V: Mm 1 ANCESTRY OF I JOHN DAVIS V Governor and U. S. Senator and ELIZA BANCROFT His Wife BOTH OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS 3 f} Compiled by Horace Davis M SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1«97 &* \%VI ¦a \.S w INTRODUCTION 5v The following pages contain the ancestry, as far as known, of Governor John Davis and Eliza Bancroft, his wife. Governor Davis and Mrs. Davis were both much interested in their family history, and the accounts furnished by them form the germ of this record. The work of completing ithas been principallydone far from the original sources of information, consequently at great dis­ advantage. There are some gaps init,and many of the sketches are mere skeletons of dates, but itseemed best to finish it,imperfect as it is, rather than encounter more delay. Perhaps itmay stimulate some more fortunate searcher to complete the history. Ifound in the search many cases of conflicting dates, a very com­ mon difficultyin the early records. Preference has usually been given to what seemed the best authority, but sometimes Ihave given the reader his choice. For greater ease in followingthe record, Ihave divideditinto four groups or headings, entitled, respectively, Davis, Brigham, Bancroft, and Chandler, each being devoted to the lineage of one of the parents ofGovernor Davis or of his wife. The Chandler record is the most complete, as the printed sketches of the Chandler, Church, Paine, Gardiner, and Douglas families gave me the lineage of the female lines more completely than Iwas able to obtain inthe other families. Next to this the Brigham history is fullest, where Ihad the aid ofthe Brigham and Breck printed genealogies. In following the Bancroft family, I have received much help from the manuscript notes of Mr. John M. Bancroft, and from Eaton's History of Reading. There are deficiencies inthe records of the Heald and Gates families from Stow, which can­ not be made up tillthe early history of that town becomes accessible. The direct line of descent shows fewmen of widedistinction, but a very large proportion of colonial or local prominence. One man, Richard Warren, came over in the "Mayflower." Three were college 4 INT—R ODUCTION. graduates, two of Harvard Robert Breck, H. C, 1700, and Aaron — Bancroft, H. C,1778, both clergymen, distinguished intheir profession, and John Davis, graduated at Yale in1812. In the list we find two physicians— Dr. Benjamin Gott and his son-in-law, Dr. Samuel Brigham, men of standing in their day. No practicing lawyer appears on the record, excep—t John Davis, but we have four judges— p residing over county courts Nathaniel Paine, and the second, third, and fourth John Chandlers. /Only four men are rated as merchants Francis Wain­ wright, Simoß, his son, Stephen Paine, and Nathaniel, his son, though there may have been others. Speculators inland were plenty in the early times, but dealers in merchandise were few; the people were poor, and their wants were simple. Military heroes are numerous, and testify to the frequency with whichthe Colonists were involved in wars with the French and Indians. Nearlyevery man was calledupon some timeinhis lifetobear arms in defence of his home, and the military title in those days usually meant actual service in the field. Among the fighting men, the most prominent were Lion Gardiner, a military engineer, who built Fort Saybrook, and held it through the Pequot troubles; Col. Benjamin Church, the most distinguished soldier of his day in the Colonial wars, and Captain Jonathan Poole, who served with distinction in the King Philip outbreak. The second, third, and fourth John Chandlers were Colonels of Worcester County Regiments, and did active service inthe field. There were many others who took part in those early wars, such as Constant Southworth, Capt. Thomas Bancroft, Samuel Tarbox, Samuel Lamson, George Woodward, Capt. Samuel Bancroft, and Dr. Sam"u el Brigham. 7s vhithe Revolutionary War, Isaac Davis served as First Lieutenant, and Aaron Bancroft is said to have marched to Cambridge with the minute men of Reading, after Bunker Hill. The number of men whoparticipated inthe politicallifeofthe times is remarkable. William Collier and Constant Southworth were among the leaders of Plymouth Colony inits infancy. Later, Judge Paine and the second and thirdJohn Chandlers were members of His Majesty's Council for Massachusetts Colony, and nearly half the men on our list wereDeputies inthe ColonialorState Legislatures; others again served as town officers! John Davis fitly closing the political record by his