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Tuesday, July 29, 2014

The Davis family in Watervliet, New York

The 1790 United States census, which occured before the family of Thadeus Davis moved to Canada, locates several members of the Davis family in the town of Watervliet, Albany, New York.


Unfortunately, as with all early census records, the 1790 census does not record the names of each household member, just the heads of families.  It also doesn't give exact ages--there are three columns, one for females of any age, one for males over 16 and one for males under 16.  The William Davis family has two males under 16, one male over 16 and three females.  The Thadeus Davis family has three males under 16, two males over 16 and four females.    The Richard Davis family has four males under 16, one male over 16 and one female.  Cornelius Vandenburgh, the husband of Lois Davis, is also living in Watervliet, with a total household of three people, two females and one male over 16.   It's possible that other Davis family members were living in other parts of New York;  I see some possibilities, but don't have enough information to confirm anything.

I don't know much about Watervliet, but here's what Wikipedia can tell us:  the town of Watervliet was officially created in 1788 when New York divided all of its lands into towns rather than districts. At the time of the 1790 census, the population of Watervliet was 7,419 people.    The original settlers of the area (who were there well before Watervliet was created) were Dutch, and the original name of the settlement was the Manor of Rensselaerswyck (Watervliet only covered the Western part of this formerly larger area).   I'm guessing that a few of the Davis spouses--the Ostrander brothers, Cornelius Vandenburgh, and Johannes Van Patter--came from a Dutch background.  Since 1790 the town of Watervliet has been separated into smaller towns, but a Watervliet still exists in New York.

Interestingly, Watervliet is known for its Shaker community (the Shakers were a religious group also known as "Shaking Quakers" who believed in abstinence, a simple lifestyle, and gender equality).  I'd be surprised if any of our Davis family joined the Shakers--they're all pretty firm Baptists when they reach Ontario!


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