When Elizabeth "Betsey" Davis was christened on 26 November 1815, in Stoke Abbott, Dorset, England, United Kingdom, her father, Samuel Davey, was 38 and her mother, Ann 'Phillis' Forsey, was 35. She married John James Shepherd on 20 April 1840, in Netherbury, Dorset, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 4 daughters. She lived in Beaminster, Dorset, England, United Kingdom for about 20 years.
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1814–1899 Male
1815– Female
1840–1915 Male
1853– Female
1856–1857 Male
1858–1858 Female
1859– Female
+1 More Child
1777–1860 Male
1780–1846 Female
1803–1882 Female
1806–1896 Female
1808–1826 Female
1815– Female
1819–1820 Female
+4 More Children
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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