Author 
 
 Title 
 
 Imprint. 
 
 1«— 47372-2 OPO 
 
Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 Delivered October 9, 1908, Before Lee Camp, No. i, 
 
 Confederate Veterans, Richmond, Va. 
 
 BY 
 
 William H. Whitsitt 
 
 Professor of James Thomas Jr., School of Philosophy, 
 
 Richmond College 
 
 1908 
 
■ T)--:> \4 
 
 Gift 
 
 Author 
 (PeracM) 
 
 12 N '08 
 
Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 
 
Nee Stygia cohihebor unda 
 
 Hor. Odes 2, 20, 8. 
 
 Ererert Wftddey Co. 
 
 Bookbinders and Printer* 
 
 Biobmond, Ya. 
 
Genealogy of Jefferson Davis 
 
 <Y|' AM sincerely grateful to the gentlemen of Lee Camp and in 
 jjj, particular to Comrade Freeman, who made the motion, for 
 the invitation extended to me to deliver an address upon 
 some Confederate subject. It was suggested by Comrade Free- 
 man, that I should present a tribute to the Confederate Army of 
 the West, and speak a kind word for the soldiers of that service. 
 I hold my comrades of the Western Army in the highest esteem 
 and affection. They were brave and honorable soldiers, but I am 
 not able to do justice to their memory. I held no high position 
 among them, and I did not understand a great deal concerning 
 the military operations that went forward before my eyes. I 
 have learned more about these operations by reading over the 
 dispatches in the so-called "Rebellion Records," than I was 
 able to find out when I was on the spot, and watched the progress 
 of them. Moreover I have never made any special study of 
 military science, and I feel convinced that it would be out of 
 my power to speak of the soldiers of the Western service in a 
 manner that would be equal to the present occasion, or worthy 
 of their skill and courage. 
 
 After some reflection I have concluded to address you on the 
 Genealogy of President Jefferson Davis, which appears to be a 
 
worthy Confederate subject, about which very httle has been 
 said hitherto. The materials are as yet incomplete, and I shall 
 be compelled in several places to indulge in hypothesis ; but the 
 working hypothesis is an indispensable resource. I have de- 
 cided to make a beginning, in the hope that other investigators 
 will find additional material, and clear up the points that may 
 remain imperfect in my treatment of the subject. 
 
 The most important material consists of certain notices which 
 Mr. Davis himself dictated a short while before his death. These 
 were included by Mrs. Davis in the opening chapter of her 
 Memoir of his life. The brief statements which are there set 
 down supply an indispensable clew. It was known that the 
 Davis family were of the Baptist persuasion, but when and where 
 they had become Baptists was something unknown until Mr. 
 Davis himself gave the requisite hint. We must thank him for 
 showing us the way. It would have been impossible to turn 
 a wheel without his assistance and direction. 
 
 The records of the Baptist Church to which his ancestors seem 
 to have belonged, stand next in importance to the testimony 
 of Mr. Davis. These were published in the year 1904, in two 
 parts by the Historical Society of Delaware, who have thereby 
 rendered a memorable service indeed. We owe much honor and 
 many thanks to the Historical Society of Delaware. Following 
 is the title of Paper Number XLII., issued by that learned cor- 
 poration : 
 
 Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hun- 
 dred, New Castle County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828. In two parts. 
 Copied from the Original Records in the Possession of the Meeting 
 Officials. The Historical Society of Delaware, Wilmington, 1904. 
 
 In quoting from this record it will be necessary to bring forv^^ard 
 certain controversies that were raised among the brethren, but 
 these will be employed merely as items of history. I shall 
 endeavor strictly to observe the proprieties of the occasion and 
 
the requirements of the historic method. If I should fail to 
 reach the ideal in these particulars, the failure will be due to 
 defect of skill, and in no sense to defect of purpose and principle. 
 I appeal to your generosity, and request a favorable construction . 
 
 It affords me much satisfaction to commend the example of the 
 Historical Society of Delaware. The genealogical notices given 
 by Mr. Davis were entirely useless to me until I was enabled to 
 obtain a sight of the Welsh Tract Records. By comparing the 
 one with the other many secrets were revealed, and many diffi- 
 culties were removed. I trust that other learned bodies among 
 us will be encouraged to render assistance to historical students 
 in that fashion. I rejoice that just now the Confederate Museum 
 is issuing Douglas Freeman's Calendar of the Confederate Papers 
 in its possession. This is a work of high importance, and the 
 preparation and publication of it is a proof of the enlightened 
 policy of that great corporation. 
 
 Jefferson Davis says, "Three brothers came to America from 
 Wales in the early part of the eighteenth century. They settled 
 at Philadelphia." (Memoir by his Wife, Vol. i, p. 3). This is a 
 pregnant sentence indeed. This led to comparisons and afforded 
 a clew that supplied access to the subject. Taken in connection 
 with these words, the Welsh Tract Meeting and the Welsh Tract 
 Records must acquire very high significance, and they will 
 commend themselves in future to multitudes of people. 
 
 The opening sentences of these records describe the beginning 
 of the church in the following words: "In the year 1701 some of 
 us who were members of the churches of Jesus Christ in the 
 county s of Pembroke and Caermarthen, South Wales in Great 
 Britain, (professing believers baptisni, laying-on-of -hands, election 
 and final perseverance in grace) ■\^re moved and encouraged 
 in our own minds to come to these parts, viz. : Pennsylvania ; 
 and after obtaining leave of the churches it seemed good to the 
 Lord and to us, that we should be firmed into church order, as 
 
we were a sufficient number: and as one of us was a minister: 
 that was accomplished and withal letters commendatory were 
 given us, that if we should meet with any congregations of 
 christian people who held the same faith with us, we might be 
 received by them as brethren in Christ. 
 
 "Our number was sixteen: and after bidding farewell to our 
 brethren in Wales, we sailed from Milford Haven in the month 
 of June the year above mentioned, in a ship named James and 
 Mary; and landed in Philadelphia the eighth of September 
 following : 
 X "After landing we were received in a loving manner (on account 
 of the gospel) by the congregation meeting in Philadelphia and 
 Pennepek, who held to the same faith with us (excepting the ordi- 
 nance of Laying-on-of -hands on every particular member) with 
 whom we wished much to hold communion at the Lords-table; 
 but we could not be in fellowship with them in the Lords-supper ; 
 because they bore not testimony for God touching the foremen- 
 tioned ordinance. (Records, Pt. L, pp. 7, 8.) 
 
 "After our arrival we lived much scattered for about a year and 
 a half, yet kept up our weekly and monthly meetings among 
 ourselves : during which time it pleased God to add to our number 
 about twenty members, in which time we, and many other 
 Welsh people purchased a tract of land in New Castle County, on 
 Delaware, which was called Welsh Tract: in the year 1703 we 
 began to get our living out of it, and to set our meetings in order 
 and build a place of worship which was commonly known by the 
 name of. The Baptist meeting-house by the Iron-hill." (Records, 
 Pt. L, p. 8.). 
 
' 'The names of the members who first came over were : 
 
 Thomas Griffith "minister" 
 Year Griffith Nicolas 
 1 70 1. Evan Edmond 
 
 John Edward 
 
 Elizeus (Ehsha) Thomas 
 
 Enoch Morgan 
 
 Righart (Richard) David 
 
 Elizabeth Griffith 
 
 Lewis Edmond 
 
 Mary John 
 
 Mary Thomas 
 
 Elizabeth Griffith 
 
 Shonnet (Jennet) David 
 
 Margaret Matheas 
 
 Shonnet (Jennet) Morris 
 
 James David" (Records Pt. I., pp. n, 12.) 
 The Davids mentioned in the above list seem to be the ances- 
 tors of President Davis. They fulfill all the conditions of the 
 case. They were of the Baptist faith. They emigrated from 
 Wales and settled near Philadelphia in the early part of the 
 eighteenth century. They retained their Philadelphia home for 
 eighteen months and then removed to New Castle County, Dela- 
 ware. So far as history informs us, there was no other Baptist 
 family of the name of Davis, that came from Wales in the early 
 part of the eighteenth century, and settled at Philadelphia. 
 
 President Davis speaks of three brothers, the youngest of whom 
 named Evan was his grandfather. Richard and James David 
 (Records, pp. 11, 12) were charter members of the church and they 
 ma}^ have been brothers, but there is no account of Evan Davis. 
 Shion Dafydd subscribed the Philadelphia Confession in Feb- 
 ruary 1 7 16 (Records, p. 21), and my edition of Webster's Diction- 
 ary affirms that Evan is "the same as John," but Charlotte M. 
 
 7 
 
Yonge in her History of Christian Names, p. 273, expresses herself 
 with less confidence, and is only willing to say that "Evan may 
 be intended for John." If Evan was intended for John, then the 
 Welsh Tract Records may supply the names of the three brothers. 
 But I am inclined to doubt somewhat concerning the three 
 brothers. Richard David seems to have been the head of the 
 family. 
 
 Samuel Davis, the President's father was bom in the year 1756, 
 and was an only son. Evan the grandfather may have married 
 his wife, the Widow Williams, about the year 1755, and he is sup- 
 posed to have been at least sixty years of age at that time. That 
 is a possible construction, but it would seem more likely that 
 Evan was bom in America rather than in Wales. It is not 
 uncommon for people to omit a generation or two, who undertake 
 to trace their genealogy without the assistance of contemporary 
 records. 
 
 In the year 17 11 Martha Thomas was added to the Welsh 
 Tract Church by baptism; apparently a daughter of Elisha 
 Thomas, who later was selected as the second pastor. She was 
 the first and only person with the Christian name of Martha that 
 is found in the early lists of membership. In February, 17 16, 
 Martha Thomas disappears and the name of Martha Dafis occurs 
 for the first time. My hypothesis is that she had married, 
 meanwhile, one of the Davis young men. In the year 1732 the 
 case of Martha Dafis was brought before the Church, and the 
 records give the following account of it : 
 
 "The rebellion of Martha David against the Church appeared, 
 
 (i) In opposing the truth which she once professed to the 
 church according to the commandment of Christ and the practice 
 of the Apostles under the ministry of the New testament. 
 
 (2) In refusing instruction, and despising advice tho' offered 
 many a time by the brethren in particular, and by the church in 
 general. 
 
 8 
 
(3) In breaking covenant with the church by carrying uncon- 
 ^ nected pieces of what was talked in the church to the Presbyte- 
 
 r ns to have their opinion of them, tho' the church charged her 
 ' jcforehand not to do so. 
 
 (4) In being so false and unfaithful in carrying her tales so 
 that she has curtailed the truth and increased her falsehoods ; and 
 thereby hath wronged the church by her change of opinion, and 
 putting a false gloss upon what was said to her — and putting it 
 in the power of enemies to blaspheme — also to renew the variance 
 between us and the Presbyterians, for which causes she was put 
 out of the church Mar. 4, 1732. 
 
 N. B. She was President Davis's mother." (Records, p. 26.) 
 I have striven in vain to discover the Christian name of the 
 father of President Samuel Davies of Princeton College. James 
 David, whose name appears last on the list of Charter members, 
 may have been his father, but of that point we cannot be certified. 
 According to Dr. Foote (Sketches, p. 158), the father of Samuel 
 Davies was bom in the year 1680, he died on the nth of August, 
 1759, apparently in Hanover County, Virginia; but the records 
 of that county, were destroyed at the close of the Confederate 
 War, and it will hardly be possible to obtain any further infor- 
 mation concerning him. Richard David died on the i6th of 
 February, 1719 (Records, pt. i, p. 24). His wife, Shonnet (other- 
 wise written Janneth) was the first member of the church to pass 
 away (Records, p. 23). She died on the loth of June, 1701, and 
 may have been buried at sea. 
 
