Joseph Davis

Joseph Davis (about 1668 to 1747) came to Billerica from Reading, made his home on the Fox farm north of Fox Hill, and was a selectman in 1720 and a deacon of the church. On June 18, 1691, he married Rebecca Patten, daughter of Thomas Patten, one of the early settlers; the marriage record calls him "Joseph Davise of Redding."

On May 10, 1693, he bought the township lot that had been John Poulters, on the north side of Andover Street, the place later known as the I. G. Kimball place. In 1699 he bought from Thomas Cooper, agent of Richard Daniel, the "Fox Farm," the part of the thousand-acre Church Farm that lay north of Fox Hill. Daniel had bought both parts of the Church Farm and sold the larger part to Richardson and Walker; the Fox Farm went to Joseph Davis, and Hazen wrote in 1883 that it remained in his family "for about one hundred and fifty years." Davis settled there, on the place "long known as the Davis place," which was reached by a road running east from Long Street at Abbots bridge, north of the hill. In the division of 1708 of the common lands west of the Concord River he drew a lot in the first range.

He served one year as a selectman, in 1720, and was a deacon of the church. In the seating list of the old meetinghouse from about 1736 the deacons sat in front of the pulpit, and "Deacⁿ. Davis wife" had a place in the fore seat below. When the pew ground in the new third meetinghouse was offered in March 1740 to the highest payers of the building rates, he was one of the twenty-two taxpayers entitled to a pew.

Joseph and Rebecca Davis had eleven children: Rebecca (1692), who married Hezekiah Ballard of Andover in 1713; Hannah (1694); Joseph (1697); Elizabeth (1699), who married Jacob French; Benjamin (1703); Mary (1706), who married Jonathan French; Sarah (1709), who married Josiah Bacon; Susanna (1710), who married Josiah Baldwin; Joshua (1714), who succeeded him on the farm and also became a deacon; Esther (1716), who married Samuel Parker of Andover in 1734; and Thomas (1717), who was dismissed in 1755 to the church in Mansfield, Connecticut.

Deacon Joseph Davis died on September 30, 1747, in his eightieth year, and was buried in the Old South Burying Ground. Rebecca died on February 13, 1750/1, aged 75.

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 39, DAVIS 1
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 41: the Fox Farm, north of Fox Hill, sold by Mr. Daniel to Joseph Davis, in whose family it remained about 150 years
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 97: the road north of Fox Hill from Long Street at Abbots bridge to the Davis place
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 177: the twenty-two taxpayers entitled to pews in the new meetinghouse, 1740, including Joseph Davis
5. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 180: seating list of about 1736, "Deacn. Davis wife" in the fore seat below
6. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 214: division of 1708 west of Concord River, Joseph Davis in the first range
7. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 306, list of selectmen: Joseph Davis, 1720
8. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 114, PATTEN 1: Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Patten, m. Joseph Davis
9. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), marriages p. 299: Rebecka [Patten] and Joseph Davise of Redding, June 18, 1691
10. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), deaths p. 355: Joseph, Dea., Sept. 30, 1747, in 80th y., g.r.1; Rebeckah, wid. Dea. Joseph, Feb. 13, 1750-1, a. 75
11. John Farmer, An Historical Memoir of Billerica (1816): list of deacons, Joseph Davis died 30 September 1747, aged 80