Nancy Carter was born in Georgia (according to the 1850 census). She married Simeon Davis in Jackson County, Mississippi around 1827 and they had at least eight children. By 1840, the family had moved from Jackson County to Rankin County. In the 1850 census, Simeon listed his occupation as clergyman, but his grandson remembered his mother telling him that Simeon was a physician. In the 1850s, the couple had moved to Clarke County, where Nancy died in 1858 and Simeon in 1864.
Finding Nancy's ancestry was a challenge. For many years Nancy Davis's maiden name was unknown to her current descendants. Through the search for her maiden name we learned about her life. Nancy left a clue concerning her maiden name for she named one of her sons William Carter Davis. In order to assess the accuracy of Nancy's last name as Carter, we needed to go back a generation or two in the Jackson County Carter families so we could look for DNA matches for verification. Ultimately, when comparing cousin DNA to Greg Hampton with shared ancestors, the evidence was overwhelming that Nancy was the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester.
Prior to Samuel W. H. Davis (Simeon's father) and family crossing Georgia and Alabama to move to Jackson County, Mississippi (1812), Mathew Carter II came from Georgia to the same county. Son Mathew Carter III married Mary Rester in Bulloch County, Georgia, on 2 May 1807, and the Georgia passport for the Carter family to move to Mississippi was issued 16th April 1811. Mathew Carter II died in 1812 in Mississippi, leaving wife Cassandra Barber (Barbour) Carter, and multiple offspring including sons Mathew III (1781-1858) and William (1783-1852).
One of Samuel Davis's sons was Simeon Davis (born 1795 in Georgia). Simeon owned property near what is now Lucedale, next to his father's property. Simeon married Nancy in approximately 1826 or 1827 (their first child was born in 1828), when he was approximately 32 years old and Nancy was approximately 18 years old.
Nancy was around 11 years old in the 1820 census. In that census, there were three Carter males in Jackson County. William Carter (brother of Matthew Carter III) had no daughters in that age group. Matthew Carter III showed two daughters in the 10-15 age group. The Matthew Carter III family trees at ancestry.com accounted for only one daughter, Elizabeth Carter, born in 1807. Once we inserted Nancy (born in 1809) into the family tree and expanded the trees of Matthew Carter III and his wife, Mary Rester (going back multiple generations), there were numerous and substantial DNA matches with others from those trees and Greg Hampton, the second great-grandson of Simeon and Nancy Davis. Many of these matches had no other shared family names.
There was another Carter male in the area. Thomas Carter also had a daughter in the correct age group as Nancy in the 1820 census. By the 1830 census, Thomas and his family had moved, possibly to Hinds County. From the 1820 census, we know that Thomas was born before 1875, and we don't know that much about him otherwise. He is not listed in Carter family trees at ancestry.com. However, in the 1820 census, his name falls near George Davis's and Cassandra Carter's names, indicating that he may have lived close to them. No land records for him could be found. Because of the DNA matches to the Barber family, in order for Thomas to have been Nancy's father, Cassandra or a sister would have had to have been Thomas's mother. Cassandra and Mathew Carter II were not married until 1780 so it is highly unlikely that Cassandra was Thomas's mother. Thomas would also have had to have married another Rester woman to have the matches on that side. Not impossible, but unlikely, and so for all those reasons, we ruled out Nancy being a direct descendant of Thomas.
Mary Rester and Mathew Carter III married in Georgia in 1807. Mary died in 1813. At some point Mathew remarried, and the 1850 census show his wife as ten years younger than Mathew with the name of "Ann." Some have speculated that this was Anne Goff, but there are some issues that arise from that theory, one being that the marriage records show that it was William, not Mathew, who Ann Goff married.
