USA > New York > Genealogical and family history of central New York : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the building of a nation, Volume I > Part 23
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(1) Dolor Davis was the ancestor of the very numerous family which has been down to the present time prominently identified with Massachusetts. He came from the county of Kent, England, although undoubtedly of Welsh ancestry, and settled first at Cambridge, Mas- sachusetts, where he received a grant of land. August 4, 1634. His wife and three children came over in the following year, accompanied by her brother, General Simon Willard, one of the founders of Concord and Lancaster. Massachusetts. Dolor Davis was a carpenter and builder and removed from Cambridge to Duxbury, where he was admitted a freeman of the Plymouth colony, March 5, 1639. He and his wife were dismissed from the church of Duxbury and joined the church at Barnstable. Massachusetts, August 27, 1648. He had a land grant in Duxbury, in 1640, and was sur- veyor of highways, constable and a member of various committees in Barnstable. In 1655 he left the Plymouth colony, and returning to Massachusetts purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land in Concord. Eleven years later he returned to Barnstable, where he died in June, 1673. Dolor Davis married (first ). in England, March 29, 1624, Margery Willard,
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who was baptized November 7, 1602, at Horse- monden, Kent, England, and died prior to 1667. She was the daughter of Richard Will- ard, a yeoman of Horsemonden. His will made September 13, 1672, mentions his second wife Joanna, and states that his sons, Simon and Samuel, had already received their portions of his estate. Children : John, of Barnstable, born in England, about 1626, inherited the paternal homestead ; Mary, born in England, 1631 ; Eliz- abeth, born in England: Lieutenant Simon, born about 1638, probably in Cambridge, died in Concord, in 1713 ; Samuel, mentioned below ; Ruth, born at Barnstable, March 24, 1645.
(11) Samuel, third son of Dolor and Mar- gery (Willard) Davis, was probably born in Concord, Massachusetts, in which town he lived and died. He was admitted a freeman, March 21, 1690, and resided in that part of the town which became Bedford, where his homestead has continued in the family for many generations. It is located on the edge of the river meadow, on the road from Con- cord to Bedford, and the old well, which is still in use, is believed to have been dug by Samuel Davis. The date of his death is not recorded, but he was living as late as 1714. He mar- ried (first ), January 11, 1666, at Lynn, Mary Medow, who died October 30, 1710. He mar- ried (second ), October 18, 1711, Ruth Taylor, who died August 16, 1720. Children : Mercy, died in her second year ; Samuel, born June 21, 1669, resided in Bedford; Daniel, mentioned below ; Mary, born August 12, 1677, married John Stearns ; Eleazer, August 26. 1680, re- sided in Bedford; Lieutenant Simon, July 9, 1683, was one of the most prominent citizens of Rutland, Massachusetts; Stephen, March 30, 1686, resided in Bedford.
(II1) Daniel. second son of Samuel and Mary ( Medow ) Davis, was born March 26, 1673, in Concord, and lived in that town. When the new town of Bedford was set off, in 1729. his farm was included in that town. He died February 10, 1741. He married, July 27, 1698. Mary Hubbard, born June 3, 1682, daughter of Jonathan and Hannah ( Rice ) Hubbard. She married ( second ) Ebenezer Staples, of Mendon, and died February 2, 1769. Daniel Davis' children : Jonathan, born February 15, 1700: Daniel, September 19, 1701, lived in Bedford; Mercy, November 11, 1703, died in her sixth year; Ephraim, January 27, 1706; Nathan, March 31, 1708; Amos, April 18, 17II ; Josiah, July 19, 1713; Nathaniel, men-
tioned below ; Mary, April 4, 1719; Ezra, died two months old; Hannah, died thirteen years old: Mercy, born July 23, 1725.
(IV) Nathaniel, seventh son of Daniel and Mary ( Hubbard) Davis, was born December 3, 1715, in that part of Concord, now Bedford, and settled in Rutland, Massachusetts, where he resided several years. In 1763 he was one of the first settlers of Rockingham, Vermont, where he was a prominent citizen, being a foundation member of the church and one of the donors of land for the meeting-house and cemetery. He died there, October 26, 1802. The family tradition says he was twice mar- ried, but record of only one marriage can be found. This was in Bedford, April 16, 1741, the bride being Susanna, daughter of John and Catherine (Whiting) Lane. She was born April 8, 1720, in that part of Billerica now Bedford, and died July 30, 1795. One family tradition says that his second wife was Mary Lane, born 1717. Only seven children are found of record, the first four born in Rutland. They were: Nathaniel, died young ; Susanna, born March 26, 1743; Hannah, August 25, 1745, died unmarried; Levi, May 20, 1753: Nathaniel, 1754, married Lydia Harwood, lived in Rockingham ; Joshua ; John Lane, mention- ed below.
