John Davis
Birth 1753
Death 1851 (aged 97–98)
Breathitt County, Kentucky, USA
Burial Roark Cemetery
Noctor, Breathitt County, Kentucky, USA
This Davis family originally came from Wales. John was either born in Augusta County, VA, or North Carolina, or he grew up there.
The name of his first wife is not known. They had two daughters: Effa (born about 1774); and Elizabeth (born about 1775).
Around 1776, John and his family migrated to the Nolichucky Settlement, in what later became Greene County, TN. But a few years later, John's wife was killed by Cherokee Indians, and they kidnapped his two daughters. The Indians took the two little girls back to their camp near Chattanooga, TN. They held them there for years. When Effa was about 14 years old, she was released. She was then pregnant, and she was also "half-scalped."
For the rest of her life, Effa always wore a bonnet, even to bed, as she was so ashamed of the way that her head looked (all the scars and the missing chunks of hair).
When Effa's child was born, she named him Asa (FAG #151137778). He was, of course, half-Cherokee Indian. (Years later, many of his own children had Cherokee features, such as darker skin, and thick, black hair.)
Shortly after Asa was born, a man named Davis Fields offered to marry Effa, because he knew that nobody else would.
Meanwhile, several years after the Indians had killed John Davis' wife and kidnapped his two daughters, John got remarried to Elizabeth Milam and they had several children, including: Nancy (born 1784); Cynthia (born about 1793), Evan, and Jenny. (Therefore, Effa and Elizabeth are half-siblings to Nancy, Cynthia, Evan, and Jenny.)
John Davis was seen in the 1850 Census Report, living in Breathitt County, KY, with Solomon Back, his wife Jincy Fields, and their children. (Jincy was John Davis' great granddaughter). John was then a widow (for a second time), and he was listed as being a pauper.
Some fascinating information has been found about John's daughter Nancy. She later married Thomas Calhoun. When Thomas was a child, one day, while his father was away from the cabin, some Indians rushed into the cabin. Thomas' older brother began to cry and so the Indians killed him. The Indians kidnapped Thomas and his mother. His mother had to carry Thomas all the way back to the Indians' camp. They were held prisoner for several years.
When Thomas was about 6 years old, one day, he disappeared from the Indian camp, along with several other young Indian boys. His mother and some Indian squaws went looking for them. They found Thomas in a deserted tepee. He was naked, and his hands and feet were tied up. There were dozens of pine splinters stuck into his skin. The splinters had been set on fire and they were burning. The young Indian boys who had done that to him were laughing and running around the tepee. The women put out the fires, and then they pulled out the hot splinters from Thomas' body. For many months, Thomas suffered from infections from those wounds. When Thomas was about 18 years old, he escaped from the Indian camp.
After Thomas married Nancy, they lived near Solomon Back and his wife Jincy Fields. Thomas often told this story about his childhood, and he showed people the scars on his body where the pine splinters had been stuck into him. Thomas and Nancy had one child, a son named James Calhoun (born 5-1-1802, died 3-11-1868), who married Mary Hogg (born 2-17-1807, died 9-17-1855). James and Mary had at least twelve children (see FAG #112409784).
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62858253/john-davis
