| Notes |
- John Davies the elder, founder of the family in this country, was
born in England, in Kington parish, and county of Hereford, some
time in the year 1680,and, as stated in the preceding pages, came to America in the year 1735, accompanied by his wife, Catherine
Spenser. Immediately upon his arrival he settled in the western
part of Litchfield County, in the State of Connecticut, where he
purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of land from
Thomas Lee, for the price of one hundred and fifty pounds. This
land is within the boundaries of the present town of Washington,
Litchfield County, and the neighborhood was for more than a century known as “ Davies Hollow,” and now is distinguished by the name of “ Romford,” a station on the Shepaug Railroad.
He was not, as many of the earlier immigrants to this country, a
youth in search of fortune or adventure, or an unsuccessful or
impoverished man who had changed his home in the hope that in a new country might be found advantages that had been denied in the land of his birth, or an enthusiast dissatisfied with the religious faith established in the country from which he came, and seeking either a new belief or absolute freedom to worship as he pleased. On the
contrary, he was a man past middle life, well educated for the time
in which he lived, married and having means much beyond the
average possessed by settlers then coming to this country. He left
behind him in England his only son, of the same name, who
subsequently joined him in his new home.
So far as can be inferred from the records of his life that are ac
cessible, the motive that brought him from his birthplace appears to have been the wish, so frequent with the English, to obtain a large
landed estate that should remain in his family, and to this object he
devoted himself with much zeal, and successfully, so far as his im
mediate descendant was concerned. The spot he selected for his
f
irst purchase and settlement was about eight milesfromthe town of
Litchfield, the county seat, and at that time entirely unsettled and
unimproved. It was, however, well situated for agricultural pur
poses, being an area of fertile bottomland, lying along the Shepaug
River, and sheltered by hillsthat bounded it on the north and west.
To this first purchase he added adjoining land, selected with
equal good judgment and fortune, and within fifteen years from his
arrival in this country he had become the owner of a large and
valuable tract, containing nearly a thousand acres of the best land in Litchfield County. For this land he had paid an average price of
one pound an acre, and such an outlay, with the expenses that were incurred for improving the lands, and the generous aid he gave to the founding of the Episcopal church at Litchfield, show that he was a man of wealth for the day and place.
He was a zealous member of the Church of England, and on his
arrival, and for some time afterward, was the single Episcopalian in
Litchfield, where the only form of worship recognized or practised
was the modification of Presbyterianism called Congregational,
generally adopted by the New England colonies. In time a few
more of his belief came into the settlement, and he, with them,
became actively interested in the organization of a congregation ac
cording to the forms and discipline of the Church of England. In
November, I745,a meeting was held at the house of Captain Israel
Griswold, in the town of Litchfield, and Mr. Davies, with eleven others, took part in the foundation of the First Episcopal Society of
Litchfield.
S The small congregation thus organized continued for some time,
and met for regular services at the houseof Captain Griswold, under
the ministrations of Mr. Samuel Cole, a lay reader who had been
sent to America by the British Society for Propagating the Gospel
in Foreign Parts. Mr. Cole continued his studies in divinity while
thus occupied, and such was Mr. Davies’ desire to secure the
services of a properly ordained clergyman, that he offered to defray
the expense of sending him to England to complete his education
and receive holy orders. Mr. Cole, however, who appears to have
been in delicate health, had suffered so much on his journey to
America,that he could not venture upon the trials ofanother voyage
at sea, and this liberal offer was consequently declined.
Mr. John Davies, as is learned from the church records, desired
that the church edifice, for the use of the congregation, should be
erected at Birch Plains, near his own residence, where a suitable
site, and ample ground for an adjacent churchyard and cemetery, as in England, could be secured, and he made liberal offers to induce the selection of this position. The other members of the congregation, who resided in the immediate neighborhood of the town of Litchfield, preferred a situation in the town itself,as more accessible to them, and their wishes prevailed. In this decision Mr. Davies cordially acquiesced, and abated nothing in his interest in the welfare of the church and his contributions toward its improvement and support.
He gave the services of a carpenter employed by him to the
erection of the church, and also the labor of “a strong team ofhorses and a hired man,” for hauling the timber used in the build
ing. On the fourth day of April, 1747,he conveyed to Mr. Samuel
Cole, as trustee for the church, a tract of fifty-two acres of valuable
land, in the town of Litchfield, which he had recently purchased at
the cost of two hundred pounds, to be held by the trustee and his
successors, for the use and benefit of the minister of the Episcopal
Church in Litchfield.
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Abt 1711 - 1797 (86 years)
