This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Davidson, Enochs, Portwood, Hunter, Bryan, Benefiel, Hume, Holloway Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/FNR.2ACEB/3178.1.2 Message Board Post: I hope some of you Daniel Davidson descendents can help me. My gr.gr. grandfather Daniel Davidson and his wife Mary Enochs were living on Floyds Fork, Jefferson county in 1810 where they purchased land. I have the deeds from the courthouse. They sold the land in 1818 when they moved to Sullivan County, Indiana. One letter from a grandchild of Daniel and Mary state that Daniel was born in Culpepper county, Va. Have not been able to prove this. Mary Enochs was the daughter of Thomas Enochs and Nancy Ann Bryan who came from Rowan Co. N.C. and settled in Oldham county, Ky. My interest is in who Daniel's parents were. An earlier researcher (1930) stated he was the grandchild of Gen. Wm. Lee Davidson of N.C. This is regarded as an error. The researcher either got off on the wrong line or skipped a generation. Some believe he is the son of Daniel of Clay or Perry co. I was told family lost track of this Daniel after he left Ky. Daniel was born in 1786 in Virginia (census rec! ord) and died in 1865 at Carlisle, Indiana. He and wife Mary Enochs raised 10 children at Carlisle. George Davidson of Jessamine County and wife Mary Hunter are connected to this Daniel. George's children came to Carlisle after the death of the parents and entermarried with Daniel's family. They lived next door to one another and are regarded as near relatives. Destruction of the Davidson cemetery and a courthouse fire in Sullivan county has made this a very difficult task. Daniel and Mary seemed to use the naming pattern, therefore I have to consider his father could have been named John. Other family names from Kentucky which appear in the records are Portwood, Bryan, Benefiel, Hume, and Holloway. Do hope some of this rings a bell with any of you Davidson researchers out there. I have worked on this for 40 years with little luck. Mary Pielemeier

Mary Pielemeier, I know that you have been trying to determine the parents of "your" Daniel Davidson for some time. It seems that all of the "other" Daniels from VA married someone other than a Mary Enochs. There was a Daniel Davidson who was born in VA for whom I have seen no further info. I thought that I would pass this on, just in case it could be "your" Daniel. There were two father/son pairs of John Davidsons in Augusta Co., VA in the mid-1700s. One of the two fathers named John is known to have been the son of Robert Davidson (born in the 1600s) and his wife Ann (some believe that she was Ann Dunlap, but no proof). That John (died in 1762) was married to an Elizabeth (probably Elizabeth Houston or Elizabeth Maben; died in the early 1800s), and they had several children, including another John Davidson (born 1757) who married Mary Thompson in 1787 in Rockbridge Co., VA. Note: The above Robert and Ann Davidson had a daughter named Margaret/Mary who married a Houston, and General Sam Houston of "Texas fame" came from them. The other of the two fathers named John apparently married Mary Allison, a daughter of Robert Allison. They had a son who was also named John Davidson, and he appears to have married Sarah Rootes. It is unclear how/if this Davidson family was related to the above Robert Davidson family that was also in Augusta Co., VA. The John Davidson who apparently married Sarah Rootes had several children, and his 1798 Augusta Co., VA will lists them. One of the sons listed was Daniel Davidson, and other than this will, I have never seen one other thing about him. Daniel's siblings were John (yet another one), Agnes (married a Daugherty), Elizabeth (married a Tankersley), Margaret (also married a Tankersley), Sarah (married Shaw) and Mary. It appears that the oldest John Davidson in this family (who apparently married Mary Allison) lived until 1802, and a John Davidson who was married to a Mary left a will then. It mentioned daughters Jinny Davidson (who, coincidentally, married ! a William Davidson from yet a third Davidson family), Robert Davidson (who married a Sarah "Sally" Davidson who was the apparent sister of the referenced William Davidson) and Sarah "Sally" (Davidson) Gilmore (wife of James Gilmore, as I recall). There was also an Agnes Davidson who had married a Richard Shanklin (Richard died in Botetourt Co., VA in 1800, and Agnes was mentioned in Richard's will). It strongly appears that Agnes was from this same Davidson family, and she might have been a sister or even an older daughter of the John Davidson who married Mary Allison (note: if she was John's daughter, however, Agnes was not mentioned in his above-referenced 1802 will). Finally, there was a John Thompson who married a Martha Davidson, and they had a daughter named Elizabeth Thompson who married an Arbuckle in Augusta Co., VA in the mid-1700s. This John Thompson appears to have been the son of Mathew Thompson, Senior (died 1753 in Augusta Co., VA), and John Thompson's siblings appear to have been Mathew Thompson, Junior, William Thompson, Margaret Thompson and James Thompson (probably the oldest sibling). Like the Agnes Davidson who married Richard Shanklin, this Martha Davidson was probably from one of the above two Davidson families. As stated above, it is currently unclear if the two Davidson families were actually just "one big family." It could be that the above-mentioned Robert Davidson had an unknown brother (and/or a sister), but there does not seem to be any proof of that at this time. Anyway, the above Daniel Davidson has not been "researched," as far as I can tell. Could he possibly be "yours?" Best regards, Bill Davidson