There was some speculation as to how the Simeon Davis and Nancy Carter met. Linda Ellis has a reference on Mathew Carter III's Findagrave.com page that could aid in explaining it. The Samuel W. H. Davis family first settled on Pascagoula Rim, perhaps close to the Carters. According to the Ocean Springs archives, the elder Davises moved closer to their sons in the now-Ocean Springs area, and the U.S. Indexed Early Land Ownership and Township Plats, 1785-1898, show the properties of Samuel (brother or father) and Simeon. The plat map was done sometime in the late 1820s to mid-1830s; there are multiple dates on it. The land plat map for the Carter family has notes on it showing 1844, but it is unclear when the original map was made. That shows Mathew Carter III's land, along with his mother's, along Cedar Creek, somewhere further to the east, and possibly north of the Davises lands probably miles away. Just south of Mathew Carter's land is the land of George Davis, most likely Samuel W. H. Davis's brother and Simeon Davis's uncle. It is possible that Nancy Carter could have met Simeon Davis when he was visiting his uncle, or earlier, when the elder Davises may have lived closer. Another possible scenario is that the Carters could have had the Davises build a boat for them, because family lore has it that the Davis family, in addition to farming, built boats.
Thanks to Linda Ellis's reference to The Autobiography of A. C. Ramsey (1879) the most likely scenario is that Nancy and Simeon met at church. In that book, Ramsey talked about the Salem Church camp in Jackson County. There is a historical marker that states, "Begun in 1826, the Salem Methodist Campground moved to this site in 1842. Meeting in October of each year, except 1863 & 1864, it is the oldest regularly held Methodist camp meeting in Mississippi." Ramsey stated, "Where is the sainted Peter Helverston, William Carter, Matthew Carter, Samuel Davis, Henry Fletcher, Edmund Goff, Bryant Perrell, William Mizzle, Father Wells, Isaac Wells, besides many others who were generally seen on that ground with open arms, open hearts, and open tents to receive, feed, and care for the people assembled there to hear the Word of Life."
Of course, there are some limitations to this position that Nancy Davis is the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester. First, as far as we know at the present time, only one of Nancy and Simeon's second great-grandchildren has checked for DNA matches to the Carter/Rester lines. It would be helpful if other descendants performed the same exercise.
Secondly, there are a couple of trees on ancestry and statements on findagrave that have Anna Nancy Davis having married James Well rather than Simeon Davis. None of those trees have well-documented facts behind them and the DNA profile does not fit. The origin of this idea is most likely from a May 25, 1826, letter from Matthew Carter III written to his sister and brother. In it is speaks of his eldest two daughters getting married (Elizabeth and Anna) and there is a lot of illegible words, leaving a lot to the imagination. One way to interpret is that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson, after the death of James Well. The next sentence is illegible, and may indicate that Nancy married Simeon Davis. Some people may have interpreted some of the illegible words to say that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson and Anna married James Well. There is one genealogy database that indicates that it was Elizabeth, not Nancy, who married James Well before she married Thomas Wilson.
(Updated 3/17/2023)
Finding Nancy's ancestry was a challenge. For many years Nancy Davis's maiden name was unknown to her current descendants. Through the search for her maiden name we learned about her life. Nancy left a clue concerning her maiden name for she named one of her sons William Carter Davis. In order to assess the accuracy of Nancy's last name as Carter, we needed to go back a generation or two in the Jackson County Carter families so we could look for DNA matches for verification. Ultimately, when comparing cousin DNA to Greg Hampton with shared ancestors, the evidence was overwhelming that Nancy was the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester.
Prior to Samuel W. H. Davis (Simeon's father) and family crossing Georgia and Alabama to move to Jackson County, Mississippi (1812), Mathew Carter II came from Georgia to the same county. Son Mathew Carter III married Mary Rester in Bulloch County, Georgia, on 2 May 1807, and the Georgia passport for the Carter family to move to Mississippi was issued 16th April 1811. Mathew Carter II died in 1812 in Mississippi, leaving wife Cassandra Barber (Barbour) Carter, and multiple offspring including sons Mathew III (1781-1858) and William (1783-1852).
