RESOURCES

Sources, Notes, and Special Thanks

Blurb goes here

SPECIAL THANKS

With special thanks to Stephen Rintoul Davenport

SOURCES & FURTHER READING

Primary & Secondary Sources

Compiled by Maria Byrd Davenport

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  • Ancestry.com · Digital collections. Vital records, census records, and compiled genealogies.

  • Bradfute Beginnings · Heizer, Ruth Bradfute. The Story of the Ancestors and Descendants of Robert Bradfute of Scotland and Virginia.

  • Clap, Thomas. The Annals or History of Yale-College. New Haven, 1766.

  • Colonial Collegians Database · New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS).

  • DAR Patriot Records · Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington, D.C.

  • Dexter, Franklin B. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College, 6 vols. New York: Henry Holt, 1885–1912.

  • FamilySearch · Digital collections (familysearch.org). Vital records, census records, church registers, probate records, and land records.

  • Generation to Generation: The Art and Architecture of Grace and Holy Trinity Church · Donald Traser. Window descriptions for the Angel Gabriel and Supper at Emmaus windows are drawn with permission from this source.

  • John Davenport: The American Career of an International Puritan · Francis J. Bremer · Stamford Historical Society, April 2005 · The definitive scholarly account of Rev. John Davenport's life and legacy.

  • Kennedy, John F. Campaign speech, Charlotte, North Carolina, September 17, 1960. [Dark Day reference.]

  • Notes on Some of the Warwicks of Virginia · William A. Beardsley · September 1, 1937 · Compiled from Amherst County records and the family Bible.

  • Sibley, John Langdon, and Clifford K. Shipton. Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1873–.

  • Stamford Historical Society Davenport Family Exhibit · Stamford, CT.

  • The Secret Diary of William Byrd of Westover, 1709–1712 · William Byrd II · Decoded and published 1941 · Written in shorthand cipher and not decoded until the 20th century.

  • WikiTree · Collaborative genealogy platform (wikitree.com). Sourced profiles for Davenport, Warwick, Bradfute, Rintoul, Wheeler, Byrd, and related lines, maintained by the editor. Primary sources cited within individual profiles.

About this Website

Compiled by Maria Byrd Davenport,
with assistance from the planning committee.

This website grew out of a family-history project that began almost accidentally and then quietly took over a lot of evenings and weekends. What started as curiosity about a few family stories turned into years of research, cross-referencing, and conversations with relatives, plus the discovery that several family members had already been preserving pieces of this history in their own ways.

The site itself exists because of my friend, Jackie Temkin of Afton Design Co, who actually built it. I spent years figuring out which colonial cousin married which other colonial cousin and still could not figure out how to make a website. Jackie went to Princeton (and UVA Darden), which, given that this is largely a family of Yalies, means I am genuinely not sure whether that makes her more trustworthy or less. Either way, she is the reason any of this is readable on a screen.

The goal here is not a monument to famous names. It is a place to gather the family's stories in a readable way: the notable and the ordinary, the admirable and the uncomfortable. Some pages trace connections to presidents, colleges, wars, and early American institutions; others focus on the lives of mothers, daughters, sisters, and other relatives whose stories are harder to see in traditional genealogies.

The genealogical information reflects work by family members and professional genealogists over many years. Vital records, census and church registers, wills, land and military records, and reputable published genealogies have been used for many of the relationships shown here, whether by the editor, by Stephen Rintoul Davenport, or by researchers the family has engaged.

All of it is presented in good faith and to the best of current knowledge. Genealogical work is always provisional: new records appear, old assumptions are revised, and even well-sourced conclusions sometimes change. Errors are possible, and corrections from relatives with additional documentation are welcome.

The hope is that this site becomes a shared family record, one that preserves what has already been learned, makes room for what has been overlooked, and saves future generations from having to start the puzzle from scratch.

If there are mistakes, apologies in advance. I did not go to Yale. Or Harvard.