(V) John Lane, son of Nathaniel and Sus- anna (Lane) Davis, was born November 8, 1757, possibly in Northfield, Massachusetts, whence the family tradition says he removed to Rockingham, but this is doubtful. Per- haps he was born in, or near Rutland, Massa- chusetts. He was a soldier of the revolu- tion and a pensioner, and lived in Chester and Rockingham, Vermont, and died Decem- ber 29, 1839. He married, in Rockingham, February 28, 1799, Susanna Lucius, born July, 1762, died December 5, 1860, in her ninety- ninth year. The record of the marriage states that he was a resident of Chester and she of Rockingham. Children: Ofa, born July 12, 1800, died at the age of two years ; John Lane, mentioned below : Eri Luther, April 20, 1804, died September 16, 1877: Calvin Emerson, June 15, 1806; James Warren, May 4, 1809; Laura A., July 20, 1811 ; Hiram John, August 16, 1813; George, May 3, 1815. The sixth is not recorded in Rockingham.
(VI) John Lane (2), eldest surviving son of John Lane ( I) and Susanna (Lucius) Davis, was born June 2, 1802, in Rockingham, Vermont, died in Freeville, New York, Janu-
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ary 15, 1886. He was apprenticed or "bound out" at an early age, to a "Parson" Whiting, of Rockingham, Vermont, with whom he re- mained as apprentice boy for many years, doing chores, working on the grounds and waiting upon the master. He was denied the usual advantages given to New England boys in the way of education, and was allowed to go to school only three months during his boy- hood. He had no money with which to buy his books, but he finally procured an old spell- ing book and then quarried out a slate and rubbed it down with another stone to give it the proper surface. Nevertheless he always seemed to be well educated-wrote a fine hand ; composed and spoke grammatically; was a natural mathematician, and an omnivorous reader, and, with it all, was blessed with a very retentive memory. The wages of young men in those days were small, but he used to boast that between his twenty-first and twenty-fourth year he had saved up the sum of three hun- dred dollars, all he earned, which was con- sidered a fair start in life. He followed his sweetheart, Mary Boynton, a school teacher, from Vermont to McLean, New York, where he worked with his future brother-in-law at the carpenter trade. During the early part of his life he was elected to the office of constable, and was also overseer of highways, collector, etc. He was noted for his industry, temper- ance and public spirit. He was also a man of exceedingly courteous and kindly manners, which he, doubtless, acquired during his early training in New England. He was a devoted Whig and a constant reader of the Albany Weekly Journal and the New York Tribune. which, with him, were almost household gods. He enjoyed such authors as Theodore Parker, Dickens, Thackeray and the like. His admira- tion for public men and measures, especially of his own party, was always in evidence, and. as an illustration of his zeal, when word was passed around that Henry Clay was to speak at the State Fair at Syracuse, in the "forties." which was before the day of railroads, this ardent follower of the Kentucky statesman, although at a busy season of the year, drove from his home to Syracuse during the night, some fifty miles, reaching the city in the morn- ing of the day the address was to be de- livered, attending the meeting and was back to his fields at work the second morning. That trip and address was an event in his life. He not only could describe, with great accuracy
and vividness, the appearance of the noted orator, but could repeat almost word for word the address that he delivered. He was most skillful and thorough in all his duties as stock- man and farmer, and was most highly respect- ed by all his friends and neighbors, and owned a fine farm near the village of McLean, New York. He was an exceedingly strong, active man until he was taken with a fatal malady at the age of eighty-three. Ile married Mary, daughter of Abraham and Betsey ( Marsh) Boynton, in 1830. Their children were : Byron. Lucius, Eliza, George B. and Mary. A me- morial window, dedicated to him and his wife, Mary (Boynton) Davis, was placed in the Universalist church, at McLean, by his family, in the year 1907.
