Colonel James W. Davis III

Brief Life History of James W.

When Colonel James W. Davis III was born on 1 January 1819, in Blount, Tennessee, United States, his father, James Amasa Davis II, was 27 and his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Reece, was 32. He married Rachel Calvert McMahan about 1842, in Blount, Tennessee, United States. They were the parents of at least 7 sons and 2 daughters. He lived in District 14, Grainger, Tennessee, United States in 1880 and Kilfoil Township, Custer, Nebraska, United States in 1885. He died on 15 July 1898, in Blount, Tennessee, United States, at the age of 79, and was buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Maryville, Blount, Tennessee, United States.

Photos and Memories (1)

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Family Time Line

Colonel James W. Davis III
1819–1898
Rachel Calvert McMahan
1821–1863
Marriage: about 1842
Alfred Newton Davis
1843–1889
John Davis
1844–1903
William Morgan Davis
1846–1906
Sarah Elizabeth Davis
1848–1875
James Robert "Rob" Davis
1848–1910
Isaac Reece Davis
1850–1895
Samuel LaFayette Davis
1853–1920
Andrew "Andy" Boyd Davis
1854–1929
Hulda Jane Davis
1857–1877

Sources (9)

  • James Davis, "United States Census, 1880"
  • James Davis, "Tennessee, County Marriages, 1790-1950"
  • James Davis, "Find A Grave Index"

World Events (8)

1819 · Panic! of 1819

With the Aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars the global market for trade was down. During this time, America had its first financial crisis and it lasted for only two years. 

1835 · The Hermitage is Built

The Hermitage located in Nashville, Tennessee was a plantation owned by President Andrew Jackson from 1804 until his death there in 1845. The Hermitage is now a museum.

1846

U.S. acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.

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.

Possible Related Names

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