Captain James Davis 1575-1633 (Jamestown)

I want to provide a disclaimer that the further I go back in history, the harder it is, with the tools I have to state with 100% accuracy that all of this is correct.  However, the information I have here seems solid enough to me to suggest that this person is one of our ancestors. 

Captain James Davis (1575 - 1623)

is your 12th great grandfather

JOHN DAVIS (1610 - 1665)

Son of Captain James

John Davis (1648 - 1720)

Son of JOHN

Mary Burton Davis (1673 - 1732)

Daughter of John

John Colson (1694 - 1736)

Son of Mary Burton

John Colson (1720 - 1791)

Son of John

William Colson (1749 - 1783)

Son of John

John William Colson (1793 - 1851)

Son of William

Mary Ann Colson (1818 - 1887)

Daughter of John William

Susan Rivana McElmurry (1838 - 1925)

Daughter of Mary Ann

William H Roberts (1870 - 1919)

Son of Susan Rivana

William David Roberts (1893 - 1974)

Son of William H

Leslie V Roberts Sr (1923 - 1992)

Son of William David

David Walter Roberts (1951 - )

Son of Leslie V

David Walter Roberts Jr

You are the son of David Walter

Captain James Davis was one of the original settlers of Jamestown, VA.  Just Google his name and you will find a great deal of information on Capt. Davis.  He was born in England in 1575-80, the son of Sir Thomas Davis (1550-16??) and Elizabeth Lawrence (1552-1620).  His father, Sir Thomas was on the Board of Directors for the London Company.  Capt. Davis married Rachell Keyes in England around 1607-8 either before he left for the new world or on one of his return trips to England.  Originally James sailed to America to settle northern Virginia (present day Maine) and was the founder and Captain of Fort Sagadahoc.  Much of his story and journey to America was documented by him in a book "The Relation of a voyage unto New England begun from the Lizard, ye first of June 1607." (The lizard is what people called Plymouth, England in those days)  After the colony was settled James returned to England to get supplies, when he returned many of the settlers had died during a brutal winter.  The remaining settlers built a ship “The Virginia” and abandoned the colony sailing home to England before the next winter.   This meant the area north of Virginia wouldn’t be permanently settled again until 13 years later when the Mayflower reached America. 



Tower of the Old Jamestown Church

 Capt. Davis returned to Virginia in 1609 on the "Virginia” heading to Jamestown with a fleet of 9 ships known as the "third supply".  It carried with it the new Charter of the Virginia Company, which had been drafted by Sir Francis Bacon and signed by King James I on May 23, 1609, granting a vast extension of territory and larger powers were given to the Company.  During their trip they encountered a hurricane which sank one ship and all aboard and grounded two other ships on the island of Bermuda. The Virginia apparently survived the storm, and under the command of Captain James Davis, arrived in the Colony in October 1609, probably in tow behind one of the larger ships. At that time, Captain Davis assumed command of Fort Algernon at Point Comfort, where he survived the Starving Time of 1609-10. The Virginia disappears from records in 1610.

There are conflicting reports of Captain James death.  There was a report that he died in 1622 during the Indian Massacre however, most of the recent research suggests that this is false.  It is believed Captain James died in 1633 on his plantation near Point Comfort because he death was recorded at that time listing him as an "Ancient Planter".  The term "Ancient Planters" referred to any colonist who arrived before 1616, had paid thier way across the Atlantic and remained in the colony for a period of at least 3 years.  These "Ancient Planters" received the first deeds for land in "America" in 1618 as a reward for thier adventure. 

So there you have it.  One of our ancestors is one of the first land holders in the US.  This man would have most likely known or been witness to the marriage of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, and the attacks from Powhatan.  It is hard to think that they could have imagined how that trip they took across the ocean could have been the catalyst for starting this nation.