One of Samuel Davis's sons was Simeon Davis (born 1795 in Georgia). Simeon owned property near what is now Lucedale, next to his father's property. Simeon married Nancy in approximately 1826 or 1827 (their first child was born in 1828), when he was approximately 32 years old and Nancy was approximately 18 years old.
Nancy was around 11 years old in the 1820 census. In that census, there were three Carter males in Jackson County. William Carter (brother of Matthew Carter III) had no daughters in that age group. Matthew Carter III showed two daughters in the 10-15 age group. The Matthew Carter III family trees at ancestry.com accounted for only one daughter, Elizabeth Carter, born in 1807. Once we inserted Nancy (born in 1809) into the family tree and expanded the trees of Matthew Carter III and his wife, Mary Rester (going back multiple generations), there were numerous and substantial DNA matches with others from those trees and Greg Hampton, the second great-grandson of Simeon and Nancy Davis. Many of these matches had no other shared family names.
There was another Carter male in the area. Thomas Carter also had a daughter in the correct age group as Nancy in the 1820 census. By the 1830 census, Thomas and his family had moved, possibly to Hinds County. From the 1820 census, we know that Thomas was born before 1875, and we don't know that much about him otherwise. He is not listed in Carter family trees at ancestry.com. However, in the 1820 census, his name falls near George Davis's and Cassandra Carter's names, indicating that he may have lived close to them. No land records for him could be found. Because of the DNA matches to the Barber family, in order for Thomas to have been Nancy's father, Cassandra or a sister would have had to have been Thomas's mother. Cassandra and Mathew Carter II were not married until 1780 so it is highly unlikely that Cassandra was Thomas's mother. Thomas would also have had to have married another Rester woman to have the matches on that side. Not impossible, but unlikely, and so for all those reasons, we ruled out Nancy being a direct descendant of Thomas.
Mary Rester and Mathew Carter III married in Georgia in 1807. Mary died in 1813. At some point Mathew remarried, and the 1850 census show his wife as ten years younger than Mathew with the name of "Ann." Some have speculated that this was Anne Goff, but there are some issues that arise from that theory, one being that the marriage records show that it was William, not Mathew, who Ann Goff married.
There was some speculation as to how the Simeon Davis and Nancy Carter met. Linda Ellis has a reference on Mathew Carter III's Findagrave.com page that could aid in explaining it. The Samuel W. H. Davis family first settled on Pascagoula Rim, perhaps close to the Carters. According to the Ocean Springs archives, the elder Davises moved closer to their sons in the now-Ocean Springs area, and the U.S. Indexed Early Land Ownership and Township Plats, 1785-1898, show the properties of Samuel (brother or father) and Simeon. The plat map was done sometime in the late 1820s to mid-1830s; there are multiple dates on it. The land plat map for the Carter family has notes on it showing 1844, but it is unclear when the original map was made. That shows Mathew Carter III's land, along with his mother's, along Cedar Creek, somewhere further to the east, and possibly north of the Davises lands probably miles away. Just south of Mathew Carter's land is the land of George Davis, most likely Samuel W. H. Davis's brother and Simeon Davis's uncle. It is possible that Nancy Carter could have met Simeon Davis when he was visiting his uncle, or earlier, when the elder Davises may have lived closer. Another possible scenario is that the Carters could have had the Davises build a boat for them, because family lore has it that the Davis family, in addition to farming, built boats.
Thanks to Linda Ellis's reference to The Autobiography of A. C. Ramsey (1879) the most likely scenario is that Nancy and Simeon met at church. In that book, Ramsey talked about the Salem Church camp in Jackson County. There is a historical marker that states, "Begun in 1826, the Salem Methodist Campground moved to this site in 1842. Meeting in October of each year, except 1863 & 1864, it is the oldest regularly held Methodist camp meeting in Mississippi." Ramsey stated, "Where is the sainted Peter Helverston, William Carter, Matthew Carter, Samuel Davis, Henry Fletcher, Edmund Goff, Bryant Perrell, William Mizzle, Father Wells, Isaac Wells, besides many others who were generally seen on that ground with open arms, open hearts, and open tents to receive, feed, and care for the people assembled there to hear the Word of Life."
