__
__|
| |__
|
|--Margery
|
| __
|__|
|__
_Elisha DAVIS ______+
_Moses DAVIS _________|
| |_Grace SHAW ________
|
|--Moses DAVIS
|
| _Joseph RICHARDSON _+
|_Hepzibah RICHARDSON _|
|_Hannah NELSON _____+
[59]
Military Service: American Rev. Private in Capt. John Minot's regiment. Col.
Dike's Regiment.
Lived at Davis Corner where property is still held by his descendants. His
inn accommodated travelers passing through Salem.
Moderator town meeting, 1785, 1788
Selectman, 1785-1788
[60] MOSES DAVIS OF CHELMSFORD, MASSACHUSETTS
[61] The administration of the estate of Moses Davis of Chelmsford, Mass., is on file at the Middlesex county Registry of Probate, Cambridge, mass.
[62] A large number of papers is to be seen there and is of interest to the reader but have not been copied here because of their length. Excerpts are here given which will be of general interest. There was no will.
[63]
Moses Davis was called a ôyeomanö although he had been an innkeeper for many years. In 1774, a deed says that the house where he and his family ônow dwellsö was in the northern part of Chelmsford near Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimac river. He owned
a house, bard, horseshed, and a shop. He also had a half interest in a sawmill with a mill dam and a half interest in using the stream and all rights and privileges therein except reserving a County way and a town way.
[64]
At the time of his death he owned three pieces of property. There is an interesting description of the
division of the land but is too long to copy here. The widow is apportioned her dower rights and several receipts are there showing parts which were conveyed to different heirs. Lydia, wife of Jesse Webster, Jr., was awarded the Swamplot so-called of 8
acres in 1807. Lydia died before the estate was finally settled and although we do not know the date of her death, it must have been between 1814 and 1816, when Jesse married again, a widow, by the name of Lucy Foster, who was the widow of Joseph
Foster of Billerica, Mass.
[65] In 1810 a list of heirs is given and includes:
[66]
Lydia Davis, his widow
Johnson Davis, the eldest son
Rebecca Taylor, a daughter
Susanna Hale, a daughter
Lydia Webster, a daughter
Sally Stevens, a daughter
Polly Richardson, a daughter
[67] Another son, Elisha Davis, died Sept. 18, 1775 at Chelmsford, aged 1 year.
[68]
The estate was not settled immediately, evidently because another list of children and heirs is also there. In this list is found a more complete list of children of Lydia and Jesse Webster, Jr., than has been found anywhere else. The paper is dated
Lowell, May 12, 1830 and the complete list of children and heirs is given below. By that time at least two of the children had died. The eldest son, Johnson Davis died Oct. 7, 1826 at the age of 56 years and Lydia Webster died sometime between 1814 and
1816. Their children were all listed as heirs.
[69]
Children and heirs of Moses Davis:
Children and heirs of Johnson Davis, one of the children and heirs of Moses Davis; Elisha Davis,
Nancy Sawyer wife of Alfred I. Sawyer, Betsy Blood, wife of Abel Blood, Fanny Abbott, wife of
Joshua Abbott, and Sidney Davis.
[70] Rebecca Taylor, wife of Robert Taylor, a daughter
[71] Susanna Hale, widow of Moses Hale, a daughter
[72]
Children of Lydia Webster (wife of Jesse Webster) viz.; Samuel Webster, Phineas Webster, Albert
Webster, Virginia S. Webster, Charles Webster, Wealthy Webster, Almira (or Almina) Webster and
Moses Webster.
[73] Sally Stevens, a daughter
[74] Polly Richardson, a daughter.
[75]
The said Johnson Davis, Rebecca Taylor, Susanna Hale, Lydia Webster, Sally Stevens, and Polly
Richardson being children and heirs of Moses Davis.
[76]
A large inventory is also appended to the other papers and includes 17 kitchen chairs, 2 large yellow
Windsor chairs, 2 Roundabout chairs, 9 silver teaspoons, a large silver tablespoon and a great variety of other household articles.
[77]
The heirs of each deceased children received one share of the estate and each child also received a share. Receipts were given for these shares and one was signed by Jesse Webster, then of Waltham, dated Sept. 30, 1830. The estate was said to be
agreeably settled by that time. A complete set of papers is to be found on the settlement of the estate.
[78] --written by Vivian S. Lord--
__
_Thomas TOTEHILL _|
| |__
|
|--Margaret TOTEHILL
|
| __
|__________________|
|__