The Callans and McClarys, by John Edward Callan - Callanworld

The Callans and McClarys
parents of Dolphin Davis, the
first Davis for whom a birth
year is known. He was born in
1759, and had one known
brother, Archibald. The name
Dolphin has passed through
several generations of the Davis
family, but Thomas and
Hortense may have been the
first to use it on their children.
The name Dolphin is so
common in the Davis family
that it may be useful to refer to
them by the year they were
born when discussing the Davis
lineage. This first Dolpin
Davis, son of Thomas Davis,
was the Dolphin Davis of 1759.
This Dolphin n married Ann
Stevenson, birth date unknown,
in 1787. The couple had a son,
Orindatus Davis, in 1795.
Dolphin Davis of 1759 died in
1819 and his wife Ann in 1820.
In 1839, Orindatus Davis,
then about 43, married the 17year-old
Hannah Mary
Chaffee. Hannah was decended
from a long line of Chaffees.
Her parents were Otis Chaffee
(1777-1864) and Amy
Underwood (1782-1854). All
four of her grandparents are
known. Otis’s parents were
Amos Chaffee (1750-1793) and
Sara Munroe (1754-1800).
Amy Underwood’s parents
were Nicholas Underwood
and Phoebe Brownell. Nicholas
was born May 5, 1759 in
Rhode Island, and died Aug .
22, 1800 in Westport,
Massachussetts. Phoebe was
born in 1757, and died on
July 8, 1797. The parents of
Amos Chaffee and Sara
Munroe are the most distant
ancestors known in the family
of Beth Davis, Nancy
McClary’s mother. Amos
parents were Thomas Chaffee
, Jr (1712-1792) and Rebecca
Hunt (1717-?) They were
married in 1739. The father
of Sara Munroe were Nathan
Munroe, born on Sept. 29,
1730 in Bristol Rhode Island.
HE married Hannah
Humphrey Allen on Nov. 21,
1751. Nathan passed away on
March 6, 1806 in Rehoboth,
Massachussetts.
Two years after they were
married, Orindatus and Hannah
Mary Chaffee had a daughter,
Ophelia Chaffee Davis, in 1841.
At this point, the family tree
doubles back on itself.
Recall that Thomas Davis
and Hortense (Hodge) had a son
named Dolphin (of 1759), and
another son, named Archibald.
Their son Archibald married
Elizabeth Hibbard, and together,
they had a son, also named
Thomas Davis. In 1832, Thomas
married Mary Slade. They had a
son they named Dolphin in 1834.
This Dolphin Dolphin Dolphin Davis Davis of of of 1834 1834
1834
married Ophelia ChaffeeDavis on
Dec. 5, 1860, on the eve of the
Civil War. Because of this lineage,
it is clear that both Ophelia and
her husband were cousins, having
had the same grandparents,
Thomas and Hortense Davis.
Dolphin Davis of 1834 died
in 1862. Ophelia Chaffee Davis
lived 62 years longer, dying in
1934 in Town Creek, Alabama.
~ 82 ~
She was buried in Town Creek as
well.
Dolphin Chaffee Davis, born
in 1862, was the great grandfather
of Nancy McClary. Dolphin
Chaffee Davis was Ophelia’s only
son. She lived in Town Creek,
Ala. and was married to Dr.
Dolphin Davis. She and her
husband were cousins.
Dr. Dr. Dolphin Dolphin Davis Davis of of 1834
1834
was in the Civil War as a doctor
and of course served the Confederate
Army. The story goes that
while he was home on furlough he
went Coon hunting with some
friends and that he or someone
shot at a coon, hit a tree branch
that broke off and hit the good
Doctor in the head and killed him.
Ophelia was pregnant with
their child, Dolphin Chaffee Davis
(of 1862), at the time. According
to papers found by Nancy
McClary’s mother Mary Elizabeth
(Davis) McClary, Ophelia “fled to
the mountains with a nigger nurse
to avoid Sherman’s Army and
Dolphin was born there.”
“She would never remarry
because she did not want any
other man to lay a hand on her
precious little boy.”
This may be part of the
reason that Nancy McClary’s great
grandmother didn’t get along with
her. If no man was good enough
to be a father to the boy, one can
only imagine how she felt about
the woman he married.