Of course, there are some limitations to this position that Nancy Davis is the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester. First, as far as we know at the present time, only one of Nancy and Simeon's second great-grandchildren has checked for DNA matches to the Carter/Rester lines. It would be helpful if other descendants performed the same exercise.
Secondly, there are a couple of trees on ancestry and statements on findagrave that have Anna Nancy Davis having married James Well rather than Simeon Davis. None of those trees have well-documented facts behind them and the DNA profile does not fit. The origin of this idea is most likely from a May 25, 1826, letter from Matthew Carter III written to his sister and brother. In it is speaks of his eldest two daughters getting married (Elizabeth and Anna) and there is a lot of illegible words, leaving a lot to the imagination. One way to interpret is that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson, after the death of James Well. The next sentence is illegible, and may indicate that Nancy married Simeon Davis. Some people may have interpreted some of the illegible words to say that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson and Anna married James Well. There is one genealogy database that indicates that it was Elizabeth, not Nancy, who married James Well before she married Thomas Wilson.
(Updated 3/17/2023)
Nancy Carter was born in Georgia (according to the 1850 census). She married Simeon Davis in Jackson County, Mississippi around 1827 and they had at least eight children. By 1840, the family had moved from Jackson County to Rankin County. In the 1850 census, Simeon listed his occupation as clergyman, but his grandson remembered his mother telling him that Simeon was a physician. In the 1850s, the couple had moved to Clarke County, where Nancy died in 1858 and Simeon in 1864.
Finding Nancy's ancestry was a challenge. For many years Nancy Davis's maiden name was unknown to her current descendants. Through the search for her maiden name we learned about her life. Nancy left a clue concerning her maiden name for she named one of her sons William Carter Davis. In order to assess the accuracy of Nancy's last name as Carter, we needed to go back a generation or two in the Jackson County Carter families so we could look for DNA matches for verification. Ultimately, when comparing cousin DNA to Greg Hampton with shared ancestors, the evidence was overwhelming that Nancy was the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester.
Prior to Samuel W. H. Davis (Simeon's father) and family crossing Georgia and Alabama to move to Jackson County, Mississippi (1812), Mathew Carter II came from Georgia to the same county. Son Mathew Carter III married Mary Rester in Bulloch County, Georgia, on 2 May 1807, and the Georgia passport for the Carter family to move to Mississippi was issued 16th April 1811. Mathew Carter II died in 1812 in Mississippi, leaving wife Cassandra Barber (Barbour) Carter, and multiple offspring including sons Mathew III (1781-1858) and William (1783-1852).
One of Samuel Davis's sons was Simeon Davis (born 1795 in Georgia). Simeon owned property near what is now Lucedale, next to his father's property. Simeon married Nancy in approximately 1826 or 1827 (their first child was born in 1828), when he was approximately 32 years old and Nancy was approximately 18 years old.
Nancy was around 11 years old in the 1820 census. In that census, there were three Carter males in Jackson County. William Carter (brother of Matthew Carter III) had no daughters in that age group. Matthew Carter III showed two daughters in the 10-15 age group. The Matthew Carter III family trees at ancestry.com accounted for only one daughter, Elizabeth Carter, born in 1807. Once we inserted Nancy (born in 1809) into the family tree and expanded the trees of Matthew Carter III and his wife, Mary Rester (going back multiple generations), there were numerous and substantial DNA matches with others from those trees and Greg Hampton, the second great-grandson of Simeon and Nancy Davis. Many of these matches had no other shared family names.
