Davenport & Warwick Family History
When the Family
Came to America
A timeline of arrivals across both family lines
The family did not arrive in a single wave. Its branches crossed the Atlantic across roughly two centuries, in two separate streams that would not meet until 1904. One stream carried Puritan and Scottish families into New England and New York. The other carried merchant and planter families into Tidewater Virginia.
The two joined when John Sidney Davenport Jr. of the New England line married Louise Marguerite Warwick of the Virginia line in Richmond on February 3, 1904. Every descendant carries both.
Tap any family line to see its full story and how we descend from it.
Virginia stream
New England stream
Virginia StreamMerchants, planters, and colonial administrators of the Tidewater
New England StreamPuritan and Scottish families of Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, and Connecticut
The two streams arrived in overlapping decades, so this timeline runs in a single chronological sequence. Each entry below is marked by stream, in color, so you can follow either line through the years.
First Generation at Jamestown1607 to 1625
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The Hill line
Edward Hill Sr., arrived 1623
Edward Hill Sr. arrived in Virginia in 1623, one year after the 1622 Powhatan attack that killed nearly a third of the English colonial population. He built the core of Shirley Plantation on the James River, the oldest continuously occupied English settlement in North America, still operated by the Hill-Carter family today.
How we connect to this lineThrough Elizabeth Hill Carter, who married William Evelyn Byrd. Their son Francis Otway Byrd is the father of Maria Horsemanden Byrd, who married Davidson Bradfute. The Bradfute and Byrd lines carry down through Margaret Elizabeth Bradfute to Byrd Warwick, father of Louise Marguerite Warwick.
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The Bennett line
Richard Bennett, arrived 1629; family present from 1621
The Bennett family's first presence in Virginia dates to 1621, when Edward Bennett patented land and began transporting settlers to Warrascoyack, later Isle of Wight County. Two of Edward's brothers died in the colony around the 1622 massacre. Richard Bennett came in 1629 to manage the family plantation and rose to become Parliamentary Governor of Virginia from 1652 to 1655.
How we connect to this lineThrough Anne Bennett, who married Theodorick Bland. Descent runs through Anna Randolph Bland, who married Robert Munford, down to Ursula Anna Munford and into the Byrd, Bradfute, and Warwick lines.
The Pilgrims1620
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The White line
William and Resolved White, arrived 1620 on the Mayflower
The earliest documented arrival in the entire family is the White family, who came on the Mayflower to Plymouth in 1620. William White was the immigrant; his son Resolved White made the crossing as a young child. This is the line that anchors the family's Mayflower Society application.
How we connect to this lineResolved White's daughter Elizabeth White married Obadiah Wheeler Jr. of Concord. The Wheeler line carries down through Obadiah Wheeler, Josiah Wheeler, and William Wheeler to Eliza Wheeler, who married John Alfred Davenport. Descent runs through John Sidney Davenport to John Sidney Davenport Jr.
The Great Puritan Migration1630 to 1640
Between 1630 and 1640, roughly twenty thousand English Puritans left England for New England, fleeing the religious policies of Archbishop Laud. Most of the family's New England lines arrived in this single decade.
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The Sewall line
Rev. Henry Sewall, arrived 1634
Rev. Henry Sewall came to Massachusetts in 1634, settling in the Newbury and Rowley area. The Sewall family originated in Coventry, Warwickshire, the same city as Rev. John Davenport. This line produced Judge Samuel Sewall, the Salem juror who later issued a public apology and wrote one of the first anti-slavery pamphlets in America.
How we connect to this lineThrough Elizabeth Sewall, who married Samuel Salisbury. Their daughter Elizabeth Salisbury married John Leverett, and the Leverett line descends through Elizabeth Sewall Leverett, who married John Sidney Davenport.
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The Wells line
Thomas Wells, Great Migration era
The Wells line descends from Thomas Wells, born in England and an early settler of Hadley, Massachusetts. The family is documented in the Connecticut River valley by the mid seventeenth century. Mary Sylvester Wells of Stamford was the daughter of Rev. Dr. Noah Welles and Abigail Burroughs Woolsey.
How we connect to this lineThrough Noah Wells and Rev. Dr. Noah Welles to Mary Sylvester Wells, who married John Davenport. Their son John Alfred Davenport married Eliza Wheeler.
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The Leverett line
Elder Thomas Leverett, arrived 1633
Elder Thomas Leverett came to Boston from Boston in Lincolnshire, England, arriving in 1633 as part of Rev. John Cotton's congregation. The Boston Leveretts produced John Leverett, Governor of Massachusetts Bay, and a later John Leverett, president of Harvard.
How we connect to this lineThrough Hudson Leverett, Knight Leverett, and John W. Leverett to John Leverett, who married Elizabeth Salisbury. Their daughter Elizabeth Sewall Leverett married John Sidney Davenport.
