PAMUNKEY KIN & OTHERS INTERESTED: We have a new kind of Pamunkey Davenport joining in our common effort, namely the descendants of Congressman Thomas Davenport's second family, who assumed the Davenport surname after the Congressman's death in 1838. The Congressman (1825-1835), of Halifax County, Virginia, left behind a marital and children mess, in the sense of moral neatness, that was further complicated by some awful pasted together genealogy either by bluenosed (morality cleanup) folk or ignoramuses who took liberties with similar names. First and foremost, the Congressman was the fourth Thomas Davenport in generation sequence, his line from Davis Davenport being (1) Thomas, Sr., of Cumberland; (2) Captain-Surgeon Thomas, Jr., of Cumberland and the Georgia Continental Line; (3) Colonel Thomas of Cumberland and Halifax; and (4) Colonel and Congressman Thomas of Halifax. Contrary to widely circulated charts, the Congressman's wife was not Jane Lipscomb Davenport, daughter of David Davenport of Cumberland, son of Martin, Sr., of Hanover. Jane was a minor when David died in Dec1802, had a guardian appointed by Cumberland Court, and subsequently married the guardian's son John Bradley, all of which is a matter of public record had someone done a modicum of research. Congressman-to-be Thomas married Jane Davenport in Halifax on 28May1799. This Jane was not easy to identify, but deep digging provided a strong circumstantial case for attributing her to Lucy Davenport, who married Permenas Colquitt in Halifax on 20Mar1794. Colquitt, a close Terry cousin of the Davenports, was an older man, having been a Halifax planter and landowner adjoining Thomas Davenport (II) and James Davenport, Sr., both sons of Thomas, Sr., since 1775, was favored by Colonel Thomas Davenport (III), or he would not have been Colquitt's bondsman for the marriage to the Colonel's cousin Lucy Davenport. We identify Lucy by the fact that Permenas and Lucy named their second son Henry Davenport Colquitt, having named their first son Anthony Colquitt, which was the name of Permenas' father. So, we assume that Lucy Davenport Colquitt was a daughter of Henry Davenport, Sr., of Cumberland-Buckingham and his first, yet unidentified first wife, and a member of Henry's first family of at least eight, none of which heretofore have been recognized by members of Henry's second family by Ann Pemberton. When Henry disinherited his first family in the late 1780s in favor of the seven minor children in his second family, those older children, in most part, moved from Cumberland to Halifax--including Henry, Jr., who soon after arrival married his first cousin Ann Davenport, daughter of James, Sr.; Drusilla who married Thomas Donahoe in Cumberland before they moved as a couple; Susannah who married Obediah Kent who came from Halifax to marry her in Cumberland, then take her back to Halifax; Patsy, married to Richard Walden in Cumberland before the Revolution and moved to Halifax in the early 1790s; and Lucy, who surely came with her sisters, and brought her daughter Jane Davenport. If Jane had her mother's surname, she was likely born without benefit of clergy. Whatever, all of these children of Henry, Sr., lived in the same neighborhood in Halifax as did Bedford and James, Jr., sons of James, Sr., who had inherited their father's land, and Colonel Thomas (III) who had inherited the land of his father Captain-Surgeon Thomas (IV). In fact, Permenas Colquitt's land adjoined that of Colonel Thomas, making Jane Davenport, daughter of Lucy Davenport Colquitt, a girl next door to Thomas (IV), eldest son of the Colonel. The proximity doubtless played a part in subsequent developments. Consider that Thomas (IV) was born in 1782, that he was a short, age-wise, 17-year-old when he married Jane in 1789, and that Permenas Colquitt, Jane's stepfather, was his bondsman. Take into account that Colonel Thomas Davenport (III) was as important a man in Halifax as existed at the time, and that he had been bondsman for Permenas Colquitt's marriage, that Thomas (IV) was his eldest son, and he was not bondsman for his son and heir! One suspects the presence of a Colquitt shotgun in this marriage, particularly since an underage Thomas married without a permission letter to the Clerk of Courts. Halifax