It is commonly agreed that the first settlers of Anne Arundel county, Maryland, came up from Virginia ; the first American settlement of this family is, therefore, probably to be ascribed to Virginia. Between 1660 and 1670 there were seventy-five Davises among the settlers of Anne Arundel county. Sir Thomas Davis was one of the London company for the settlement of Virginia, and came to James 'City in 1619. In 1637 a Thomas Davis was granted a plantation; he lived in Nansemond county, Virginia, from which county most of the first Anne Arundel settlers came. Certain knowledge, however, of the present ancestry begins about 1700.

(I) Thomas Davis, the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, died about 1749; his will was probated in that year, but dated six years earlier. He had extensive holdings of land in Maryland. He married Mary Pierpoint, probably of the English family so well known in West Virginia and in Connecticut. Children: Richard, died about 1742, married Ruth Warfield; Thomas, died about 1750, married Elizabeth Gaither; John, married Anne Worthington ; Samuel ; Robert, of whom further ; Francis ; Sarah, married Henry Griffith ; Mary, married John Riggs ; Ruth, married Joshua Warfield ; two other daughters.

(II) Robert, son of Thomas and Mary (Pierpoint) Davis, lived at "Ranters' Ridge," near Woodstock, Maryland. He married Ruth, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Duvall-Warfield) Gaither; she married (second) Nathan Randall, (third) Nelson. Children of Robert Davis: Nicholas; Robert; Thomas; Ichabod; Caleb D., of whom further.