My Genealogy Hound

CAPTAIN JESSE B. DAVIS. For many years one of the best-known and most popular men of Montgomery county was Captain Jesse B. Davis of Norristown. His ancestors were Welsh and they were early settlers in America. The family is a large one and widely scattered over the counties of Chester, Montgomery and Bucks.

Hon. Roger Davis, the first of the family of whom anything definite is known, was a noted physician. He practiced in Charlestown township, Chester county. He was a Democrat in politics and represented his district in congress for two terms, from 1812 to 1816. That he was popular and filled the position acceptably to his constituents is shown by the fact that he was given two terms, as was also his immediate successor, Dr. William Darlington, another Democrat, who sustained, as his predecessor had done, the administration of President Madison and the war for free commerce and sailors’ rights. Dr. Davis having taken his seat just prior to the declaration of war against England, in the session of congress of 1812.

Dr. Roger Davis married Sarah Jones. Their eldest son, after the Welsh custom, was named Jones Davis. He was born in Charlestown township, March 7, 1788. After receiving a good education he studied medicine, graduating at an early age, His younger brothers, Roger and Thomas, also studied medicine, the latter afterwards becoming eminent as a practitioner at Trappe, and still later at Evansburg, where he died. He married Sarah Reiff. Their only child was a daughter, Mary Davis, who is still living, and resides in the Dr. Davis mansion.
Dr. Roger Davis, the youngest of the sons, also practiced medicine, but died of Asiatic cholera in 1832.

As soon as he had graduated, and immediately after the declaration of war with Great Britain, Dr. Jones Davis offered his services and was appointed surgeon’s mate by President Madison. His commission, still in existence, signed by the president, bears date July 6, 1812, showing that he entered the service within a month after the declaration of war. He was attached to the Sixteenth Regiment of regular infantry, and at once marched by land to the Canada border. He was with his regiment at Lundy’s Lane and at the sortie at Fort Erie, under Colonel (afterwards General) Winfield Scott. He aided in dressing the wounds of Colonel Scott received in the action at the fort. With his brigade he marched to Lake Champlain and he was for a short time stationed at the famous Fort Ticonderoga. After two years’ service he left the army and began the practice of his profession at Pughtown, Chester county. On March 14, 1814, he married Charlotte, daughter of Jesse Bean, of Norriton township, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania. Their children were seven in number.

Jesse B., the subject of this sketch was born June 9, 1815.

Samuel, born April 25, 1817, married Mrs. Margaret Emery. They had one son, Jones, now deceased. Samuel J. Davis died of pneumonia. He was buried in Pikeland cemetery in Chester county.

Hannah Matilda, born January 23, 1819, married William B. Shupe, and both are now deceased.

William B., born March 9, 1821, died February 8, 1832.

John R., born March 27, 1822, died August 9, 1900. He was a coal operator at Scranton, where he acquired a large fortune. He married Miss Jessie Corson. They had two children, one of whom died in infancy and the other is Mrs. Mathews, of Scranton. Mrs. Davis having died, John R. Davis married his first wife’s sister Augusta, and they had two children, Annie and Walter E.

Charles Thomas, born December 14, 1830, married Hannah Slingluff. Their children are: John R., Elizabeth A., Charlotte R., Hannah Matilda, and Sarah Ellen. Charles T. Davis is a farmer and resides on the Davis homestead, near Shannonville, now Audubon, in a house built by a French refugee more than a century ago.

Sarah Ann, married Jackson Miller, and resides at Jeffersonville. Their children: Emeline, Mrs. Elizabeth Ambo, Eleanor, Eliza K., and two sons, who died in infancy.

After practicing medicine and following other employment for several years in Chester county, Dr. Jones Davis removed with his family in 1824 to Norriton township, near Jeffersonville, where he resided until 1828, when he, being an active Democratic politician, was nominated in the party convention for the office of sheriff of Montgomery county, to which he was elected. His commission was issued by Governor Schultze, and he served the full term of three years. During a part of this time, in addition to his official duties, he ran the Pawling grist mill at the foot of Swede street, Norristown. In 1832 he removed to Lower Providence township, where, in connection with his brother, Dr. Thomas Davis, he was extensively engaged in the practice of medicine, having his residence on a farm north of Jeffersonville which he eventually bought. In 1842 Dr. Jones Davis was elected prothonotary of Montgomery county on the Democratic ticket, succeeding Josiah W. Evans. He served three years, having James B. Evans as his deputy.

He died September 18, 1860, his remains being interred in the burying-ground at St. James church, Evansburg, of which his wife had been a member for some years. His wife died October 26, 1845, resting in the same cemetery.

Captain Jesse Bean Davis was born at Pughtown, Chester county, where his father was then practicing his profession. He was educated in the public schools of the vicinity and in the Mantua Military School, Philadelphia, graduating from the latter in 1842, with the rank of second lieutenant. He secured the position of bookkeeper in the wholesale grocery of Marshall & Kellogg, Philadelphia, remaining two years. He then took charge of his father’s farm and managed it for several years. Having a military education, he joined Captain Mathey’s Democratic troop and trained with it for seven years. He then organized a company of artillery called the “Washington Grays,” being elected its captain. During twelve years that he held this command he served in the Native American riots in Philadelphia in 1844. Soon after the company disbanded, in 1855, he was elected clerk of the courts, on the Democratic ticket, serving three years. In the legislative session of 1858-9 he was appointed transcribing clerk of the state senate. Previously Captain Davis had been elected colonel of the One Hundred and Ninth Regiment Pennsylvania State Militia. He also served for a time as major of its First Battalion.

Captain Davis was several times a candidate for the legislature, but was unsuccessful. In 1878 he was nominated and elected to the responsible office of county commissioner, serving three years. In 1868 he was named for prison inspector by Judge Chapman, being reappointed by Judge Ross in 1871. Part of the time of his six years’ service he was president of the board. He was an earnest and efficient advocate of retrenchment and economy. Having begun dealing in livestock in 1860, in 1868 he bought a lot and erected buildings at Jeffersonville. He soon became the leading drover of the vicinity.

Jesse B. Davis married Eleanor A., daughter of John and Hannah Shannon, of Norriton township. His wife was a member of an old and highly respected family in that section of the county. The couple had two children, John S. and Charlotte E., the latter now owning the old homestead of Captain Davis, No. 534 Swede street, and residing in it. Miss Davis has in her possession her grandfather’s sword and his commission as surgeon’s mate, as well as other cherished family relics, many of which have been handed down in the family by inheritance for more than a century.

Captain Jesse B. Davis died November 18, 1896, and his wife passed away November 19, 1881. Both were interred in Montgomery cemetery.