Kentucky: A History of the State, Perrin, Battle, Kniffin, 4th ed., 1887,
Adair County.
JAMES N. DAVIS was born January 20, 1807, in Hanover County, Va.  His
father, Peter Davis, was also a native of Hanover County and a life-long
farmer and slaveholder.  He brought his family to Kentucky in 1817, and
settled on and owned about 230 acres on Butler's Creek, Adair County, where
he farmed until the spring of 1821, when he died in the seventy-fifth year
of his age.  He had been a soldier in the army of Gen. Washington.  He
married Elizabeth, a daughter of Robin Page, who owned a large plantation,
which he cultivated with slave labor in his native county of Albemarle, Va.
The names of the children born to Peter and Elizabeth Davis were Polly
(wife of John Breeding), Jenny (Snead), Judith (Walker), Elizabeth,
(Schuyler), John, Patsy (Callison), Lucy (Lage), Rebecca (Banks), Nancy
(Browning) and James N., the only living one of the family.  Mrs. Davis
died about the same time her husband did, and was in the sixty-sixth year
of her age, a member of the Methodist Church.  John Davis, grandfather of
James N. Davis, was also a Virginian; he was a man of considerable wealth,
a slave owner and a farmer.  The life of James N. Davis has been spent in
farming.  In October, 1829, he was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth,
daughter of John and Frances Holman, of Virginia.  The marriage was
blessed with two children: Frances Henry Edrington and Elizabeth James,
who died in childhood.  Mrs. Davis in life was a member of the Baptist
Church, first of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and died in 1844, in the
thirty-sixth year of her age.  Mr. Davis was next married, in 1847, to
Miss Jane, daughter of Alexander and Nancy (Foster) McClure, natives of
Virginia.  Mr. Davis is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while
Mrs. Davis is a member of the Christian CHurch.  The first farm owned by
Mr. Davis was on Green River, and contained 112 acres.  There he lived
during the years 1850 and 1851, prior to which time he had rented and made
many moves.  In 1851 he purchased the farm of 112 acres on which he now
lives, two miles from Cane Valley, Adair County.  This is a fertile tract
and is in a fair state of cultivation and improvement.  Mr. Davis began
life with no inheritance but a strong constitution and willing hands, and
by his own industry has accumulated all that he possesses.
Davis Page Breeding Snead Walker Schuyler Callison Lage
Banks Browning Holman Foster McClure
=
Hanover-VA Albemarle-VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/adair/davis.jn.txt