| || Notes for Robert (The Black Davis) Davis:|
The following comes from the "Biographical Genealogies of the Virginia and Kentucky Floyd Families"
Robert Davis who became, when quite young, his father's agent and assistant in business. On account of his densely black hair and eyes, and his dark Indian complexion was nicknamed, "The Black Davis", to differentiate between him and his fair haired father. He married quite young, and removed to Georgia with his bride. After the Floyd 's went to Kentucky several of the Davises removed there from Georgia and settled in the Eastern part of Christian County, Kentucky, which part was named Todd, after the division of the County. One of the descendants of Robert Davis was born in Todd County and carried to Mississippi as a weanling, lived to become the President of The Confederate States of America, his name was Jefferson F. Davis.
According to the book "Venables of Virginia", by Elizabeth Marshall Venable, 1925, the following excerpt comes:
Hugh Lewis came first with his wife and daughter, Abadiah Lewis and lost his wife in America and returned to Britain with Abadiah, his only daughter and both returned again to America, in Virginia, with Robert Davis, who came away without the consent of his parents, and served four years in Virginia, King and Queen, for his passage, and then married Abadiah Lewis, with whom he had immigrated.
The following comes from "The Reads and Their Relatives", page 132
Nathaniel Venable of "Slate Hill", married Martha Davis, born July 14, 1702, died February 18, 1765, daughter of Robert Davis, Sr., and Abadiah Lewis, daughter of Captain Hugh Lewis and his wife Elizabeth of Barbados and Virginia. Robert Davis ran away from home and had to serve four years in King and Queen County to pay for his passage to Virginia. Then he married Abadiah Lewis, with whom he and her father had made the voyage from England, which was their second one.
There has been current a fanciful tale, mentioned by Alex. Brown in his Cabells and Their Kin, that Robert Davis was descended from " a Virginia Cavalier and the Indian Princess Nicketti." The myth,it seems, originated from the fact of the marriage of Robert's daughter, Abadiah, or "Abby" Davis, with William Floyd, who was descended from a half-breed Indian. As it is only the Floyd connection which keeps the name "Nicketti" among its daughters, this appears fairly obvious. Robert Davis was of a somewhat less romantic and more British ancestry. Another one of his daughters married General Evan Shelby; and a son, Robert Davis, Jr. went to Kentucky and was the forebear of President Jefferson Davis.
The following excerpts comes from "Louisville's First Families", A Seried of Genealogical Sketches, by Kathleen Jennings, Published by: The Standard Printing Company...Louisville, Kentucky, 1920.
The parents of the ioneers, Colonel William Floyd and his wife Abediah (or Abigail) Davis, were of Welsh descent and the family tradition that there is a strain of Indian blood in the Davis family is sustained by old photographs of various descendants, while high cheek bones and blue black hair are noticeable in some generations of each branch of the Floyd connection. Abediah Davis Floyd, through her father Robert Davis, who acquired vast properties in Amherst County, Virginia, trading with the Catawba Indians according to the tradition, was a lineal descendant of Opechancanough, brother of Powhatan, Princess Nicketti, the chieftains daughter, marrying Nathaniel Davis, of Wales. (Note: Princess Nicketti married Trader Hughes not Nathaniel Davis...he married Elizabeth Hughes..Nicketti and Trader Hughes' daughter).
Nathaniel's second marriage was to Mary Atkins, who was the sister of his stepmother, Elizabeth Atkins.
Anna Cartlidge notes that Robert Davis, having lost his land in Amherst County, Virginia in a disputed filing by a Nicholas Davis, removed to Natchez, Mississippi, then Georgia, by July 1759, where "we find him in Georgia with his wife, five children and 13 slaves, petitioning for a grant on the south side of the Sapala River, known by the name of Cedar Point".
General information on Mississippi, Georgia and Tennessee and South Carolina.
The following comes from Mississippi History: In 1800 the present state (Mississippi) lay in several jurisdictions; from the gulf to 31 degrees, inSpanish Louisiana; from 31 degrees to the parallel of the Yazoo, in Mississippi Territory; and from the Yazoo northward nearly to Tennessee, in Georgia.
Congress bought out the claims of Georgia in the West in 1802, and added the domain to the South Carolina cession naming the whole territory South of the Ohio River, and in 1804 adding it to Mississippi Territory.
