We have enjoyed these last four days of doing family research on John's mother and father's side of the family. In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, we found a lot of Davenport graves, and went into a couple of houses on River Street, one that had been owned by his grandfather. The other home we went into was a gorgeous 3-story mansion that we thought was the home his father grew up in, but learned that the Davenport home had been torn down, probably by the University that now owns most of the buildings in that area. But his father had lived in a beautiful 3-story house, so we can just imagine it might have been something like the one we went into next door. The beautiful grandfather clock John now owns was in this River St. house during a flood (the river is right across the street), and has watermarks on the base of the clock to prove it.
The other home that was owned by Davenports is now a Law Office and residence. When we buzzed the intercom and John told her he was a Davenport, the woman who answered replied "Wheee" and then we didn't hear any more from her. We were almost ready to walk away when an older woman (who had probably spent time getting dressed up for the occasion) came to the door and was quite excited to meet us. Her son, the lawyer, was more cautious about who we were, probably wondering why we were "barging" into their home like that! He's a Public Defender, which might explain his reluctance, but she was quite happy to show us around. It was a thrill for John to meet someone who knew his family.
We found two cemeteries with lots of Davenport gravestones. One was quite far up a hill--had to get there on Davenport Street! There was one whole plot of Davenports -- many we knew about through the Ancestry.com research I've done. Can't imagine how their horse and buggies made it up that hill as often as they must have for services. It was a chore for our Prius! |
| John's grandfather--prominent in Wilkes-Barre |
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| Davenport-Cake (Anna Cake was John's grandmother-- her father very prominent in Wilkes-Barre, but couldn't find his grave. |
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| Davenport plot, Shawnee Cemetery, Plymouth PA |
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