Jane Davis

Brief Life History of Jane

When Jane Davis was born on 8 July 1820, in Washington, Indiana, United States, her father, Benjamin Davis, was 26 and her mother, Sarah G Gilstrap, was 23. She married John William Hensley on 5 September 1839, in Washington, Daviess, Indiana, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 5 daughters. She lived in Illinois, United States in 1870 and Buckheart Township, Fulton, Illinois, United States in 1880. She died on 10 February 1888, at the age of 67.

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Family Time Line

John William Hensley
1817–1880
Jane Davis
1820–1888
Marriage: 5 September 1839
Benjamin Logan Hensley
1842–1888
Isaac Newton Hensley
1843–1933
Rebecca T Hensley
1847–1919
Rachel Caroline Hensley
1847–
Sarah Adeline Hensley
1850–1917
Keziah Elizabeth Hensley
1852–1933
Mary Ellen Hensley
1855–1920
John William Hensley
1856–1935

Sources (9)

  • Jane Hensley in household of John Hensley, "United States Census, 1870"
  • Jane Davis, "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007"
  • Jennie Davis in entry for John W. Hensley, "Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947"

World Events (8)

1821 · Financial Relief for Public Land

A United States law to provide financial relief for the purchasers of Public Lands. It permitted the earlier buyers, that couldn't pay completely for the land, to return the land back to the government. This granted them a credit towards the debt they had on land. Congress, also, extended credit to buyer for eight more years. Still while being in economic panic and the shortage of currency made by citizens, the government hoped that with the time extension, the economy would improve.

1832 · Black Hawk War

"The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted soon after Black Hawk and a group of other tribes, known as the ""British Band"", crossed the Mississippi River, into Illinois, from Iowa Indian Territory in April 1832. Black Hawk's motives were ambiguous, but records show that he was hoping to avoid bloodshed while resettling on tribal land that had been given to the United States in the 1804 Treaty of St. Louis."

1839 · From Swamp to Beautiful Place

By 1829 Venus, Illinois had grown sufficiently and in 1832 was one of the contenders for the new county seat. However, the honor was awarded to a nearby city, Carthage. In 1834 the name Venus was changed to Commerce because the settlers felt that the new name better suited their plans. But during late 1839, arriving members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints bought the small town of Commerce and in April 1840 it was renamed Nauvoo by Joseph Smith Jr., who led the Latter-Day Saints to Nauvoo to escape persecution in Missouri. The name Nauvoo is derived from the traditional Hebrew language. It is notable that by 1844 Nauvoo's population had swollen to around 12,000 residents, rivaling the size of Chicago at the time. After the Latter-Day Saints left the population settled down toward 2,000 people.

Name Meaning

English and Welsh: patronymic meaning ‘Dafydd's (son)’, equivalent to Welsh ap Dafydd, the Welsh form of David . The spelling Davis is more typical in southwestern England northwards as far as Lancashire, where the frequency of the surname largely reflects Welsh migration, but may sometimes represent a native English surname based on Davy (compare Davies ). Davis (including in the sense 2 below) is the eighth most frequent surname in the US. It is also very common among African Americans.

Irish and Scottish: adopted for Gaelic Mac Daibhéid ‘son of David’; see McDevitt . Compare Davies .

History: John Davis or Davys (c. 1550–1605) was an English navigator who searched for the Northwest Passage. — By the 18th century there were numerous persons named Davis in America, including the jurist John Davis, born in 1761 in Plymouth, MA, and Henry Davis, a clergyman and college president, who was born in 1771 in East Hampton, NY. — Jefferson Davis, born in 1808 in KY, was president of the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865.

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

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