Joseph Davenport

1803 - Aft 1882  (> 79 years)

• Name	Joseph Davenport  [1, 2, 3]
  Born	17 Jun 1803	Massachusetts
  Gender	Male
  Biography	Joseph is an interesting person for a couple reasons. First of all he was very close with his great nieces and nephew, Vinnie, Ira, Sarah and Julia. There are many letters written by Ira talking of Joseph. The last of these letters was dated 26 September 1882 indicating that he died some time after that. We also have a copy of a letter he wrote to Ira. The other reason he was important is that he links us to his father Joseph Davenport, Sr. Joseph Davenport, Sr. was a Revolutionary War veteran. Joseph was born 22 May 1756 in Newton, Massachusetts. From birth through the war, Joseph lived in northeastern Massachusetts. Then he disappeared. Joseph Davenport was a fairly common name. In the meantime a Joseph Davenport shows up in Western Massachusetts married to a woman named Mercy. Records show that Joseph and Mercy had 7 children born from 1781 through 1793. They had a son named Joseph born on 29 September 1879. So, where did our Joseph born on 17 July 1803? Well, we know that he was born in 1803 because of various records such as census. He was living with his niece Julia Wadsworth Ayer Evans, New York in 1860 and his great niece Vinnie Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1870. In 1880 he was living in a boardinghouse in Titusville. What ties in definitively with his Revolutionary War father is an excerpt from his autobiography. We don't have a copy of this autobiography but we have the excerpt from Alice and Clementine Ayer, his great great nieces. We don't know if they had ever met but they would have certainly have known of him because their father Ira and mother Jennie James Ayer were close to him. In 1864, after meeting Joseph, Jennie said, "Uncle Joseph’s letter was very kind and good. I think him a noble soled man too dear, I feel to love him." What that excerpt said was very specific: This Joseph Davenport born June 17, 1803 -- our great, grand mother's brother writes in his autobiography: "Among my earliest recollections were stories of the Revolutionary War recited by my father, Joseph Davenport, born May 22, 1756, who was a "Minute" man, and was called to the "Alarm" of April 19, 1775 at 2:00 a.m. He immediately joined the Army and fought in the Battle of Lexington and shared the privations and triumphs of Bunker Hill and Concord, driving the enemy out of the "Old Bay State." He was at Valley Forge, White Planes and at Saratoga with Gen'l. Gates at the surrender of Burgoyne; also at Princeton, Monmouth and Trenton. He was wounded during the war." We know nothing of Joseph's early life. Our first record of him is the 1860 census when he was living with his niece. His occupation was listed as Gentleman and his personal property was valued at $4000. In 1870 he was living with his great niece, Vinnie Ayer Barr and was listed as a retired farmer. For much of the Civil War he was in Washington, DC. We know that from letters written to his great nephew Ira. In 1865 he applied for a passport. We don't know where he was going but it was probably Zurich, Switzerland. The only picture of him we have was printed in Zurich. In the picture he is wearing a fez. The origin of the fez is anchient Greece. Starting in 1829 it became popular in the Muslim world. We now know them from the Shiners. That organization was founded in 1870. I don't know when they started wearing fezzes. But, since the picture was published in Zurich, it is not likely part of the Shrine organization. In 1870 and 1880 he was living in Titusville, first with his great niece Vinnie and then in a rooming house. In 1870 he was listed as a retired farmer and in 1880 at age 76 he was listed as an insurance agent. The last we have heard of Joseph is when Ira visited Titusville on 26 September 1883, Uncle Joseph was waiting for him at the train.
  Died	Aft 26 Sep 1882  [4]
  Person ID	I544	Our Family
  Last Modified	18 Dec 2016

  
  

  Father	Joseph Davenport,   b. 22 May 1756, Newton, Massachusetts
  Mother	Mercy Crocker,   b. 25 Dec 1758, Middleboro, Massachusetts
  Married	7 Dec 1780	Massachusetts
  Family ID	F177	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map		Born - 17 Jun 1803 - Massachusetts  = Link to Google Earth
  Pin Legend	: Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  
  

• Photos

  Joseph Davenport

  
  

  Histories		Ayer Family Photo Album
  		Project Ayer Letters and documents from the Ayer and James families

  
  

• Sources

  [S31] Williams, Alice Ayer, Ayer, Bradley, etc. (Reliability: 0). [S43] Ayer, Ira I, 1860 US Census (Reliability: 0). [S260] Census, Federal. George Barr, Titusville, PA 1870 [S257] Ayer, Ira - Letters to Jennie James Ayer.