Fulk Davis, Hartford Founder

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Compiled by Timothy Lester Jacobs, SDFH Genealogist

FULK1 DAVIS, HARTFORD FOUNDER was born abt. 1615 in Wales?, and died bet. 21 Aug 1685 - 04 Nov 1692 in Jamaica, Long Island, NY. He married (1) ________ ______ abt. 1639. She died bef. 1661. He married (2) MARY ______, WIDOW OF JAMES HAYNES bef. 1661. She died aft. 13 Dec 1700 in Jamaica, Long Island, NY.

Fulk Davis (Ffulk, Foulke, Fulke) (Davies, Davys) was one of the original founders of Hartford, but his origin and date of arrival in Hartford is unknown. He sold his house and lot, which was located on the south side of the Little River on the Road from the Mill to the South Meadow, to Nathaniel Ward before January 1639/40. He appears on Long Island, New York, in 1639 when he witnessed the deed to Lion Gardiner of that land which would become known as Gardiner’s Island. He is said to have served as a gardener for Lion Gardiner there, thus was probably on Gardiner’s Island until sometime before 9 October 1642, when the Southhampton records show that the town provided him two acres of ground. He is mentioned in Southampton entries dated 7 March 1644 and 22 October 1644. He removed from Southampton sometime close to 1653 when he was allotted land in in that town. In 1654 he, his son John, and two others were convicted of proscribed sexual behavior. He later was run out of East Hampton for molesting men, and his wife Mary was also evicted for practicing witchcraft. In 1660 he was a resident of Jamaica, but by 12 December 1670 he had purchased land in the town of Brookhaven. Is uncertain if he ever lived in Brookhaven. He died in Jamaica sometime between 9 February 1686, when he transferred land to his son-in-law, William Salyer, and before 4 November 1692 when a deed of John Hinds mentions him as being deceased.

Acquisition of genealogical data on early Long Island families is extraordinarily difficult, as no vital records were kept, thus genealogical knowledge of these families is derived primarily through land records and legal matters.

Primary sources:

  • “The Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Davis (1773- 1865) of Norway, New York, and his wife, Elizabeth Hallock Davis”, William C. Davis, Walton, NY, 1927
  • “The Early Daytons and Descendants of Henry, Jr.”, Donald Lines Jacobus and Arthur B. Dayton, New Haven Colony Historical Society, New Haven, 1959
  • “Records of the Town of Jamaica, Long Island, New York, 1656 to 1751”, Josephine C. Frost, Long Island Historical Society, Brooklyn, 1914
  • “A History of Long Island”, Vol. 2, William S. Pelletreau, New York, 1905

Genealogy: “The Ancestry and Posterity of Joseph Davis (1773 - 1865) of Norway, New York, and his wife, Elizabeth Hallock Davis”, William C. Davis, Walton, NY, 1927 (This genealogy only shows Fulk Davis’s children, with the exception of the line of his son Joseph Davis, whose descendant was the Joseph Davis of Norway, New York of the title.)

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