finding robert & elizabeth

Story*

John Nixon was married in New York in October 1765 to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of George and Jane Currie Davis. There is an amazing legend in the family to the effect that Elizabeth's grandfather, Captain Davis, eloped with a beautiful Portuguese.

     Your cousin Elizabeth Cooke remembers distinctly hearing your great grandmother Waln talking about it.

Captain Davis was in command of a vessel that sailed from New York to Lisbon and while his ship was in the latter port an earthquake occurred.

The Portuguese maiden was at school in a convent and was apparently rescued by the American officer from falling walls [of] flames, imminent starvation, destitution, and all the other incidentals of those appalling visitations. Where her parents were at the moment or subsequently is not recorded. Possibly she was an orphan.

In any event, the gallant captain was duly married to the fair Portuguese and they lived as far as we know most happily ever after.

     Her name I cannot find and your cousin Elizabeth Cooke cannot recall it. The large dark eyes of your great grandmother Waln were perhaps an inheritance from her Latin great great grandmother.

John and Elizabeth Davis Nixon had five children: Elizabeth, Mary, Sarah, Jane, and Henry.

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*Extracted from Annals of the ancestry of Charles Custis Harrison and Ellen Waln Harrison, Printed for private circulation by J.B. Lippincott company, 1932 - 345 pages (Page 131)

Family Group

Elizabeth Davis
Birth: 1737 in Prince Edward, British Colony of Virginia
Death: 31 Aug 1795 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Burial: Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
WikiNo: Davis-61770

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Married: 3 Oct 1765 in British Colony of New York
to
Colonel John Nixon
Birth: 1733 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, British Colony of Pennsylvania
Death: 31 Dec 1808 in West Chester, Chester, Pennsylvania, USA
Burial: Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA
WikiNo: Nixon-3652

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Children:

Mary Davis Nixon (Francis West)
Birth: 29 Sep 1770, British Colony of Massachusetts
Death: 07 Oct 1848, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
WikiNo: Nixon-3656

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Sarah Nixon (William Cramond, see More . . . below)
Birth: Abt. 1774
Death: 30 Oct 1865
WikiNo: Nixon-3663

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Jane Nixon (Thomas Mayne Willing)
Birth: 30 Jun 1775
Death: 4 May 1823, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
WikiNo: Nixon-2189

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Henry Nixon (Maria Morris)
Birth: 09 Aug 1776, Philadelphia, Delaware, Pennsylvania
Death: 18 Aug 1840, Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
WikiNo: Nixon-2049
Note: Henry married Maria Morris who was the 2nd daughter of Robert Morris Jr. (signer of the Declaration of Independence) and Mary White.

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Elizabeth Nixon (Eric Bollmann)
Birth: Unknown
Death: 14 May 1802
WikiNo: Nixon-3662

Resources

Daughters of the American Revolution: Ancestor #A083888 (copy this number before you leave this page), Service: Pennsylvania Rank(s): Colonel, Birth: 1733 Pennsylvania, Death: 12-31-1808 Philadelphia, Philadelphia CO Pennsylvania, Service Source: PA ARCH, 2ND SER, VOL 13, P 585, Service Description: 1) 3RD Battalion

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Find A Grave, Elizabeth Davis Nixon, Birth unknown, Death 31 Aug 1795, Burial Saint Peter's Episcopal Churchyard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, Memorial ID 88007374

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Find A Grave, John Nixon, Birth 1733, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, Death 31 Dec 1808 (aged 74–75), Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, Burial Saint Peter's Episcopal Churchyard, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, Memorial ID 11311197

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Journal Article: Colonel John Nixon, Charles Henry Hart, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1877), pp. 188-202 (15 pages), Published by: The Historical Society of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania Press (Page 201)

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Marriage - New York Marriages Previous to 1784, New York (State), Genealogical Publishing Com, 1968 - Reference - 618 pages, (Page 281)

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Memoir of the Life and Services of Colonel John Nixon, Charles Henry Hart, 1877 - United States - 17 pages

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The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1877), pp. 188-202 (page 201 for proof of Elizabeth's marriage to John West)