When Peter Davis was born on 27 May 1744, in Freetown, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States, his father, William Davis IV, was 30 and his mother, Elizabeth Paine, was 27. He married Katurah Goff on 10 April 1770, in Berkley, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. He died after November 1779, in his hometown.
Do you know Peter? Do you have a story about him that you would like to share? Sign In or Create a FREE Account
+1 More Child
+1 More Child
Thomas Jefferson's American Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress. Colonies declare independence.
"At the end of the Second Continental Congress the 13 colonies came together to petition independence from King George III. With no opposing votes, the Declaration of Independence was drafted and ready for all delegates to sign on the Fourth of July 1776. While many think the Declaration was to tell the King that they were becoming independent, its true purpose was to be a formal explanation of why the Congress voted together to declare their independence from Britain. The Declaration also is home to one of the best-known sentences in the English language, stating, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."""
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 NamesAs a nonprofit, we offer free help to those looking to learn the details of their family story.