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Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Francis B. Davidson and wife, buried in Windham, NH

This tombstone was photographed at the Cemetery on the Plain in Windham, New Hampshire.


FRANCIS B. DAVIDSON
died Feb. 16, 1828
AEt. 77

JANET
his wife, died
Jan. 10, 1829
AEt. 67


There is a long (fanciful?) tale about Francis B. Davidson’s father, William Davidson, on page 422 and 423 in The History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard Morrison.  The rest of the family genealogy extends to page 424.

“DAVIDSON FAMILY

This family is of Scotch descent.  The ancestor in the early part of the 17th century passed from Scotland and settled in the North of Ireland.  The father and mother of the emigrant, William Davidson, had taken a small Irish boy and brought him up from boyhood to manhood.  His name was McGraw (?).  He left when a young man, but afterwards returned for a visit with a companion.  The rest of the family were away, and the old people were alone, and they were invited to stay overnight, which invitation was accepted.  In the silent night-watches these men arose from their bed, and with an axe killed their entertainers, robbed the house of money and valuables, set it on fire and decamped.  But justice slumbered not in the case of one of the assassins.  When William Davidson returned the next day, saw his house, and the charred remains of his parents, and McGraw and his companion gone, search was instituted and McGraw captured.  He confessed the whole, was tried, convicted and publicly gibbeted.

1.  William Davidson, fearing more trouble from the revengeful people by whom he was surrounded, with his wife and family, and other relatives, in 1728 came to America and settled in Woburn, Mass.  He was b. in Mennemore, in Ireland; m. Mary Alexander, by whom he had 7 ch., b. in Ireland.  He lived in Woburn some 17 yrs, then settled in Tewksbury on a farm now within the limits of Lowell.  His wife, d. in Woburn Nov. 19, 1738.  He m. 2nd, Margaret McCartney; 4 ch.; he d. in Tewksbury, June 6, 1757.  Ch. By first wife, b. in Ireland: -

2. Robert, m. Margaret Walker of Woburn, and settled in Acworth about 1772…

3. Nathaniel m. Mary Walker (sister to Margaret) settled in Billerica, Mass, afterward in Windham and Londonderry; d. in latter place…

4.  William, m.; settled in Douglass, Mass; 1 son, Douglass.

5. Elizabeth, m. John Gorrell of Salem…

6.  John, b. Aug 10, 1720; lived in Windham; d. Sept. 27, 1799

7. George, m. Susanna Cristie; lived in Woburn

8.  Jane, m. Thomas Campbell and lived in Londonderry.

Children by second wife:-

9.  Mary, m. Mr. Nichols of Carlisle, Mass.

10.  Alexander, d. 1840, about 90 yrs old; m. Miss Mears of Tewksbury; one son, Alexander.  He m. 2d, Elizabeth Clark, b. July 6, 1760, whose dau. Mary m. James Lamson; res. 1841 in Freedom, Me.

11.  Francis- B., b. March 1752; d. Feb. 16, 1827;  m. Rebecca Richardson, of Chelmsford, Mass; one child.  He m. 2d, Janet, dau. of Joseph Eayers, of Dunstable, b. April 6, 1761, and d. Jan. 10, 1829.

Children [of Francis B. Davidson]: 

1. Rebecca, m. April 12, 1804, David, son of Samuel Anderson of Londonderry, NH

2.  Frances

3. Sarah

4. Jane m. James Davison; rem. to New Hudson, NY

5. Hamilton, b. Aug. 16, 1787; m. Dec. 17, 1811, Phebe Wilson, b. Hudson, Dec. 15, 1785, who d. 1857.  He d. 1847.  Was a blacksmith and axe maker; lived at Fessenden’s Mills and carried on a good business.  He had trip hammers whose strokes could be heard distinctly for 3 miles; re. to Charlestown, Mass…

6. Loammi, b. 1790; was the first lawyer in Windham; he d. May 11, 1819, ae. 29; he m. Mary -----, who d. Feb. 10, ae. 29

7. Fanny, m. Wm. Lancaster of Acworth, b. 1784; rem. to Cuba, NY…

8. Thomas, went to the West Indies; m. a planter’s dau….

9. Harriet, m. George Reid, of Sullivan, Me., son of Gen. Geo. Reid, of Derry.”


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Francis B. Davidson and wife, buried in Windham, NH", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 14, 2017,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/tombstone-tuesday-francis-b-davidson.html: accessed [access date]). 

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