chesterfield to Mangohick.
Richard had sons John, David, Absalom and Richard Jr

Richard Jr., removed to Albemarle County, Virginia.
There he was granted 400 acres of land on the south bank of Hardware River, in 1763,
and where he died in 1793. His will is recorded in Albemarle County

One of his sons was Charles Davenport.
He married Mary Marshall, sister of Chief Justice John Marshall.

President Thomas Jefferson and Chief Justice John Marshal were cousins.
President Jefferson, a Republican, so disliked Marshall, who was a Federalist,
that Jefferson referred to his cousin, John Marshall, as a "sorrow filled malignancy."
It was the demise of the Federalist party. And they were at odds over the power of the
Supreme Court. Marshall won, with an independent, and powerful Supreme Court, 1803

That decision led to the Supreme Court decision for the election of Pres. Bush in 2000.

Charles and Mary, and Charles' brother, John Davenport, removed to Abbeville, S. C.
(prior to 1790). Richard Jr. sons besides John and Charles were Joseph, Richard Jr,
William and Martin.

Davis Davenport and his son, Martin, were both on the "Quit Rent Rolls" of 1704 in
Virginia. Davis owned 200 acres, and his son Martin owned 100 acres. Their land was
between the North Anna, or Pamunkey River and the head of Herring Creek.
It was on about the line, of the later Caroline County

Davis is mentioned in the will of Martin, his son; in which "100 acres of land left to me
by my father, Davis Davenport", is passed on to Martin's son, William.
Davis had two other sons besides Martin; Thomas and Richard, and a daughter, also.

Martin Davenport -(c1675-1735) was born in King William County , Virginia He
died in Hanover County in Virginia. Land records of February 27, 1727 show
that he purchased 400 acres of new land on the South side of the North Anna River,
at the mouth of Little Rocky Creek. It was near the present town of Beaverdam, Virginia

A house, 'Springlevel' was built there before the Revolutionary War.
It was built on a 450 acre grant of land from the English Crown, to this Davenport family.
This locality came to be known as 'Davenports Ford' or 'Davenports Bridge'.
It is mentioned frequently in literature of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.
He and his wife, Dorothy had a daughter and six sons
One son, John married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Ballard Smith, one of central
Virginia's wealthy men. John owned a tavern and a small fortune in land and slaves. He
lost it in the depression of 1767, following the French War. His sons, John Smith,
Richard and William, bought land in Charlotte County Virginia, they prospered there.

John Smith Davenport served in the 7th Virginia regiment under Col. Daniel Morgan.
He received a mortal wound at the battle of Guilford Courthouse.
His widow married Henry Burnley and moved with his and John Smith Davenport's
children, to Hancock County, Georgia, soon after the Revolutionary War.

A grandson, John Smith Davenport-Byrom,
was one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence in 1836.

Richard Davenport, son of Martin, was drafted into the Virginia Militia.
He was in the battle of Canden, N.C. in which Gates was defeated.
And was in the battle of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of Cornwallis.
He was a sergeant in the Virginia Line.
He died May 7, 1833 in Charlotte County, Virginia, leaving a recorded will.
A Virginia pension, No. 23033, was issued to his widow Rebecca, October, 23, 1833.

Martin had a son named Martin. His children were, Gideon, Rueben, William and Nancy.

Martin had a son named David. David's children were, Jessie, Martin Slaughter, Glover,
Jack S., Dorothy, Jane Lipscomb, Francis Benson and Elizabeth. David Davenport
moved to Cumberland County, Virginia in 1767, where he died in December 1802.
His will mentions all of the family.

Martin had a son named James.
His children were Susannah, John, James, Frances, William, Jesse and Henrietta.

Martin Davenports grandsons, John and James, enlisted in the Seventh Virginia
Regiment Feb. 15, 1776, in the company of their cousin, Captain Mathew Jouett.
The Seventh Virginia was cut to pieces at the battle of Brandywine.
Captain Jouett received a mortal wound and his company suffered great losses.

John and James were so badly wounded that they were discharged,
as unfit for further service, at Valley Forge, Feb. 3,1878.
James' disability was due to a musket ball in his left ankle, which lamed him for life.
He received a pension of six pounds per annum. Because he received that pension,
He was not eligible for any other benefits. He kept petitioning to get his pension raised.

Martin Davenport had a son, Reuben.
He moved onto the North Carolina mountains on the Tennessee border about 1797.
Martin Davenport had a daughter, Mary (Marie).
She married Henry Gambil and they had seven children.

Martins oldest son was William.
William Davenport was born ca 1716- 1795 in King William County, Virginia.
He married Anna Arnold ca 1735. They had six sons and three daughters.

