Davenport Family Genealogy
by Robert E. Davenport, Jr
The greater Davenport family is in some ways different from many others. This is because we may possess a unique English surname derived from a single remote ancestor. Most families today have surnames which come from multiple original sources and many unrelated individuals. It still remains to be proven that a Ormus or Orme Davenport of Cheshire, who was born in Normandy in 1034 AD, was actually the single forefather of all Davenports, but such may be the case. After the Norman conquest of 1066 AD Orme was granted properties in the Chester area of England. Only after 18 generations later does our first identifiable direct forefather appear. During the 600 years which had elapsed, many forks of the family tree occurred. Thus, the chain of lineage is currently very uncertain. However, by about the seventeenth century there were as many as eight groups of established Davenport families living near Chester and probably many more elsewhere.
The name 'Davenport' in the United States is fairly uncommon. In the 1990 Census only 0.023% of Americans had the name. We were 509th in order when ranked by relative numbers. In the UK we were 0.019% of the total population but were 720th in rank.
It wasn't until the early 12th century that the British nobility and upper social classes adopted surnames. A desire by landowners to pass down estates and hereditary titles to their own descendents made family surnames necessary. In the years before 1100 AD, only individual names had been used for personal identification. The origin of earliest surnames is often unclear, and this is true of 'Davenport' too. Thus Aunceporte, deDavenport, Damport and other spellings may be found. Likely it was derived in some way from Norman French dialects spoken by those who conquered England in 1066 AD and who dominated that nation in the immediate period which followed. Because of the early 1100's date at which our family's surname was adopted, there is good reason to assume that our forefathers were of this uppermost class. Whether Ormus, the first Davenport, was of noble stature or related to William the First is, however, unclear.
Surnames did not become popularly accepted and used by all classes in England until the 1400's, and even then not universally until as late as the 18th to 19th centuries. The practice began in the south of the British Isles and spread slowly northward. During that long period the surnames selected by the public reflected their work activity, a place of residence, or by describing themselves as a child of a well known father. Also, many surnames evolved into different forms by haphazard spelling by succeeding illiterate generations. The practice of clergy to list marriages and christenings for church records was a major factor too. These clergy were creative in attempting to duplicate in writing an oral pronunciation of surnames given by family members.
The study of personal genealogy is not for everyone. Some may feel depressed by reading of those who are long dead as it reminds them of their own mortality. Others may discount the examination of lineage because of the vast number of related individuals when considering the many generational steps during recorded history. In a real sense all people now, or ever, inhabiting the earth are blood related. The family tree of MANKIND is massive indeed, but that should not make it of no interest to examine one branch or twig.
The pages which follow are not intended to provide a detailed family tree but only to highlight our close personal family history through text and pictures where available. Identifying as relatives those individuals who have royal connections is not to stress or claim prestige there from, but only because royal lines have been recorded during ancient times whereas others have been lost.
Anyone who wishes to examine in detail the total known record of all the branches of our greater family and other connecting families may do so by going to the Rootsweb pages at the following address:
Davenports of MA, RI, NY, and ALA
CONTENTS
1. The ENGLISH AND American Davenport's
4. Civil war memoirs and Letter [Houston]
6. Dobson Lineage And photographs
8. Mayflower