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The Smith line (Cotton Smith)
Henry Smith, Great Migration era
The Smith line descends from Henry Smith, an early settler of Wethersfield, Connecticut. The line runs through Samuel Smith of Wethersfield and Hadley, then Ichabod Smith and Samuel Smith of Suffield, to Rev. Cotton Mather Smith of Sheffield, Massachusetts.
How we connect to this lineCotton Mather Smith's daughter Elizabeth Smith married William Wheeler. Their daughter Eliza Wheeler married John Alfred Davenport.
The Groton, Connecticut ClusterGreat Migration, 1630s
Three interlocking families of Groton, Connecticut, joined by marriage over several generations. They reach the family through Ida Louise Burrows, who married Byrd Warwick.
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The Burrows line
Robert Burrows, arrived 1630 on the Arabella
Robert Burrows came to New England on the Arabella with the Winthrop fleet, arriving at Salem in June 1630. He settled at Wethersfield and then at Mystic, near Groton, New London County, Connecticut. The Burrows family held the Mystic homestead for more than two centuries.
How we connect to this lineThrough John Burrows, Amos Burrows, Silas Burrows, Roswell Burrows, and Roswell Smith Burrows to Ida Louise Burrows, who married Byrd Warwick.
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The Avery line
Christopher Avery, arrived 1630
Christopher Avery came to New England in 1630, settling first in the Massachusetts Bay area. His son Captain James Avery built the family homestead, the Hive of the Averys, at Groton, Connecticut.
How we connect to this lineThrough Captain James Avery, Samuel Avery, Humphrey Avery, and Jershua Avery to Jerusha Avery, who married Roswell Burrows.
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The Latham line
Cary Latham, arrived in the 1630s
Cary Latham, baptized 1613 at Aldenham, Hertfordshire, was in Cambridge, Massachusetts by 1639 and then removed to New London, Connecticut, where he was the first settler on the Groton side and ran the ferry across the Pequot River.
How we connect to this lineThrough Joseph Latham, William Latham, and Lucy Latham, who married Ebenezer Avery I. The Latham name then passed forward as a given name through Latham Avery to Jerusha Avery.
The Founding of New Haven1638
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The Davenport line
Rev. John Davenport, sailed 1637, founded New Haven 1638
Rev. John Davenport, the fifth son of the Mayor of Coventry, was Vicar of St. Stephen's Coleman Street in London until Archbishop Laud's crackdown drove him into exile in Holland. In 1637, at the invitation of his friend Theophilus Eaton, he gathered his congregation and sailed for New England. In 1638 he led the company that founded New Haven Colony. He was forty years old and never returned to England. The college he envisioned for the colony was realized as Yale.
How we connect to this lineThe family's direct patrilineal descent: from Rev. John Davenport through eight generations of Davenports in New Haven and Stamford, down to John Sidney Davenport Jr.
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The Wheeler line
Obadiah Wheeler Sr., arrived at Concord around 1638
The Wheeler family is the line through which the family descends from the Mayflower. Obadiah Wheeler Sr., baptized 1609 at Cranfield, Bedfordshire, settled at Concord, Massachusetts around 1638. His son Obadiah Wheeler Jr. married Elizabeth White, daughter of the Mayflower passenger Resolved White.
How we connect to this lineFrom Obadiah Wheeler Jr. and Elizabeth White, the line runs through Obadiah Wheeler and Josiah Wheeler to William Wheeler, whose daughter Eliza Wheeler married John Alfred Davenport.
The Royalist Diaspora1640s to 1660s
After the execution of Charles I in 1649, a wave of Royalist and merchant families left England for Virginia, which had remained loyal to the Crown.
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The Carter line
Arrived around 1649
The Carter family arrived in Virginia around 1649. Robert "King" Carter became Acting Governor, Speaker of the House of Burgesses, and Treasurer of the colony, and was the wealthiest planter of his generation.
How we connect to this lineThrough Elizabeth Hill Carter, who married William Evelyn Byrd. Their son Francis Otway Byrd is the father of Maria Horsemanden Byrd, who married Davidson Bradfute.
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The Bland line
Theodorick Bland, in Virginia by 1653
The Bland brothers came to Virginia as merchants out of London, by way of the family's wine trade in Spain, as part of the Royalist diaspora. Theodorick Bland of Westover had moved to Virginia by 1653, with his name first appearing in colony records that November.
How we connect to this lineThrough Richard Bland to Anna Randolph Bland, who married Robert Munford. Descent carries through Maria Horsemanden Byrd and the Bradfute and Warwick lines.
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The Warwick line
Thomas Warwick, documented by 1664
The first Thomas Warwick in the family tree appears in Middlesex County, Virginia records in 1664, with a land patent on Parratt's Creek on the Rappahannock River.