He owned considerable acreage in Spotslyvania Co., Virginia.
Tax records of 1785 and 1787 show that he owned 15 slaves.
(His plantation was adjacent to the Waller Plantation, of "Roots" fame.)
(The average slave in the south in 1850,cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today's money.)

Augustine was William Davenports oldest son. His wife was Mary Harris. They
had 7 girls and 6 boys. He served in Capt. Israel Cox's Company of Rowan Militia
in the Cherokee Campaign under General Griffith Rutherford. He probably served in
the Militia during Cornwallis' invasion of1781, including the battle of Guilford Courthouse.
He later served two terms as constable.

Augustines son, Captain John, did not move on to another state, like his brothers.
His family was Separate Baptists. They stayed there and avoided the intermarriage
of his five sons with any of the German Dunker, Mennonkite, Campbellites, or Quaker families.

Martin Davenport, second son of Augustine, drowned in the Ohio River.
He was returning from scouting out new lands in Ohio.
Jessie Davenport, Augustine's grandson was killed when a bunch of drunks, dropped
the center beam on him, during a barn raising in Indiana. Grandchildren, Sarah, James
and David Davenport died in the Cholera Epidemic in Indiana and Ohio in 1833.

Williams son, James was a volunteer Minute Man in 1775.
He marched to the Rappahannock, seven miles below Fredericksburg.
Col. William Washington was there. He served two months.
He served a tour of three months under Captain Craig at Williamsbury.

He served a six months tour commanded by Col. Matthews,
during that time he was in a skirmish with the British guard.
Maj. Armistead 'beat up' for one hundred volunteers for that purpose, and James
Davenport was one of them. They had two men killed and one wounded and he, James
Davenport, believes the British lost seven or eight killed. This was in 1776.

In 1777-78 he served under Col. Dandridge in Capt. Anderson's company from Hanover.
During that time he also served at Norfolk and Portsmouth under Capt. Dozil of Hanover

In the year in which Gates was defeated at Camden, SC, he served under Capt. Thomas
Minor's Company from Spotsylvania. Later Capt. John Holladay took over the command.
This company was in Col. George Stubblefields's regiment.
It crossed James River at Richmond, marched to the south and was in Gates' defeat.
In that defeat, James Davenport's Captain Holladay, was killed.

June, 1781 he joined Gen. Lafayette's army under Capt. Minor, and marched under his
command until it arrived before Yorktown. The British army surrendered on Oct.17,1781

He served a total of two years and eleven months. James Davenport received $80 a
year pension from Kentucky. He died there in Fayette Co. in 1833 at 91 years of age.

Williams Davenports' son John, was elected Captain of Militia in the Jackson Creek area
in 1792. He became known as 'Captain John'. He moved to Kentucky and died in 1895.
William Davenport had a son named Thomas.

Thomas Davenport -(ca1758-1816) born in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
He married his first wife, Sarah Partlow ca 1786.
They had four boys and one girl Sarah died ca 1798.

One boy was named Burkett, he died ca 36 years old.
Thomas, son of Burkett, was a medical doctor, surgeon in the Confederate Army.
The girls' name was, Lucy. One of Lucy's sons, John Lee (Jack)
enlisted Feb. 20, 1861 in the 36th Miss. Inf. Co. C. He was discharged April 26, 1865.

Thomas Davenport married Lettice-- ca 1800. They had two boys and seven girls
according to the 1810 and 1820 census.
He enlisted in the 5th Virginia Continental Line, January 24, 1776.
He was discharged January,1778. He received additional army pay May 21, 1783.

He "assigned rights to army pay to Jones Allen", August 2, 1787 in Spotsylvania Co.
That was for army pay that he was owed---but had not received.
Thomas Davenport had a son named George W.

George W. Davenport was born in Laurens Co, So. Carolina in 1801-1802.
He went to Alabama at the age of 19. The next year he married,
Mary Elizabeth (Polly) Weems on November 12, 1821.

The parents of Mary Weems were William Weems and Martha. Mary was reported
to be born in Greenville County (more probable Abbeville Co.), So. Carolina in ca1802.
William Weems and family moved to Jefferson County, Alabama in 1815.

William and Martha were recorded there, giving consent to marriage of their daughter
Fanny to Nathaniel Cooper on July 17, 1820. William made a land purchase,
Feb. 2, 1822 in Jefferson County. William died in 1822. Martha was recorded in
the 1830 census and again recorded, giving consent to the marriage of a daughter
Martha to William Montgomery, on December 30,1833.

George W. Davenport and Mary Elizabeth (Polly) Weems had six sons and six
daughters that lived beyond infancy Twenty four years after their first child,
their last child was---