Introduction
Rather than load down the Web with a complete family genealogy, I will sketch the lines through my maternal and paternal grandfathers, then attach a GEDCOM file of my complete family history for download by any interested party. [Download GEDCOM File (350K); contact me for data sources]. I present this information in the hope that it will be useful to others and that others may provide me with information on Jacob Davenport (ca.1745-1815) of Washington County, North Carolina. I have quite a bit of information on Jacob, but not enough to absolutely tie down the link. A will, deed, or bible record that mentions children would be heavensent.
Basically, several generations of my Davenport ancestors lived in Sevier County, Tennessee. The earliest of those came from Whitley County, Kentucky, where several more generations of Davenports lived. The earliest Davenport in Whitley County came from Tyrrell County, North Carolina (from a section that is now in Washington County), where the line can be traced to 1642. On my mother's side (Williams), several generations lived in Sevier County, and before that came from South Carolina with a short stint in North Carolina. Corollary lines in Sevier County include Shults, Kelly, Rauhuff, Roberts, Atchley, Watson, Ball, Clabaugh, Duggan, McMahan, and others.
To trace the North Carolina Davenports, I went through all the
colonial, state, and county records for Tyrrell, Whitley, Chowan, and Perquimans
Counties, and excerpted every mention of a Davenport for the period 1642-1800,
with selected records up to 1840. I compiled these notes as an Appendix to my
family history book, completed in 1997. It is entitled "The Davenport
Families of Sevier County, Tennessee, Whitley County, Kentucky, and Tyrrell
County, North Carolina." These notes amount to 115 pages, and obviously
would be of value to anyone researching their Davenport line(s) in that time
and place. I put copies in the McClung Collection of the East Tennessee
Historical Society Library in Knoxville, Tennessee; the Sevier County Library
in Sevierville, Tennessee; the Sevier County Historical Society collection
in Sevierville, Tennessee; the Gatlinburg Library, Gatlinburg, Tennessee;
the Corbin City and Whitley County Libraries in Kentucky; the Washington County
Library, Plymouth, North Carolina; the Tyrrell County Library, Columbia,
North Carolina; the Chowan County Library, Edenton, North Carolina; the
Washington County Genealogical Society, North Carolina; and the Tyrrell
County Historical & Genealogical Society, North Carolina. A version of these
notes is available at Linda Haas' genealogical site,
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas under Lots of Names >
Davenport Name Index > Colonial Records of NC.
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Following is a brief sketch of my Davenport and Williams lines:
Davenport Line:
Clyde McCall Davenport (that's me) b. Dec 15, 1938, Sevier Co, TN m. Sep 11, 1976, Knox Co, TN to Iris Lynn McMillin Clyde Macaulay Davenport b. Mar 31, 1904, Sevier Co, TN m. Jun 10, 1933, Sevier Co, TN to Mamie Estelle Williams d. May 21, 1988, Anderson Co, TN Buried Shiloh Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN Samuel Marion Davenport b. May 15, 1879, Sevier Co, TN m. Nov 4, 1901, Sevier Co, TN to Mary Miranda Rauhuff d. Jan 8, 1960, Sevier Co, TN Buried Shiloh Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN Simeon C. Davenport b. Oct 5, 1849, Whitley Co, KY m. About 1873, Sevier Co, TN to Margaret E. Roberts d. Sep 30, 1917, Sevier Co, TN Buried Shiloh Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN Andrew Russell Davenport b. 1830, Whitley Co, KY m. Jun 4, 1848, Whitley Co, KY to Charlotte Ball d. About 1896, Sevier Co, TN Burial place unknown Daniel Davenport b. 1805, Whitley Co, KY m. Oct 26, 1826, Whitley Co, KY to Mary "Polly" Strunk d. Jul 4, 1886, McCreary Co, KY Buried Bethel Baptist Cemetery, McCreary Co, KY Zechariah Davenport b. Jun 6, 1774, Tyrrell Co, NC (Date from KY death record, census says born NC) m. Oct 10, 1799, Washington Co, VA to Jean Douglass d. 1856, Whitley Co, KY (Death record names parents Jacob & Elizabeth Davenport) Speculate buried Wolf Creek Cemetery, Whitley Co, KY Jacob Davenport (This link tentative) b. About 1745-48, Tyrrell Co, NC m. Feb 1, 1768, Tyrrell Co, NC to Joanna Garrett (Second marriage Feb 17, 1779 to Elizabeth Duncan) d. Before 1815, Washington Co, NC Richard Davenport b. About 1699, Tyrrell Co, NC m. About 1720, Tyrrell Co, NC to ?? d. Nov 1773, Tyrrell Co, NC John Davenport, Sr. b. Nov 3, 1677, Perquimans Co, NC m. About 1698, Perquimans Co, NC to Ann ?? Richard Davenport b. 1642 m. About 1672 to Johannah ?? d. Before Mar 1713/14, Perquimans Co, NCTop
Williams Line:
Mamie Estelle Williams (my Mother) b. Jun 29, 1911, Sevier Co, TN m. Jun 10, 1933, Sevier Co, TN to Clyde Macaulay Davenport William Williams, Jr. b. Dec 1, 1870, Sevier Co, TN m. Jan 8, 1891, Sevier Co, TN to Elizabeth Ann Kelley d. Oct 16, 1941, Sevier Co, TN Buried Ridings-Williams Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN William Williams b. Dec 9, 1843, Sevier Co, TN m. Sep 18, 1866, Sevier Co, TN to Sarah Catherine Shults d. Jan 13, 1921, Sevier Co, TN Buried Ridings-Williams Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN Collins Williams b. 1814, South Carolina m. About 1832, Probably Cocke Co, TN d. Aug 5, 1892, Sevier Co, TN Buried Ridings-Williams Cemetery, Sevier Co, TN Jorden Williams b. About 1774, South Carolina m. About 1799, Probably York Co, SC d. Before 1850, Probably in Cocke Co, TNTop
Some Useful Links:
The above Davenport family line is supported by genetic DNA research. See http://www.davenportdna.com for the details.
