Rebecca Washburn (daughter of John B. Washburn and Frances Jett) was born December 08, 1820 in Bracken, KY, and died 1872 in Nemaha, Nebraska. She married Andrew S. Davis on Abt. December 08, 1837 in Quincy, Adams, IL.
Notes for Rebecca Washburn: Found this Washburn in Quincy/Ursa IL area
DAVIS-WASHBURN FAMILIES By Jessie Davis Russell PREFACE
I am the youngest child of James and Mary Davis and I was born on the Davis Ranch in Grow Canyon, Hayward, California in 1884. The town of Hayward is about 7 miles from the Davis Ranch. They drove there for supplies and mail.
It was a big event to be taken to San Francisco. We took bread to feed the sea gulls when we crossed the bay on ferry. We enjoyed a trip to the Park (Golden Gate) and a ride on the steam cars at the Cliff House. Here we watched the ocean and listened to the Sea Lions out on the rocks. Sometimes we went to Chinatown and would see the chinese men with their long ques braided in ribbon and dressed in black pantaloons with long jackets, no hats and their very black hair combed tight back and fastened with fancy pins in back. Sometimes we would see one with little bound feet only able to balance along with aids of maids. And as we went along we would hear the squeak of the chinese fiddle.
Now so much has changed. Mail is delivered; no ferries to ride; no steam cars and Chinatown is much more civilized.
When I was young I kept a book of our family birthdays and marriages. Then wrote down their children's birthdays. So after I was 60 I decided to make a copy that the children might have. Then I wondered who my grandparents might be and where they were born. So that is how this journal was started; most 50 years to late to learn much of our ancestors.
So few records were kept so that after a few generations the older people and names were forgotten. The first ancestors moved in from the East coast through a number of different states and it is most impossible to trace them. Our ancestors seemed to have followed the same trails looking for better farms.
The Crows, Beans, Washburns and Davis' all were in Kentucky and were the first settlers around what is now Quincy, Illinois. They had come through Tennessee and Kentucky from the Carolinas and the Crows from Pennsylvania. They built their homes by cutting trees and building fences to keep the animals out.
The schooling for the children was meager. The school houses were log cabins with dirt floors and without windows. There were few books available but the families were eager for the children to study.
Then when there was trouble with the Indians the families would seek shelter at the forts. Maybe the crops would be destroyed, but they would go back and try again with the faith of their Puritan forefathers. They raised their children amid Indians and gave their sons to fight for the Northern Cause in the Civil War.
I learned so many interesting things about these early pioneer families that I am so glad I had taken the time and effort to be able to make a record about them. And hope the data I copied down will be of interest to those who wonder who their ancestors were. And maybe someone will try to learn more than I have and go back further.
I found so many relatives that I never knew about and were so willing to help but like myself had never written down the things the older ones told. But gave me what they could of their family and told me of others who might help.
We who possess old and honored names and trace back to sturdy immigrant ancestors may well be proud of our heritage. Those forefathers who trekked with horses and wagons across the country from Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky to find better homes for their families should not be forgotten. All the efforts they put forth helped us to live as we do today.
Signed,
Jessie Davis Russell
************************* ********************************************************* From 1850 Census - Adams County, Illinois, Ursa District. Davis Andrew P. 326a-35 Davis Rebecca 326a-36 Davis Andrew 326a-40 Davis Benjamin F. 326a-39 Davis James H. 326a-37 Davis John W. 326a-38 Davis Timothy H. 326a-41
Davis Catharine 297b-36 Davis Cornelius 297b-35 Davis Henry 297b-37 Davis John 297b-38
More About Rebecca Washburn and Andrew S. Davis: Marriage: Abt. December 08, 1837, Quincy, Adams, IL.
Children of Rebecca Washburn and Andrew S. Davis are:
Rebecca Washburn (b. December 08, 1820, d. 1872)
Notes for Rebecca Washburn: