JACOB DAVIS AND FAMILY

Jacob Davis was a native of Amesbury, Mass., a man of decidedly good moral and religious character, by occupation a farmer. In the year 1818 he removed with his family to this town, and settled on a farm, which he had purchased, on the South road, about two miles west of the village, where he passed in comfort the remainder of his days. He died in April, 1842, at the age of sixty-four years.

That he was a man of decision, may be illustrated by the following little incident: It had been common for farmers to furnish rum to their laborers, in the time of haying and harvest, and to unite with them in the moderate use of it.   But on one occasion Mr. Davis hired men, under the influence of intoxicating liquor, became somewhat noisy and disorderly. This led him to reflect more seriously than ever before on the evil consequences of the common use of such liquor, and he determined then and there never to furnish another drop to his men, but thenceforth to act on the principle of total abstinence, however singular or inexpedient his course to his neighbors might appear, and ever after firmly adhered to his resolution. To do so then was by no means so easy and popular as to pursue a similar course at the present time.  Mr. Davis and his then second wife were both substantial members of the Congregational church in Bradford.  The first wife of Mr. Davis, Polly Sargeant, was, like himself, a native of Amesbury, Mass., where she died in 1817, at the age of about thirty-six years. She left at her decease two sons and two daughters, who came with their father and his second wife to Bradford, in 1818, namely:

1 Hezekiah. He lived with his father until about thirty years of age. He was a well esteemed teacher of common schools; taught for nine winters in two districts.  He married Jerusha Davis, of West Fairlee, Vt., and removed to Northfield, in this State, and settled on a farm so distant from any school house that he educated his children at home, in quite a methodical manner, having regular hours for study, as well as for other exercises.  In 1863 he removed to Vineland, N. J., where he died the next year, at the age of fifty-nine. His death is said to be the first which occurred in that remarkable settlement.  After his decease, his family came to Lowell, Mass., and at this date are there pleasantly located. He had nine children. His second wife was Eliza Leonard, of Northfield.

2 Gilman Davis was also a farmer, and accustomed in winter to school teaching. He married Mary Ann Dodge, of Fairlee, and in 1842 removed to Northfield, where he died in 1873, leaving his second wife in widowhood, with one child, a daughter.

3 Martha Davis died in 1834, in her youth. 

4 Mary Davis married Enos Taylor, of this town, where she died, leaving one son, George H., who became a patriotic young man; served with honor in the late war, returned home in safety, but immediately after was taken sick and died. His father, thus bereaved, has remained solitary.

Mr. Jacob Davis, after the decease of his first wife, in.  1817, married, the same year, Sally Kelley, a native of Amesbury, and sister of Rev. John Kelley, who was for more than forty years the faithful pastor of the Congregational church in Hampstead, N. H. She came with him and his children to this town in 1818. She was a truly good woman, lived to have four children of her own, and died in October, 1860, at the age of eighty years, having remained in widowhood for about eighteen years and six months. Two of the children by this marriage died in early childhood. Elizabeth, the eldest, died in 1835, at the age of sixteen years.

Jacob K. Davis, at this date the only surviving member of his father's family, owns and occupies the farm on which he was born and brought up. Though by occupation a farmer, he has for some years been engaged in different agencies, especially in behalf of book publishers, which have taken him much of the time from home. In December, 1850, he married Clara L. Morrison, of this town, and they have at this date five children still with them; namely, Millard F., George M., Clara A., Arthur L.  and Henry E.

Mr. J. K. Davis and wife, and second son, are members of the Congregational church in Bradford. Indeed all the children of Mr. Jacob Davis who lived to become men and women, are believed to have become also joint partakers with their pious parents in the same precious faith and promises.    Biographie Index

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