How we connect to this lineThe family's Virginia patrilineal descent: from Thomas Warwick through John Warwick, Abraham Warwick, William Sidney Warwick, and Corbin Warwick to Byrd Warwick, father of Louise Marguerite Warwick.
The Restoration Gentry1660s to 1670s
A second group of Virginia lines arrived after the 1660 restoration of the monarchy, the families who would form the core of the colonial gentry.
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The Byrd line
William Byrd I, arrived March 1669
William Byrd I immigrated to Virginia in March 1669, at the invitation of his uncle Thomas Stegge Jr., from the Shadwell section of London. His son William Byrd II, born in Virginia in 1674, later laid out the city of Richmond in 1737.
How we connect to this lineThrough William Evelyn Byrd to Francis Otway Byrd, who married Ursula Anna Munford. Their daughter Maria Horsemanden Byrd married Davidson Bradfute.
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The Beverley line
Arrived around 1670
The Beverley family arrived in Virginia around 1670. Robert Beverley's son wrote the first history of Virginia by a native-born Virginian, published in 1705.
How we connect to this lineThrough Anne Beverley, who married Robert Munford. Their daughter Ursula Anna Munford married Francis Otway Byrd.
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The Randolph line
William Randolph, arrived around 1673
The Randolphs came from Moreton Morrell in Warwickshire, the same county where Rev. John Davenport was born at Coventry. William Randolph of Turkey Island arrived in Virginia around 1673.
How we connect to this lineThrough Elizabeth Randolph, who married Richard Bland. Descent runs through Anna Randolph Bland and the Munford marriage down to Ursula Anna Munford.
Later Arrival at BostonLate 1600s
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The Salisbury line
John Salisbury, born Wales, in Boston by 1700
The Salisbury line begins with John Salisbury, born in Wales in 1670, who settled in Boston and died there in 1702. Unlike most of the family's New England lines, the Salisburys arrived later, near the end of the seventeenth century. The line runs through his son Nicholas Salisbury to Samuel Salisbury of Boston.
How we connect to this lineThrough Nicholas Salisbury to Samuel Salisbury, whose daughter Elizabeth Salisbury married John Leverett. Their daughter Elizabeth Sewall Leverett married John Sidney Davenport.
Scottish Arrival in VirginiaMid 1700s
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The Bradfute line
Robert Bradfute, from Scotland to Virginia, mid 1700s
The Bradfute line came directly from Scotland to Virginia. Robert Bradfute was born around 1749 at Crawfordjohn, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and died in Bedford County, Virginia. His son Davidson Bradfute was born in 1781 at New London, Bedford County, Virginia.
How we connect to this lineThrough Davidson Bradfute to Margaret Elizabeth Bradfute, who married Corbin Warwick in 1838. Their son Byrd Warwick is the father of Louise Marguerite Warwick.
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The Munford line
Established in Virginia by the mid 1600s
The Munford line was established in Virginia by the middle of the seventeenth century. The family's records trace the line to James Munford, born about 1648 in Henrico County, and his son Robert Munford of Bristol Parish.
How we connect to this lineThrough Robert Munford to Ursula Anna Munford, who married Francis Otway Byrd. Their daughter Maria Horsemanden Byrd married Davidson Bradfute.
Scottish Arrival in New YorkEarly to Mid 1800s
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The Rintoul line
James Rintoul, arrived from Scotland, early to mid 1800s
The Rintoul line is a Scottish family of Forteviot, Perthshire. It is documented back to John Rintoul, born 1736 at Forteviot, and his son John Rintoul, born 1776 at Forteviot. James Rintoul, born 1816 in Scotland, was the family member who emigrated, settling in New York, where his daughter Mary Elizabeth Rintoul was born in 1848.
How we connect to this lineThrough James Rintoul to Mary Elizabeth Rintoul, who married John Sidney Davenport. Their son John Sidney Davenport Jr. married Louise Marguerite Warwick in 1904.
Richmond, Virginia · February 3, 1904
The Convergence
The two streams, separate for nearly three centuries, joined on February 3, 1904. John Sidney Davenport Jr., descended from the New England Puritan and Scottish lines, had come to Richmond in 1901 for his work as an actuary. There he met and married Louise Marguerite Warwick, descended from the Virginia gentry lines. Their five sons, each named to honor a different branch of the combined heritage, carried both streams forward.
John Sidney Davenport Jr. & Louise Marguerite Warwick
Notes on This Timeline
The earliest documented arrival in the family is the White family on the Mayflower in 1620. The earliest documented Virginia arrival is the Hill line in 1623, with the Bennett family's footprint reaching back to 1621.
Most of the New England lines arrived together in the Great Migration of the 1630s. The Salisbury line arrived later. The Avery, Latham, and Burrows lines form one interlocking Groton, Connecticut cluster.
Sources: this timeline draws on the family's own compiled research, including the Davenport and Warwick ahnentafels, the Jamestowne Society qualifying-ancestors material, and published reference sources.