Will of Robert Davis O Georgia
Adams County (Natchez) Mississippi
Book ___, Pages 237-239
Dated 5 September 1771
In the name of God, Amen, I Robert Davis of the Province of Georgia, Plan ?***being very sick and weak of body but of perfect memory thanks to be given to ***, calling unto the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appoint**** for all once to die, do make and ordain this my last Will and Testament
that at is to say; principally and first of all I give and commend my soul unto the hands of Almighty God who gave it, and my body I recommend to be buried with a decent Christian burial at the discretion of my executors, nothing************************** same in the following manner and form. First; I give and bequeath to my well beloved son Lewis Davis two Negro slaves, Bowling and Phobe, with a feather bed and its furniture. Secondly; I give and bequeath unto my well beloved son Landon Davis, twoNegro slaves, Sam and Sarah, with a feather bed and its' furniture. Thirdly; I give and bequeath unto my well beloved son Hugh Davis, three Negro slaves, Roger, Joe, and Cochena, with a feather bed and its' furniture. Fourtherly; I give and bequeath unto my well beloved wife Grace Davis, one Negro girl, Hannah, forever, with a feather bed and furniture. Fifthly; I lend unto my well beloved Grace Davis, four Negro slaves with their increase, named as follows; Charles, Peg, Harry and Ivy, during her widowhood, and out of the income of the four Negro, Charles, Peg, Harry, and Ivy, to maintain, clothe, school, school, and bring up my son Hugh Davis till he comes to the age of twenty years. If the said Grace Davis should marry or die, then the said four Negroes, Charles, Peg, Harry, and Ivy, with their increase shall be equally divided between Lewis Davis, Landon Davis and Hugh Davis, share and share alike; and if either of my three sons, Lewis, Landon and Hugh +++++++ their increase are divided among the survivors that shall be then living; Sixthly; I give unto my well beloved son Nathaniel Davis, twenty Shillings lawful money of great Britain, likewise I give unto my well beloved son Isom Davis, twenty Shillings lawful money of Great Britain, also I give unto my well beloved son Robert Davis, twenty Shillings lawful money of great Britain, I also give to my beloved daughter Obediah Floyd (probably meant Abadiah Floyd), twenty Shillings lawful money of Great Britain, I also give to my beloved daughter Sarah _ _ rks, twenty Shillings lawful money of Great Britain, I also give to my beloved daughter Elizabeth Sexton twenty Shillings lawfulmoney of great Britain. Seventhly; I give and bequeath unto my three sons Lewis, Landon, and Hugh all the remaining part of my estate real and personal to be equally divided among them share and share alike when the youngest child reaches the age of twenty one years. Lastly, I do hereby constitute, nominate, and appoint my two sons Lewis Davis and Landon Davis and the survivors **** them Executors and Executor of this my last Will and Testament, to pay all my lawful debts and to will out all legacy or legacies as is above mentioned in this my last Will and Testament. In Natchez whereof I have *** my hand and seal the fifth day of September in the year of our Lord, One thousand Seven hundred and Seventy One.
***********************perfect senses in *******************as Witness hereunto
Witness Thomas Spell, Hager Spell, Starling Spell
Referring to John Floyds' wedding to Matilda Burford in 1768, Anna Cartlidge writes:
Among their wedding presents was a grant from John's maternal Uncle, Robert Davis, Jr., of twenty-six acres on the east side of Wilderness Creek in Amherst County. (Amherst Deed Book B, page 372. Land surveyed on 2 December 1768 on the south branch of Maple Creed of Pedlar River)...John was to develop this into a farm he called, "Arcadia".
John Floyds' 1782 Will provides: I give to the youngest son of Robert Davis, deceased, twenty five acres of land in Amherst County where I formally lived. It being the land I had from his father, to him and his heirs forever. I give all my other lands in Amherst County to my father to be disposed of as he shall think fit.
This 25 acres was the farm "Arcadia" where Mourning Floyd was born and her mother, Matilda Burford died.
The following excerpt comes from Virginia Genealogies & Biographies, Disk 2, Virginia and Virginians, Volume (Disk 2), Eminent Virginians.
The family account commences with three brothers (whom it is fair to presume were the sons of John Floyd, as above): William, John ("who went North"), and Charles Floyd, who migrated to Georgia, and was the ancestor of General John Floyd, of Darien, in that State. William Floyd removed to the county of Amherst, then a wild region, and married there Abidiah, the fifth child of Robert and _____(Hughes) Davis. ***
*** Paragraph at bottom of page. Robert Davis, the father of him of the same name of the text, a native of Wales, removed fro Eastern Virginia and settled in Amherst County about 1720. He became wealthy by traffic with the Catawba Indians, and took up extensive tracts of rich and valuable lands. The tradition in the Floyd family is that he married a half breed Indian girl. This, if true, would account in some meaure for the striking physique of the Colonels John Floyd, father and son. The descendants of Robert Davis are numerous, and their connections embrace the best esteemed of the Virginia families.