NYE James Milton

Enoch married DAVISON Deidamia L. in Aug 1855 in Groveland, Tazewell Co., IL. Deidamia (daughter of DAVISON Rowland (Squire) and WEST Amanda Melvina) was born in 1837 in Grafton, Renssealaer Co., NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

They moved to Illinois about 1838. Went all the way with a pair of horses and a wagon. Settled at Groveland, IL, where he took up land and made brick on his farm, and built a good brick house. He was a Brick Mason by trade. He also built several brick buildings in Pekin, IL. He with a partner, built the Court House, that is still in use. His land was what was then called, “the barrens”. Timber and undergrowth had to be cleared and grubbed before it could be farmed. For his orchards, seeds were brought from the OLD ORCHARD on the OLD HOMESTEAD, in Grafton, NY. I, (A. A. Davison) was quite a small boy, but well remember saving apple seeds for Uncle Rowland Davison to take to Illinois. When I came in 1851, it was quite an old orchard. Found only one tree with apples anything like any apples in the old orchard. He lived in Groveland, IL, until about the time Uncle John P. Davison (Davidson) came. He then took up several tracts of land eight miles west of Minonk, IL. A large farm for himself, and eighty acres for each of his nine children. He took great interest in Church and Sunday School, was a Deacon in the Baptist Church. I am not competent to write a brief sketch. He was a good man, and a true Christian. He was killed in an accident; was harrowing with a pair of young horses. They go frightened and ran. The harrow turned over and a tooth went through his neck, which caused his death. (A. A. Davison, 1905)

Died:
Interment: Apr 1867 Davison (Yankeetown) Cemetery, Clayton , Woodford Co., IL

Rowland married WEST Amanda Melvina on 31 Aug 1831 in Grafton, Renssealaer Co., NY. Amanda was born on 05 Feb 1815 in Grafton, Renssealaer Co., NY; died on 22 May 1880 in Boulder Valley, MT. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Although family tradition holds that Ezra enlisted when he was but 16, the first record of his service is his enlistment in Capt. Benjamin Durkee’s company of Matrosses, at Port Trumbull, Connecticut, August 12, 1782, his 17th birthday.

They took up land two miles northeast of Grafton Centre. the country was then a wilderness. They built a house, cleared the land of forest, planted on archard, and built stone walls, or fences. Panthers used to steal their sheep. Bears were in the woods. There were few settlers. No Church nor School House. The first school district was organized, Sept. 13, 1813, and they voted to build a school house on a man's land, whose name was Cobb. (It was always called the Cobb's school house.) It was sixteen feet square with an entry large enough to hold a load of wood. They levied a tax of $75.00, the rest was to be paid in work. Three or four generations of Davisons studied Webster's spelling book, Daboll’s arithmetic, and the English Reader, and perhaps got punished in the Cobb’s school house.

The first trustees were Daniel Mills, Foster Reynolds, and Bradick Peekham, Jr., moderator, Elisha Wells, Clerk Daniel Mills. A great many prominent men were educated in the Cobb's school house. About 1842, Van Ransellaer, the Patron, offered a set of outline maps, to the best school in Grafton, to be examined by a committee at the Church in Grafton Centre. We carried home the maps and were justly proud of it. I visited the spot in 1889. Found nothing but the foundation stones and thickly grownup weeds and brush. (A. A. Davison)

Ezra lived and raised his family on what we call the “Old Davison Homestead.”

Ezra married SMITH Diedamia on 24 May 1790 in Argyle, Penobscot Co., ME. Diedamia was born in 1774; died in 1853. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]