 Much freedom was employed in spelling the name. The 
 clerk of the church wrote it usually, but not invariably, David. 
 On the 4th of Feb., 17 16, many of the members subscribed the 
 Philadelphia Confession of Faith, and here the spelling was 
 both variant and archaic. It appears that every person wrote 
 his own name with his own hand, and took liberty to spell it 
 in his own way. In that place the name Richard Davis is 
 
 9 
 
spelled Rhichart Dafydd. Martha Davies, the mother of Presi- 
 dent Davies of Princeton, spells her name Martha Dafis (Re- 
 cords, p. 20). David Davis spelled it Davis (Records, p. 21), 
 as did also Janott Davis, who subscribed in the year 1724 (Rec- 
 ords, p. 22). President Davies appears from these Records to 
 have been the first person of the family connection to put an 
 "e" into the body of the name, and spell it Davies. 
 
 It was considered disorderly in the early period for young 
 people to marry without advising with the church. (Records, 
 p. 77.) While they were still in Philadelphia, and before the 
 removal to Welsh Tract, one of the young fellows of the Thomas 
 family, appears to have violated that rule. His wife, however, 
 seems to have healed all the trouble, by uniting with the church. 
 In the year 1702 her name appears as East her Thomas (Records, 
 p. 12), and in the year 17 16 she subscribed the Confession of 
 Faith as Estor Thomas. (Records, p. 20.) But apparently 
 she was not content with her lot, and in the year 1733 the 
 following entry occurs : 
 
 "At our quarterly meeting, Jun 9, 1733 Then was Esther 
 Thomas excluded. 
 
 "She was under a kind of suspension for some considerable 
 time before ; for her lukewarmness, and negligence and for blam- 
 ing the doctrine and for carrying her grand daughters to the 
 presbyterians to be sprinkled contrary unto the will of their 
 father and mother while alive, which then were dead. She also 
 left the church and joyned with ye presbyterians — And was 
 therefore excluded." (Records, p. 75.) Though her exclusion 
 followed that of Martha Davies by fifteen months, her influence 
 appears to have been paramount in the action of her sister-in- 
 law. They both showed commendable filial piety in avoiding 
 every issue until after the death of their father, Elisha Thomas, 
 the second pastor, who passed away on the first of September, 
 1730 (Records, p. 25). 
 
 10 
 
In the Journal of the Rev. Samuel Davies the following entry- 
 occurs under date of Monday, November 12, [1753]: 
 
 "Went to see my relations in the tract; and when I passed 
 by the places where I formerly lived or walked, it gave a solemn 
 turn to my mind" (Foote, Sketches, p. 237). One may wonder 
 whether he encountered Evan Davis on this visit to his relations 
 in the Tract. Three years later there was born to Evan his only 
 son and heir. The Christian name of Samuel had been appar- 
 ently unknown in this particular family, until it was introduced 
 by Martha Davies. President Samuel Davies says: 
 
 "I cannot but mention to my friend an anecdote known to 
 but few; that is that I am a son of prayer, like my namesake 
 Samuel, the prophet; and my mother called me Samuel, be- 
 cause, she said, I have asked him of the Lord. " (Foote, Sketches, 
 p. 158). Evidently it was an unaccustomed name, but Evan 
 Davies may have been so charmed by the presence of the great 
 preacher, and by the luster of his name in Europe and America, 
 that he elected to call his own child Samuel in honor of him. 
 That appears at least a rational explanation of the Christian 
 name of the father of Jefferson Davis. 
 
 The notices given by Jefferson Davis are brief, and not alwa3^s 
 distinct. He says: "The youngest of the brothers, Evan Davis, 
 removed to Georgia, then a colony of Great Britain. He was 
 the grandfather of Jefferson Davis. He married a widow whose 
 family name was Emory. By her he had one son, Samuel Davis, 
 the father of Jefferson Davis. " (Memoir by his Wife, Vol. i , p. 3.) 
 
 When did Evan Davis remove to the Colony of Georgia ? If his 
 son Samuel Davis was bom in the year 1756, the union with 
 the Widow Williams must have taken place before that time. 
 But Georgia was an unlikely place for Evan Davis to obtain any 
 but an Indian wife prior to the year 1756. Moreover the lan- 
 guage of Mr. Davis does not appear to certify that Evan Davis 
 
married Mrs. Williams in Georgia. He may have removed to 
 Georgia some time after his marriage to her. 
 