(VII) Lucius, second son of John Lane (2) and Mary ( Boynton ) Davis, was born July 30. 1834, in McLean, New York, and now ( 191I) resides at Cortland, New York. He was a man of high integrity and character and pos- sessed of wonderful fortitude and physical courage. Many incidents of his life would make the ground work of a thrilling romance. His early life around McLean was uneventful. He was a farmer boy until early in 1861. He went into the oil region of western Pennsyl- vania, just then developing, and located at Oil Creek. His opportunities for success were fast developing when Fort Sumter was fired on and President Lincoln made his call for volun- teers. He was invited to join an Ohio regi- ment being raised near the Pennsylvania line, where he was then located, but preferred to go home and go to the front with his old friends and acquaintances, who were then en- listing. He came back home and being with- out any political influence or backing that would enable him to become an officer, he en- listed, July, 1861, as a private in the Seventy- sixth New York Volunteer Infantry, then being organized at Cortland. With this regiment he left for the front in January, 1862, and par- ticipated in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Gainesville, Second Bull Run, South Monn- tain, Antietam, besides minor skirmishes, dur- ing the campaign of 1862. At Gainesville he was wounded in the left breast, a wound that would have been fatal but for the fact that the bullet was partially stopped by a roll of blankets he was carrying over his shoulder. At Sec- ond Bull Run, General Doubleday's brigade. of which the Seventy-sixth Regiment was a part, was in an exposed position in a ravine,
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confronted by a large part of the Confederate army. A driver of an ammunition wagon had brought up a load of ammunition, and had been shot, together with the lead mule of the six mule team, and in the change of position this wagon was between the two lines and only a short distance from either, on a field being swept constantly by bullets. General Double- day riding up and observing the position of this wagon, and realizing that he was about to retreat and this wagon of ammunition would fall into the hands of the enemy, called for a volunteer soldier to go with a member of his staff to bring back that wagon or destroy it. The duty was one of great danger and no one could be blamed for holding back, but Lucius Davis stepped forward and volunteered for the service. Leaving his gun with one of his com- rades, he went with the officer and attempted to bring off the wagon of ammunition, but with the lead mule killed, the others were un- manageable and could not be driven or led. While engaged in trying to bring back the wagon, the bullets of the enemy were singing about their ears, going through the top of the wagon and exposing these men to the risk of death every moment. Learning that they could not bring the wagon, they built a fire under it, opened some boxes of powder and made pre- parations to explode it. The enemy then charged, but having fired the train the two men made their way in safety to their own lines, while the wagon was exploded and de- stroyed before it could be reached by the Con- federates. Again on the same day when one of the Union batteries had opened fire on the enemy and its shells were falling and explod- ing in this ravine where the regiment lay out of sight, General Doubleday again called for a volunteer to go up on the hill in the face of the Confederate batteries' fire, and give the order to the Union battery to cease firing. Again Lucius Davis volunteered for this haz- ardons service, and made a run up the hill, ex- posed to exploding shells on all sides, success- fully performed his mission and observing that the balance of the army had retreated, returned to his general and advised him that his support liad left him and that he had better withdraw, which he did at once. General Doubleday then said to him, "You are a brave man,-come to mny tent to-night and I will see what I can do for you." But in the retreat there was no opportunity to see the general, nor did he have the inclination to seek out promotion or
reward for the service he had performed. Nevertheless, shortly afterward he was pro- moted to be orderly sergeant of his company by the colonel of the regiment, undoubtedly upon the recommendation of General Double- day. "for bravery and strict attention to busi- ness," and, on February 7, 1863, he was com- missioned by Governor Seymour, of New York, second lieutenant, with rank from November 11, 1862. On May 19, 1863, he was commis- sioned first lieutenant in Company C, Seventy- sixth Regiment, by Governor Seymour, as a further appreciation of his gallantry. At the battle of South Mountain, which was fought largely in the night, while on the firing line, a bullet cut the rim of his straw hat completely off close to his head. At this battle, standing by a comrade. Mell Luther, he called Luther's attention to a Confederate crawling toward them in a cornfield. Luther could not see the approaching enemy, so he coolly borrowed Luther's gun, took careful aim, and fired. The crawling ceased.
In the campaign of 1863 he took part in the battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, besides other minor engagements. At Fredericksburg his regiment was engaged in throwing up a fortification, at the same time being exposed to the fire from the canon of a Confederate battery, and with the shells burst- ing around them, the men became somewhat nervons while they were exposed. The canon were at such a distance that one could see the puff of smoke several seconds before the ball or shell would reach the point where it was directed. Noticing this Lieutenant Davis told the men to work until he should give them warning; so standing upon the exposed en- trenchment. he watched the batteries, and when he saw the puff of smoke, gave warning and the men would then drop into entrench- ment out of danger, while he remained on top coolly pacing back and forth, without taking any precaution for his own safety.
