Researching Daniel Davison & his descendants
For twenty years this site held a set of family group pages built from my own research into Daniel Davison of Ipswich, Massachusetts, and the generations that followed him. Those pages have been retired.
The research itself is better served elsewhere now. Collaborative trees are edited by many hands, the original records have been digitized, and the nineteenth-century printed genealogies are free to read online. What follows is where I'd send you.
Who he was
Daniel Davison was born about 1630 and died before 27 November 1693. His parents are unknown. The surname is also recorded as Davisson, Davidson and Davinson.
He married Margaret Low at Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on 8 April 1657. He wrote his will on 15 December 1692, signing it by mark; it names sons William, John, Thomas, Peter and Daniel, daughters Bridget and Dorcas, and his wife. An inventory of the estate was taken on 27 November 1693, and the documents were presented in court that 5 December.
His origins are unresolved. A family tradition, said to have come down through two separate lines, holds that he was a Scottish Covenanter captured in the Cromwellian wars and transported to New England around 1650; there is no proof of it. A memorial stone later placed at Wenham Cemetery by the family of A. H. Davison gives Scotland as his birthplace. He is frequently confused with a different Daniel Davison, of Charlestown and Newbury — they were not the same man.
The above follows the WikiTree profile, which cites the Ipswich vital records and the Essex County probate file papers directly.
Trees and profiles
- Daniel Davison on WikiTree Free The best current profile — sourced, actively maintained, and careful about the conflation with Daniel Davison of Newbury.
- Davison surname index on WikiTree Free Every Davison profile on the site, for tracing collateral lines.
- FamilySearch Free Shared family tree plus an enormous digitized record collection. A free account is required.
- Ancestry Subscription, but the deepest set of indexed records and member trees.
- Find a Grave Free Burial records and headstone photographs. Daniel and Margaret have a memorial stone at Wenham Cemetery, erected long after their deaths.
Published sources, free to read
- Coles, Genealogical Record of the Davison, Davidson, Davisson Family of New England (1899) Free 298 pages, full text at the Internet Archive. The foundational nineteenth-century compilation. Useful, but treat it carefully — WikiTree identifies errors in its account of Daniel's parentage and birth.
- Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 — Volume 1, Births Free Essex Institute, 1910.
- Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts — Volume 2, Marriages and Deaths Free Essex Institute, 1910. The 1657 marriage record is here.
- American Ancestors (NEHGS) Membership required. Their Essex County Probate File Papers database holds Daniel's will and inventory, file #7373.
Get in touch
If you descend from this line, or you have documents, photographs, or corrections, I'd like to hear from you: ty@davisonfamily.us