 It seems possible, in fact, that Evan Davis, may have obtained 
 his wife from the communicants of Welsh Tract Church in Penn- 
 sylvania. A family of the name of William, which later came 
 to be written Williams, was established in the Welsh Tract com- 
 munity as early as the year 1710, at which time Mary William 
 from Kilcam in Wales was received as a member of the church 
 (Records, p. 14). Shion William appears to have been the head 
 of the family. He signed the Philadelphia Confession of Faith 
 in 17 16 (Records, p. 20), and was buried under the name of John 
 William on the 30th of September, 17 18. Margaret William was 
 also a signer of the Confession (Records, p. 20). 
 
 During the years 1735, 1737 and 1738, quite a number of peo- 
 ple were sent forth from Welsh Tract church in Delaware to build 
 another church on Pedee River in South Carolina. Their names 
 are all carefully preserved in the records (Records, Pt. i, pp. 83- 
 85). The new church that was established in Carolina was 
 styled Welsh Neck, in memory of the mother church from which 
 it had sprung. It is still an influential community, and Welsh 
 Neck Association has grown up about it, an organization of 
 more than twenty churches, that is highly respected in all sec- 
 tions of the Southern country. 
 
 It seems natural to conclude that Evan Davis in traveling 
 Southward should have called at Welsh Neck, where many peo- 
 ple resided with whom he had been on familiar terms. Margaret 
 William of Welsh Tract had become a member of Welsh Neck 
 (Records, p. 84), and it does not appear a violent hypothesis 
 that one of her sons may have married a Miss Emory of South 
 Carolina, and that she in the charm of her widowhood may have 
 won the heart and hand of Evan Davis. Upon reflection it 
 it appears more likely that the Emory family in question may 
 have belonged to South Carolina, than to Georgia or Pennsylvania. 
 
Assuming that Evan Davis tarried for a season in South Car- 
 oHna, it is pertinent to inquire after the special attraction that 
 could have induced him to remove to Georgia. The religious 
 sentiments of Welshmen are apt to be very profound and con- 
 trolling. The Davis family seem to have been no exception to 
 this rule. In the year 1755, when the Scotch-Irish migration 
 was moving Southward, Shubael Stearnes and Daniel Marshall, 
 a couple of Baptist ministers, joined the procession at Winchester, 
 Va. Stearnes halted in North Carolina, but Marshall followed 
 the procession all the way to Georgia, and when their work had 
 been completed there were many Scotch-Irish Baptists in Vir- 
 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. 
 
 Marshall had advanced as far as Edgefield District, South 
 Carolina, in 1767, where he founded Horse Creek Church, about 
 fifteen miles north of Augusta. In the year 1771 he transferred 
 his residence across the Savannah, about twenty miles north of 
 Augusta, where he established Kioka church,^ whose members 
 resided both in Georgia and South Carolina. The fame of Kioka 
 went abroad into every quarter of the country; it became a 
 great center of influence. The religious magnet probably drew 
 Evan Davis more strongly than any other. He seems to have 
 been pleased with the temperature of the Scotch-Irish religion, 
 and to have removed his home and membership from Welsh 
 Neck to the church at Kioka. It is not likely that he settled 
 in Georgia before the year 1771. Samuel Davis was fifteen 
 years old at this time, and it may be that he, too, had become a 
 communicant of Kioka church before the outbreak of the Revo- 
 lution. 
 
 Samuel Davis was nineteen years of age at the opening of hos- 
 tilities. Mr. Davis reports that the young man entered the military 
 ser\'ice, and in the course of time raised a company of infantry, 
 which he commanded until peace was declared. It was during 
 his connection with the Army, according to President Davis, that 
 
 13 
 
he met Miss Jane Cook, the Scotch-Irish lassie who became his 
 wife and the mother of his children. This may be a correct 
 statement, but it appears more likely that Samuel Davis, always 
 a strict attendant upon Baptist meetings, should have met her 
 at some session of the Georgia Baptist Association, a very large 
 and powerful body composed of churches situated on both sides 
 of the Savannah River. She may have been a member of one 
 of the Baptist churches in Edgefield or Abbeville District, South 
 Carolina, whose hospitality the Georgia Association had been 
 thankful to accept. The Rev. Mark Cook was a valued minister 
 of the Georgia Association, and though he resided on the Geor- 
 gia side of the Savannah, it is possible that he had come 
 from South Carolina, and that Miss Jane Cook may have been 
 a near relative. The union of two such splendid races as the 
 Welsh and the Scotch-Irish was auspicious in many ways. It 
 produced a man of remarkable spirit and capacity, who became 
 one of the foremost figures in American history. 
 
