Introduction: Melissa Davenport Berry writes about her Davenport family history, going back to the Colonial era. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

In the 1 March 1884 edition of the Ipswich Chronicle, editor Isaac J. Potter reflected on the death of Edward Little Davenport, the newspaper’s former editor and proprietor:

“The Ipswich [Massachusetts] public are not, or ever will be, aware of the good he has done this town. The Chronicle gave Ipswich tone and dignity, denoted enterprise for the merchants, each edition creditable, and exerted a high moral influence over the community at large. Like any good editor he was witty, possessed ability, brevity, and a dash of writing and quick thought which is so essential to successful journalism.”

Edward Little Davenport was my great-great-grandfather, and researching his life revealed a remarkable journey – from small-town politics and Civil War service to abolitionism, newspaper printing and editing, and powerful testimony before Congress on child labor.

He was clever and industrious, a catalyst for change and progress – a New England Charles Dickens who championed social and economic reform.

Before I begin Edward’s story, here is some genealogy and history on the family.

Born 17 March 1838 in Newburyport, Massachusetts, Edward Little Davenport is the son of Anthony Davenport Jr. (1802-1885) and Sarah Jackson (Little) Davenport (1801-1888).

Edward married Sophronia Angelina Cross (1837-1916) in Ipswich on 3 September 1863. She is the daughter of Capt. John Dudley Cross, Esq. (1813-1879) and Lydia Caldwell (Lord) Cross (1813-1887). They had six children, including my great-grandmother Melissa Cross (Davenport) Phelps.

The couple were married by Rev. Stephen Hiler, and their wedding announcement was published in the Daily Herald. Edward was serving as a sergeant in Co. I, 23rd Regiment Massachusetts Infantry in the Union Army.

Here is a photo of Edward and Sophronia.

Below is the marriage announcement of Edward’s parents, published in the Newburyport Herald. The couple were married in Portland, Maine, on 9 May 1825.

Here is a photo of Sarah Jackson (Little) Davenport, daughter of Stephen Little III and Rebekah (Dodge) Little.

Edward’s father, Anthony Davenport Jr., was a silversmith, watch- and clockmaker, and maker of mathematical and nautical instruments. He owned a jewelry store in Newburyport and a nautical shop in Portland, Maine, known as “At the Sign of the Quadrant and Compass.”

Here is an advertisement from a Portland newspaper in 1826.

Here is an image of a Surveyor’s Compass made by Anthony Davenport Jr., now held by the Smithsonian:

This is a wooden compass with a paper card marked “ANTHONY DAVENPORT, PORTLAND.” Davenport ran a mathematical instrument shop, At the Sign of the Quadrant and Compass, in Portland, Me., during the period 1823-1838. Most of his wares were for nautical use, but according to an undated trade card now in the Mystic Seaport Museum, he also sold “Brass and Wood Surveyors’ COMPASSES.” The Davenport signature on this example appears on a small circle of paper that has been pasted over the name of the man for whom the compass card was originally made. The words “Callender scp.” on the card refer to Joseph Callendar (1751-1821), an engraver who produced the plates for the compasses and trade cards used by several New England instrument makers and dealers.

Edward’s grandparents are Anthony Davenport Sr. (1752-1836) and Catherine (Greenleaf) Davenport (1759-1838), daughter of Hon. Jonathan Greenleaf and Mary (Presbury) Greenleaf, married in Newbury on 25 November 1788.

Anthony Sr. was a prominent merchant, wharf owner, and privateer in Newburyport, Massachusetts, who greatly increased his fortune by operating armed vessels, most notably the brig Hazard, under letters of marque to disrupt British supply lines during the American Revolution. Anthony Davenport happens to be my ancestor and the patriot I joined under for membership to DAR.

He died on 30 March 1836. Below is a death notice published in the Newburyport Herald.

According to Newburyport Urban Renewal:

The Ferry was one of the great thoroughfares in those days, and the Ferry Wharf was a place of active trade. At the head of the Wharf stood, facing on the Market, Mr. Anthony Davenport’s and Mr. John Davenport’s shops. Mr. Anthony Davenport’s was the centre of the Country-folks Exchange, and the best butter was to be found there and the freshest eggs, and the nicest moulds of barbara tallow.

The Newburyport land was bought in 1807 by Anthony Davenport Sr., and the house was built soon afterward, passing in 1838 to his daughter, Catherine Greenleaf (Davenport) Deford and her husband Samuel Tibbett Deford. It remained in this family until 1871 when bought by John A. Greeley.

A relic of this Greenleaf-Davenport line was a shipping bowl dated 1752 which fetched $112,000 at Christie’s Auction House on 21 January 2000. It was owned by the first few generations: Jonathan Greenleaf to Catherine Greenleaf Davenport to Anthony Davenport Jr. to Catherine Davenport Pearson to John Francis Pearson.

From Christie’s:

Documentary Liverpool Delft Shipping Bowl. The interior painted in blue and enriched in yellow and iron-red with a ship on the point of being launched, three Union Jacks flying from masts at the fore, midships and aft, ten figures on the deck, one doffing his hat, five figures on the quay holding hatchets to cut the ropes and send the ship on her way, inscribed below A SHIP AT LANCH/Jonathan Greenleaf/1752, the rim with four oval cartouches enclosing half-flowerheads and reserved on a trellis-pattern ground, the exterior with a vignette extending three-quarters around the bowl of a large farm house by a bridge, a figure walking across towards a barn and silo at the right and with a second smaller scene of a similar barn and silo, iron-red line rim.

To be continued…

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Note on the header image: Davenport-Greeley House, 78 State Street, Newburyport, Massachusetts. Credit: Tate and Foss.