-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] John Davis of Nanticoke Looking through the tax lists the first John Davis we find in Nanticoke appeared for two years in someone else's household BUT suddenly in 1749 when John Reed had died, a John Davis appears as head of household in Nanticoke with a couple of slaves and he appears to live next door or near Hezekiah Reed: __________________ No, we know much, much more than that: So Judicial Records 1727-30:090 (Jun court 1728). Joseph Venables’ orphans’ bond, £580.04.10; for the orphans of James Givan, deceased, estate valued at £290.02.05: Margaret Givan, Sarah Givan, James Givan, John Givan, Martha Givan, William Givan, George Givan, Jane Givan. Surety: Thomas Humphries. [N.B.: by all other evidence, this list would appear to be age-ordered. Joseph Venables was the second husband of James Givan’s widow Mary.] Also, by So JR 1730-33:289 (Mar court 1732/3), Martha Givan, orphan of full age [this was 14] to choose her guardian, selected John Handy, planter. Benjamin Venables [her stepbrother - her mother’s then-deceased second husband Joseph Venable’s eldest son] instructed to deliver up estate. Sureties: James Caldwell [a brother-in-law], Robert Givan [her uncle], for £50. By overall analysis of the family, then, Martha Givan was b. probably ca 1718 at James Givan’s plantation on Rewastico Creek (centered on WHITEMARSHES DELIGHT, with other neighboring tidbits). John Read (or Reed) was, by tax lists, b. ca 1711 at his father John Read’s plantation along the Nanticoke (between Quantico and Wetipquin Creeks), at that time WESTON (Read, Sr. later acquired 350 ac of the adjoining HOG QUARTER to the north, and other smaller interests). John was the eldest son, followed by Zachariah (1715), Obediah (1719), Hezekiah (1722), and James (1725). John Sr. (wife Mary) also had daughters Hannah (m. Charles Huggins), Mary (m. ____ Wilson) and Tabitha (m. Joseph Bounds). John Read, Jr. and Martha Givan probably m. in the mid-1730s, after he took up his own residence on lands (part of HOG QUARTER) given him by his father (following the Nanticoke tax list trail). Both John Read Sr. and John Read Jr. died in 1748. John Jr.’s LW&T (MD Wills 25:472 and So Wills EB4:013) names son Jacob and daughters Margaret and Martha. (These children are all also listed in Martha Davis’ 1783 Worcester will.) Jacob Read, their son, disposed of this land in 1764 (by So Deeds C:232), selling to Ephaim King. By the Nanticoke tax lists, just picking up in 1745 for John Read, Jr: 1745 HH 216 + slaves Hannah, Mereor, adj. his father (215). 1746 HH 59 + slaves Hannah, Mariare. 1747 HH 61 + slaves Hannah, Mereare. 1748 HH 57 "dead" + slaves Hannah, Merrar. Then, beginning in 1749, we find, in exactly this spot in the lists, one John Davis: 1749 HH 55 + slaves Hannah, "Marcus". Adj. Hezekiah Read (56). 1750 HH 58 + slaves Hannah, Murear. Adj. Hezekiah Read (59). 1751 HH 55 + slave Hannah. Adj. Hezekiah Read (56). 1752 and later, not seen. So John Davis, whoever he was and wherever he’d been, had taken the widow Martha Givan Read to wife, slaves and all. There are no land records for him in this part of the county, and no guaranteed tie to where he’d come from. (There were multiple John Davises in the overall county mix.) But there he was. And in 1753, we see John Davis acquiring RILEYS PORTION in the east. Looks like the same man, indeed. As to his demise or the other John Reads over there in what became Aquango, etc., I ain’t looked. John