 If anybody is willing to assist in promoting this investigation, 
 he might render excellent service by examining the records of 
 New Castle County, Delaware, for additional traces of the Davis 
 family from 1703 to 1775. Possibly the records of Welsh Neck 
 Church, or of Darlington County, S. C, might produce some no- 
 tices of the life of Evan Davis in the period before his removal 
 to Georgia. President Davis affirms that his father, Samuel 
 Davis, was elected clerk of the county court where he resided in 
 Georgia. If search was made, in Richmond or Columbia Coun- 
 ty, for the books that were written during his term of office, it 
 would be appreciated. 
 
 Welsh Tract and Welsh Neck were both important fanes of 
 Baptist religion, but Kioka appears to have transcended them 
 in power and influence. From Kioka the Baptist religion was 
 extended all over Georgia, and likewise into portions of Middle 
 Tennessee and Southern Kentucky. Samuel Davis went to South- 
 
 14 
 
em Kentucky and settled in Christian Coimty, where his eminent 
 son was bom on the 3d of June, 1 808. Here he was connected with 
 Bethel church, a prosperous community. In later years Bethel 
 Association was formed around it, which became distinguished 
 in the annals of Kentucky Baptists. It established Bethel Col- 
 lege at Russellville, and Bethel Female College at Hopkinsville , 
 both of which have been respectable for learning and usefulness. 
 
 Shortly before the opening of the war of 181 2, Samuel Davis 
 sought another home, and settled in Wilkinson county, Missis- 
 sippi. Here also he seems to have been an active religious leader. 
 He was probably a member of another Bethel church situated 
 near Woodville, the county seat of Wilkinson. This church 
 belonged to Mississippi Association, from which the Baptist re- 
 ligion was spread abroad in the States of Mississippi and Louisi- 
 ana. He died on the 4th of July, 1824, at the age of sixty-eight 
 years. 
 
 During the progress of this investigation I have advanced 
 several hypotheses, and it is likely that some of them may be 
 set aside through additional research. The main conclusion that 
 I have reached, however, namely, that the Davis family were 
 remarkable for religious energy and efficiency, will be likely to 
 endure. Samuel Davies of Princeton was the incomparable 
 ornament of their colonial period, and his namesake, Samuel 
 Davis (provided my hypothesis will hold) , was an effective re- 
 ligious figure of the middle period, who won a good degree in the 
 States of Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi. He was always 
 found upon the high places of the field; always at centers of 
 large and profitable procedure. 
 
 In an address that he made at the dedication of the Baptist 
 church in Kentucky, that had been erected upon the spot where 
 his father's house once stood, Jefferson Davis is reported to have 
 affirmed that his father was a better man than himself. Possi- 
 bly he was referring to the punctual exercise of the cares and 
 
 IS 
 
offices of religious life. His father may have excelled him in 
 that particular, because his father lived in a different age, and 
 was more secluded from the business and conflicts of life. But 
 Jefferson Davis possessed high religious energy and devoutness. 
 There were pranks at school and college, but he was a sturdy and 
 studious lad. In his public life there were many seductions and 
 temptations, but he kept a stainless escutcheon. He failed in 
 the greatest conflict of his life, but perhaps no other leader in 
 the Confederacy could have come as near to success. And after 
 defeat had claimed him for her own, he endured for many years 
 a great burden of reproach and sorrow, with manly dignity and 
 courage. There was displayed the excellent religion of his 
 fathers ; finer, perhaps, than any that you and I possess. 
 
 "His life was gentle; and the elements 
 
 So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up, 
 
 And say to all the world 'This was a man.' " 
 
 i6