Untitled - citizen hylbom blog

788 SOUTHEASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
May 18, 1892. Captain Taber was a typical
whaler of the most prosperous period of the
great whaling industry in New England. He
wae a man of ability, of great force of character,
and of unswerving integrity. He wrote
a most interesting narrative of his shipwreck
off the Fiji islands, wliich has been printed for
private distribution by his widow. In politics
he was a Republican, but never sought or accepted
public office, being content to exercise
the duties of a quiet, respectable citizen. In
religion he was liberal, attending with his wife
the Unitarian Church, and was probably the
last survivor of the little band who bid off a
seat in the church (then the Freewill Baptist)
at its dedication in December, 1832. He possessed
a sanguine temperament, was pleasing
and social in all intercourse with his fellow
men, and during a long and eventful life had
the respect and confidence of all who knew him.
On Dec. 8, 1846, Captain Taber married
Laura Hathaway Nye, a woman of uncommon
intelligence and character and of remarkable
memory. She survives him and resides in
Fairhaven. She is the daughter of the late
Hon. Obed Nye, a prominent merchant at the
Head of the River (Acushnet) for many years,
whose sketch appears above.
HENRY LIVINGSTON DAVIS, founder
of the H. L. Davis Company, painters, paper
hangers and decorators, Taunton, and a man
highly est«emed in business and in private life,
was born in Centerville, Barnstable Co., Mass.,
May 17, 1837, son of Daniel and Olive Dexter
(Crowell) Davis— tlie latter a daughter of
Paul and Olive (Dexter) Crowell—and a lineal
descendant of Robert Davis, who became a freeman
at Barnstable.
(I) Robert Davis's name appears on the list
of those who were able to bear arms in Yarmouth
in August, 1643. He removed to Barnstable
not far from 1649, as his last child of
honest, good man, and his character for honesty
and industry he transmitted to his posterity,
for says Otis, "all the descendants of Robert
Devis for eight successive genetations have
been noted for their honest dealings." He died
in 1693. His will is dated April 14, 1688, and
proved June 29, 1693. He names his wife
Ann, who died in 1701, and, as she names in her
will only the younger childxen, she lis believed
to have been the second wife of Mr.
Davis. His children, the two eldest born in
Yarmouth, and the others in Barnstable, were:
Deborah, born in Januarv, 1645; Mary, born
April 28, 1648; Andrew," born in May, 1650;
Jolm, born March 1, 1652; Robert, born in
August, 1654; Josiah, bom in September,
1656; Hannah, born in September, 1658;
Sarah, born in October, 1660; Joseph; and
Mercy.
(II) Joseph Davis, son of Robert, married
in March, 1695, Hannah, daughter of James
Cobb. He resided in Barnstable, and, says Mr.
Otis, "his family was one of the most respectable
in town." He died says the church record
Aug. 10, 1735, aged about seventy, and his
>\idow Hannah May 2, 1739, aged sixty-eight.
'I'heir children were: Robert, bom March 7,
1696-97; Joseph, born March 23, 1698-99;
James, born July 30, 1700; Gershom, born
Sept. 5, 1703; Hannah, born March 5, 1705;
Mary, born June 5, 1707; Lydia, bom Feb. 12,
1709; and Daniel, born Sept. 28, 1713.
(III) Hon. Daniel Davis, son of Joseph,
born Sept. 28, 1713, in Barnstable, Mass., married
(first) Mehetabel, daughter of Thomas
Lothrop, and (second) Mehetabel Sturgis. The
land on which he built Ids house was a part of
the original allotment to Joseph Lothrop, the
father of Thomas. Mr. Davis was a gentleman
highly esteemed and always prominent in the
business of both town and county. He was
one of the justices of the Common Pleas, from
1770; member of the Provincial Congress; of
the Council from 1776 to the commencement of
the State Constitution ; appointed judge of pro-
bate, 1778; and, in 1781, judge
of the Com-
mon Pleas, and then chief justice, holding the
Yarmouth record was in 1648 apd the first of last two offices to tlie time of his death. He was
Barnstable record in 1650. "Excepting of the an active man and an ardent patriot during the
births of his children," says Otis, "the earliest Revolution. He often represented the to^vn in
record I find of his name on the records is 12th the General Court, was on committees and per-
May, 1657, when a grant of a parcel of comformed mucli labor. He died April 22, 1799,
mon land in the New Common Field, was made
for him, lying between the lands of Goodman
Cobb and Goodman .Gorham." He was admitted
a freeman of the Colony in 1659. While
not a man of wealth or distinguished in political
life, he had the reputation of being an
aged eighty-five years, six months and twentyfour
days. His children, all born in Barnstable,
were: Mary, born April 29, 1740; Daniel,
born Oct. 10, 1741 ; Robert, born March
27, 1743; John, bom Oct. 7, 1744; Deborah,
born Aug. 13, 1746 ; Thomas, born Aug. 24,
1748; Desire, bom March 27, 1750; Ansel, bom
March 13, 1752; Experience, born July 11,
1754: Mehetabel, born Julv 11, 1756; Lothrop;
and Daniel, bom May 8, "1762.