At Gettysburg the Seventy-sixth Regiment was marching in front of the First Corps which opened the battle. and Company C, com- manded by Lieutenant Davis, was marching in front of this regiment, so that this company opened the battle of Gettysburg, firing the first shot. They had marches through the town and deployed in battle line on Seminary Ridge, where in an open field they made a stand in the face of the advance guard of the Confederate army. A Union battery, which
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had been driven in from some advanced posi- tion, came tearing back through the line, throw- ing the men of this company and the regiment into more or less confusion, but they were rallied and steadied by Lieutenant Davis, who closed the files and led them gallantly into the face of the fire of the enemy. At this time, while handing a gun to a wounded comrade. who had fallen, and who was likely to fall into the hands of the enemy, he was shot through the right hand, but doing the wound up with his handkerchief, and placing a tourniquet on his wrist and fastening it with a stick, which he held under his arm, he continued in com- mand of his company. For several hours, fighting against tremendous odds, they held their line, permitting the main part of the Union army to come up and form in battle line behind them, where the main battle was fought. When it was necessary to retreat Lieutenant Davis brought his men back in good order in the face of a very heavy fire, with men dropping all around him, and taking careful pains, as guns would fall from their hands, to stop, pick up the gun and break it, so that it would not fall into the hands of the foe. For a part of the distance, when the fire was heaviest, and it appeared that no man would get off in safety, he marched backward, so that if he fell he would not be shot in the back.
As they passed through Gettysburg he took possession of a house, established it as a tem- porary hospital and directed his men to bring in as many as they could of their wounded comrades. He waited here until he saw his brigade colors going past, and then realizing that the whole line was in retreat, and if he re- mained longer he would be captured, he gave some last directions for the comfort of the wounded soldiers and left to join his retreating comrades, being practically the last man to leave the city before it was occupied by the Confederates.
During this time he had also received some injury or wound in his left leg, below the knee, which at that time was not thought to be serious. The wound that he received in the hand before noon, was not dressed until after dark at night, when he was advised by the surgeon that his hand must be amputated. He refused to submit to this operation, saying that he could save his hand, and after consulting his regimental surgeon and having the wound dressed he retired with some other officers to
a farm house, near Round Top, where he watched the next two days battle, being unable to participate and being compelled to go with little food and drink and no care until after the battle was over, when, with three other wounded men, he employed a farmer to carry him to the railroad some distance away, where, with other wounded, he got into a freight car and went to Wilmington, Delaware, a journey of several hours without food and care, and was then transferred to a train and taken to a hospital in Philadelphia. From there he soon left for his home, where he might be cared for by his mother and his local doctor, and was there greeted with great affection by his family and neighbors, he having been reported in the newspapers among those killed at Gettysburg. After his wounds healed he attempted to re- turn to the war, but the examining surgeon declared him physically unfit and reluctantly he was compelled to accept a discharge on No- vember 9, 1863. He subsequently received, January 10, 1871, in consideration of his dis- tinguished services, a commission as brevet major from Governor Hoffman, of New York.
At the close of the war he accepted a posi- tion as superintendent of construction of tele- graph lines along the Milwaukee and LaCrosse railroad, in Wisconsin. This was a country sparsely settled and inhabited by a tribe of Indians, which caused great trouble among the settlers by thievery and acts of violence. On one occasion, while riding along the Mississippi river, on the Wisconsin side, he stopped over night with a settler who had a wife and small babe. During the night the house was attack- ed by the Indians, who broke windows and battered down the door, and caused the set- tler, his wife and Lieutenant Davis to take refuge in the loft overhead. In the darkness of the night the settler was lowered from the window by a rope taken from a bed by Lieu- tenant Davis, to row across the river to Win- ona, Minnesota, for help, leaving Lieutenant Davis to protect the woman and babe. The Indians raised one of their number on their shoulders through a trap door in the floor of the loft, but when he grasped the sides to draw himself up, Lieutenant Davis seized an axe and cut his fingers off, causing him to drop back. Then with a shotgun and a revolver, which he had, Lieutenant Davis opened fire on the Indians below and stood them off until the settler returned with help. A large number of Indians were captured and the rescuers
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found six dead Indians in the lower part of the cabin who had been shot down during the encounter.
He returned to the east about 1868 and re- ceived the appointment of postmaster of the village of Marathon, Cortland county. About 1870 he was appointed railway mail clerk on the Southern Central railroad, taking the first mail over that road, and was subsequently transferred to a similar position on the Erie railroad. His health failing in 1876 he took up farming in Virgil, Cortland county, and in the town of Groton, Tompkins county, until about 1892, when the wound in the left leg, which had given him trouble ever since the war, became so serious that he was obliged to have the leg amputated above the knee. He then retired from active life, moving in the fall of 1892 to Cortland, where he has since resided.
He married, September 23. 1863, Harriett Francis, born August 23, 1839, in Virgil. New York, daughter of Richard and Caroline (Gager) Francis. Children : Leland G., Row- land L. and Ralph H.
(VIII) Rowland Lucius, second son of Lucius and Harriett (Francis) Davis, was born July 10, 1871, in Dryden, Tompkins coun- ty, New York. His early life was spent on a farm in the town of Virgil, and the town of Groton, obtaining a preliminary education in the district schools and in the graded school at McLean. Subsequently he attended the State Normal School, at Cortland, where he gradu- ated in June, 1896, and entered the Cornell College of Law the following September, and graduated with the degree of LL. B. in June, 1897, having completed the then two years course in one year. He was admitted to the bar on July 6, 1897, and began the practice of his profession in the city of Cortland. In 1899 he was elected police justice of the village of Cortland. which office was subsequently made that of city judge, when Cortland be- came a city in 1900, in which year he was re- elected, serving until January 1, 1903. He has continued the practice of his profession in the city of Cortland, as a member of the firm of Davis & Lusk, taking an active part in many important trials. Ile early took an active interest in Republican politics in Cort- land county. and was secretary of the Repub- lican county committee from 1898 to 1901, and chairman of the Republican county com- mittee in 1907-08-09, and has been frequently
a delegate to state, judicial and other district conventions.
He married, June 15. 1905, Iva A. Yager, of Cortland, daughter of Edwin M. and Hattie (Hunt ) Yager, born January 2, 1883. Their children are : Rowland L. (2), born August 3, 1907, and Harriet Iva, May 2, 1910.
INGERSOLL John Ingersoll, immigrant
ancestor, was born in Eng- land, and settled early at Hartford, Connecticut. Thence he went to Northampton, Massachusetts, about 1655, and later to Westfield, but finally returned to Northampton. He died at Westfield, Septem- ber 3. 1684. He married (first) Dorothy. daughter of Thomas Lord, one of the first set- tlers of Hartford, about 1651. She died at Northampton in January, 1657, aged about twenty-six years. He married (second) Abi- gail, daughter of Thomas Bascom, one of the first settlers of Windsor, Connecticut, where she was born and was baptized June 7, 1640. He married (third) Mary Hunt, sister of Jon- athan Hunt, of Northampton, about 1667. Mary Hunt's mother was Mary Webster, daughter of John Webster, one of the first settlers of Hartford, and fifth governor of the colony of Connecticut. Mary Ingersoll died at Westfield. September 1, 1690. Children of first wife : Hannah, born 1652: Dorothv, 1654; Margerv, January, 1656. Children of second wife: Abigail, January 11, 1659; Sarah. Octo- ber 30. 1660; Abiah. August 24. 1663 : Hester, September 9, 1665. Children of third wife: Thomas, March 28. 1668: John, October 19, 1669, at Westfield ; Abel. November 11. 1671 ; Ebenezer, October 15, 1673; Joseph. October 16, 1675: Mary, November 17, 1677; Ben- jamin. November 15. 1679: Jonathan, men- tioned below.
Jonathan. son of John Ingersoll, was born at Westfield, May 10, 1681, died November 28. 1760 (gravestone). In 1707 he was a resi- dent of Milford. Connecticut. He married, in 1712. Sarah Miles, widow of John Miles, and daughter of Samnel Newton. of Milford, granddaughter of Robert and Mary Newton. She died February 14. 1748, in the sixty-sec- ond year of her age. Children : Jonathan, men- tioned below ; Sarah. born June 18. 1716. died young ; Mary, December 14, 1718: David. Sep- tember 4. 1720; Jared. Tune 3. 1722 ; Sarah.
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