A very comprehensive source for Sevier County, Tennessee genealogy is the Sevier County Library at http://www.sevierlibrary.org/genealogy/research.html. They have many good genealogy resources, with more coming online regularly. Under Sevier County Links > A Common Thread at the mentioned site, they give links to a very large collection of Sevier County family history data compiled by Jay S. Webb. A similar site is David L. Beckwith's compilation at www.Smokykin.com. The Whitley County, Kentucky Genealogy Society's home page is at http://www.wchgs.org. See Tracie Stanley's site at http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=traciels&id=I48 for descendant charts for Zechariah Davenport (1774-1856). The Tyrrell County, North Carolina genealogy site is at http://patriot.net/~cpbarnes/TYRRELL.HTM. The Washington County, North Carolina genealogy site is at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ncwashin/washing.htm. Another good source for Washington/Tyrrell County, NC Davenport data for the 1800s is Steven Davenport's Web pages at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sdavnprt. The publications of Donald B. Reagan, 801 Henrietta Drive, Knoxville, TN 37912, on Sevier County Genealogy are very helpful, as are those of Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr., 114 Sixth Avenue, Lawrenceville, VA 23868 for Tyrrell and Washington County, North Carolina. James R. Shults, 6515 Hammer Road, Knoxville, TN 37914, jrshults@icx.net, has compiled an extensive history of the Shults families of Sevier County, Tennessee. Linda Haas' genealogical site, http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas contains a large amount of Davenport material under Lots of Names > Davenport Name Index > Colonial Records of NC. Finally, an index of the extensive genealogy records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) in Salt Lake City has been made available at www.familysearch.com.
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Below, we list a few books that are major sources of information on the family lines mentioned above and their ancilliary lines.
"Smoky Mountain Williams," by Jean Rowe, 103 Greeneville Highway,
Brevard, NC, (704)884-6469, jeanrowe@citcom.net, 1998. (Copy in
the Sevier County Library, Sevierville, Tennessee.)
"Early History of Doctor Martin Shultz and Julianna Stentz," published by
Donald B. Reagan, 801 Henrietta Drive, Knoxville, Tennessee, 1989.
"An Early American Family," giving early East Tennessee Schultz genealogy,
by Earl K. Schultz. Some early differences from the preceding, and
not as extensively documented (copy in the East Tennessee Historical
Society Library in Knoxville, Tennessee).
"Smoky Mountain Clans," Vol. 2, Revised Edition, giving Shultz, McCarter,
Trentham, Bradley, Watson, Conner, Swearingen, Oakley, and Clabaugh
families; published by Donald B. Reagan, 801 Henrietta Drive,
Knoxville, Tennessee, 1983.
"In the Shadow of the Smokies - Sevier County Cemeteries," listing all
headstone information from all cemeteries in Sevier County;
published by the Smoky Mountain Historical Society, Post Office
Box 286, Sevierville, Tennessee 37862, 1984.
"Footprints on the Sands of Time," by Ruby Catoe, Houston, Texas, 1964.
Gives some of the early Emert Family history in Sevier County,
Tennessee (copy in the East Tennessee Historical Society Library in
Knoxville, Tennessee).
"Atchley Family History," by Maud Horn, 1935. A second edition was
published by Dr. Paul L. Atchley and Mary Ann Morris Thompson,
Knoxville, Tennessee, 1965 (copy in the East Tennessee Historical
Society Library in Knoxville, Tennessee).
"The Balls of Fairfax and Stafford in Virginia," 3rd Edition, by Bonnie
S. Ball, James Elihu Ball, and Estelle Ball Brady, 1961 (copy in
the East Tennessee Historical Society Library in Knoxville,
Tennessee).
"Tennessee Cousins," by Worth S. Ray, Genealogical Publishing Company,
Inc., 1950, giving Henderson family history for Virginia, Kentucky,
North Carolina, and Tennessee (copy in the East Tennessee
Historical Society Library in Knoxville, Tennessee).
"Henderson Ancestors and Descendants," by Ethyln Henderson Fisher and
Alvena Wells Henderson, privately published, 1989 (copy in the East
Tennessee Historical Society Library in Knoxville, Tennessee).
"The Rauhuffs," by Bradford Roy Rauhuff, 2030 Ridge Road, Sevierville,
Tennessee, 37862, August, 1994 (copy in the Sevier County Library
in Sevierville, Tennessee).
Periodical, "Hathaway's North Carolina Historical and Genealogical
Register," only three volumes, 1900-1903. Many references in the
colonial records of the earliest North Carolina Davenports. (Copy
in the East Tennessee Historical Society Library in Knoxville,
Tennessee).
Compendium, "The Colonial/State Records of North Carolina," 30 volumes,
published by the State of North Carolina, 1886; reprinted by
Broadfoot Publishing Company, Wilmington, North Carolina, 1993.
(Copies in the Raleigh Archives and the Tyrrell and Washington
County, North Carolina libraries). The Davenport family line before
1800 that is presented above was constructed from these records,
and should be considered tentative.
A series of abstracts of deeds, wills, and court actions booklets
published by Dr. Stephen E. Bradley, Jr., 114 Sixth Avenue,
Lawrenceville, Virginia 23868. Cover the colonial period and up
to 1800 for Tyrrell and Washington County, North Carolina.
Contain many valuable references to Davenport families.
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Clyde M. Davenport
© 2000
cmdaven@comcast.net