Extracted from Historic Homes & Institutions and Personal Memoirs of Worcester, County, Massachusetts. Prepared under the Editorial Supervision of Ellery Bicknell Crane, and Published by the Lewis Publishing Company, 1907. Vol # 3, pages 69-70

William Davis, (I) ancestor of Dyer Davis, of Dudley, was in Roxbury, MA, in 1642. A tradition held extensively in the family is that he came from Wales about 1635. He was born in 1617 and married (first) Elizabeth___. She was buried May 4, 1658. He married (second), Oct. 21, 1658, Alice Thorpe. She was buried Feb. 24, 1667. He married (third) Jane ___. He was admitted to full communion Apr. 20, 1673. He died Dec. 9, 1683. Widow Jane died May 12, 1714, at Watertown, at the residence of Josiah Goddard, who married her daughter Rachel. He had three children by his first wife, four by the second and three by the third. Six other children are believed to have bee the children of Jane. The children were born at Roxbury and baptized in the church there. They were: John, b. Oct 1, 1643; Samuel, b. Feb. 21, 1645; Joseph, b. Oct. 12, 1647; William and Elizabeth (twins), bapt. Jun. 14, 1663, buried Dec. 18, 1678; Mathew, bapt. Jan. 24, 1664, settled at Woodstock, CT; Jonathan, b. Feb. 2, 1665, settled at Woodstock; Mary, b. Mar. 28, 1669; Jane, b. Dec. 24, 1670; Rachel, b. Aug. 26, 1672, married Jan. 28, 1696, Josiah Goddard, of Watertown, and had nine children; Benjamin, bapt. Jan. 7, 1674; Ichabod, bapt. Apr. 1, 1676; Ebenezer, bapt. Apr. 9, 1678; William, bapt. Jan. 3, 1680; Sarah, bapt. Jul. 20, 1681; Isaac, bapt. Apr. 18, 1683.

(II) Joseph Davis, son of William Davis (I), was born Oct. 12, 1647, at Roxbury, MA. He married Sarah Chamberlain, who owned the covenant Feb. 8, 1673. Their children, born at Roxbury, were: Joseph, bapt. Feb. 22, 1673; Sarah, bapt. Feb. 22, 1673; Mary, bapt. Dec. 12, 1675; Hannah, bapt. Mar. 21, 1680; Benjamin, bapt. Feb. 22, 1684; Mehitable, bapt. Feb. 22, 1684; Abigail, bapt. Apr. 15, 1688.

(III) Joseph Davis, son of Joseph (II), was born at Roxbury, MA, probably 1671. He married (first) Sarah ___; he married (second), Dec. 8, 1715, Elizabeth Lane. Of his seven children the first six were by his wife Sarah. He was a cordwainer at Roxbury; in 1710 he bought of his father a house and fifteen acres of land. He sold this place in 1717 to Joseph Scott. He died soon after intestate. Most of his children, if not all settled in Woodstock, CT. His children were: Joseph, born at Roxbury, Jul. 26, 1697; John, b. Oct. 30, 1699, at Roxbury, resided at Woodstock, married Jun. 8, 1721, Martha Griggs; Sarah, b. at Roxbury, May, 1702, married Jan. 21, 1722, Joshua Healy; Samuel, b. Jun. 27, 1704, married, Aug. 1, 1728, Hannah Bacon, settled at Woodstock; Joshua, b. Nov. 20, 1706, resided at Woodstock, married Dec. 15, 1731, Sarah Pierpont; Benjamin, b. Mar. 4, 1710, at Brookline, resided at Woodstock; Ebenezer, b. Nov. 11, 1717, at Brookline.

(IV) Joseph Davis, son of Joseph (III) was born at Roxbury, MA, Jul. 26, 1697, married, Jan. 31, 1723, at Roxbury, Sarah Curtiss. She died Mar. 5, 1727. He married (second) Ruth Griggs, probably daughter of James Griggs. He lived and died on the homestead bought in 1743 near the southeast corner of Oxford. All of his children were born in Woodstock, the first three by Sarah, the others by Ruth. The children were: Sarah, b. Nov. 23, 1723; Joseph, b. Mar. 7, 1725, married Sarah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Davis, of Oxford; Rachel, b. Feb. 11, 1727; James, b. Oct. 8, 1734; Ruth, b. Oct. 6, 1735; Jemima, b. Nov. 25, 1736, married, Mar. 28, 1780, Joseph, son of Benjamin Davis, of Oxford; Abigail, bapt. Feb. 11, 1739, married John Learned, of Oxford; William, bapt. Oct. 19, 1740; William, bapt. Mar. 6, 1743, married Sibyl Davis, of Oxford.

(V) Joseph Davis, son of Joseph Davis (IV), was born at Woodstock, CT, Mar. 7, 1725; he married, Jul. 6, 1758, Sarah Davis, daughter of Samuel and Mary Davis. She was born at Oxford, MA, Dec. 31, 1734.

(VI) Joshua Davis, son of Joseph Davis (V), was born Jul. 25, 1774; married Mar. 13, 1793, Susannah Dodge, of Dudley, MA. He settled at Dudley, where he died Apr. 19, 1829. Their children, all born at Dudley were: Chester, b. Apr. 29, 1799; Dyer, b. Jan. 19, 1801; Rhoda, b. Jan. 2, 1803; Ziba, b. Dec. 3, 1805; Joshua, b. Mar. 15, 1807; Susannah, b. Sept. 9, 1814; Fredrick, b. Jan. 22, 1816; Prince, b. Feb. 24, 1823

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