records strongly indicate that Thomas (III) and Thomas (IV) were alienated thereafter, traveled in different social circles. There was considerable friction amongst the Davenports in Halifax during the nine years following the Thomas (IV) marriage and the Thomas (III) death in 1808. Bedford Davenport, for example, the wealthiest and second most prominent Davenport in Halifax after the Colonel, did not underwrite the Sheriff bonds of the Colonel (III) for the years 1806 and 1807 although he signed the bonds for Sheriffs before and after his cousin. Thomas (IV) was the administrator of his father's estate only because the Colonel died suddenly, a widower and intestate. As eldest son, Thomas (IV) had first turndown to administrate. He administrated. The estate, suprisingly, was not large, consisted largely of books. This takes Thomas (IV) to where he had Halifax County all to himself, Thomas-wise. Although forced into a vocation sooner than expected, Thomas had excellent business acumen, quickly became a successful merchant and engaged in financial affairs and responsibilities reflecting a precociousness. He began a career as a militia officer which took him from Ensign to Colonel. Prior to Thomas (IV) all Davenport land in Halifax had been south of the Banister River, which divides the Fork of the Dan and Staunton rivers. Thomas located in Meadesville, north of the Banister, and in 1805 he was appointed Overseer of a road gang which included, among a number of others, Joseph Varner. At that time, Varner's daughter Mary was three-years-old. Davenport was age 23. In Jun1820, Mary Varner, age 18, bore Thomas Davenport a daughter Eliza. He was still married to Jane, although there is a claim, unverified, that Jane died in 1820. In the next ten years, Mary bore the Congressman three more children: Martha, c1823; John S., 2Mar1825; and Nancy, 1828. In the Census of 1830, Mary Varner was listed as a Halifax head of household of age 20-30 with one male and three females therein fitting the known ages of Eliza, Martha, John S., and Nancy. She was credited as having one Slave, alleged by Mary's descendants as belonging to Thomas Davenport and loaned to Mary. We need to take a second look at the Congressman's 1830 Census enumeration. When Thomas (IV) made his will on 15Oct1838 (probated 26Nov1838), he first named Mary Varner's four children, identifying them name, and giving each $50. (He made no provision or legacy for Mary.) He then named two "natural sons," George W. Davenport and Walter T. Davenport, to have $1500 each. The balance of his estate was devised to his daughter Adeline Spencer. Washington City social history notes that the Congressman's daughter had been his social hostess during his decade there, suggesting that wife Jane had died before 1825. Davenport left nothing to Mary Varner, who possibly had alienated him by moving from Halifax to Patrick County where she and family joined her father Joseph Varner on land awarded him for service in the Revolution. By the Census of 1850 Mary and all of her children had taken the surname Davenport. As Mary Deavenport, age 46, she was listed in Patrick County, Southern District, as the head of a household that included daughter Martha, age 27, and daughter Nancy, age 21. Eliza had married Abel Trent, Sr., and John S. had, or soon would, marry Martha A. Floyd, both lived in adjoining Henry County, Horsepasture District. We have previously considered that the "natural sons" named by the Congressman in his will were additional illegitimates, but recognized. Since finding John S. Varner Davenport, we now believe that both George W. and Walter T. were legitimate sons, were identified as "natural" because there was also son John S. who was illegitimate, and that the Congressman was being delicate in language usage. We have seen genealogical data indicating that the Congressman's two sons moved to Georgia contrary to their father's wishes, where they were both successful merchants there and in Alabama. We have received detailed data from a descendant of Eliza Varner Davenport, who married Abel Trent, Sr., and has entered appropriate names and dates in the Pamunkey Davenport Five-Generation Chart. The web site will be updated shortly. Another stone turned over. John Scott Davenport Holmdel, NJ