There was another Carter male in the area. Thomas Carter also had a daughter in the correct age group as Nancy in the 1820 census. By the 1830 census, Thomas and his family had moved, possibly to Hinds County. From the 1820 census, we know that Thomas was born before 1875, and we don't know that much about him otherwise. He is not listed in Carter family trees at ancestry.com. However, in the 1820 census, his name falls near George Davis's and Cassandra Carter's names, indicating that he may have lived close to them. No land records for him could be found. Because of the DNA matches to the Barber family, in order for Thomas to have been Nancy's father, Cassandra or a sister would have had to have been Thomas's mother. Cassandra and Mathew Carter II were not married until 1780 so it is highly unlikely that Cassandra was Thomas's mother. Thomas would also have had to have married another Rester woman to have the matches on that side. Not impossible, but unlikely, and so for all those reasons, we ruled out Nancy being a direct descendant of Thomas.
Mary Rester and Mathew Carter III married in Georgia in 1807. Mary died in 1813. At some point Mathew remarried, and the 1850 census show his wife as ten years younger than Mathew with the name of "Ann." Some have speculated that this was Anne Goff, but there are some issues that arise from that theory, one being that the marriage records show that it was William, not Mathew, who Ann Goff married.
There was some speculation as to how the Simeon Davis and Nancy Carter met. Linda Ellis has a reference on Mathew Carter III's Findagrave.com page that could aid in explaining it. The Samuel W. H. Davis family first settled on Pascagoula Rim, perhaps close to the Carters. According to the Ocean Springs archives, the elder Davises moved closer to their sons in the now-Ocean Springs area, and the U.S. Indexed Early Land Ownership and Township Plats, 1785-1898, show the properties of Samuel (brother or father) and Simeon. The plat map was done sometime in the late 1820s to mid-1830s; there are multiple dates on it. The land plat map for the Carter family has notes on it showing 1844, but it is unclear when the original map was made. That shows Mathew Carter III's land, along with his mother's, along Cedar Creek, somewhere further to the east, and possibly north of the Davises lands probably miles away. Just south of Mathew Carter's land is the land of George Davis, most likely Samuel W. H. Davis's brother and Simeon Davis's uncle. It is possible that Nancy Carter could have met Simeon Davis when he was visiting his uncle, or earlier, when the elder Davises may have lived closer. Another possible scenario is that the Carters could have had the Davises build a boat for them, because family lore has it that the Davis family, in addition to farming, built boats.
Thanks to Linda Ellis's reference to The Autobiography of A. C. Ramsey (1879) the most likely scenario is that Nancy and Simeon met at church. In that book, Ramsey talked about the Salem Church camp in Jackson County. There is a historical marker that states, "Begun in 1826, the Salem Methodist Campground moved to this site in 1842. Meeting in October of each year, except 1863 & 1864, it is the oldest regularly held Methodist camp meeting in Mississippi." Ramsey stated, "Where is the sainted Peter Helverston, William Carter, Matthew Carter, Samuel Davis, Henry Fletcher, Edmund Goff, Bryant Perrell, William Mizzle, Father Wells, Isaac Wells, besides many others who were generally seen on that ground with open arms, open hearts, and open tents to receive, feed, and care for the people assembled there to hear the Word of Life."
Of course, there are some limitations to this position that Nancy Davis is the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester. First, as far as we know at the present time, only one of Nancy and Simeon's second great-grandchildren has checked for DNA matches to the Carter/Rester lines. It would be helpful if other descendants performed the same exercise.
Secondly, there are a couple of trees on ancestry and statements on findagrave that have Anna Nancy Davis having married James Well rather than Simeon Davis. None of those trees have well-documented facts behind them and the DNA profile does not fit. The origin of this idea is most likely from a May 25, 1826, letter from Matthew Carter III written to his sister and brother. In it is speaks of his eldest two daughters getting married (Elizabeth and Anna) and there is a lot of illegible words, leaving a lot to the imagination. One way to interpret is that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson, after the death of James Well. The next sentence is illegible, and may indicate that Nancy married Simeon Davis. Some people may have interpreted some of the illegible words to say that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson and Anna married James Well. There is one genealogy database that indicates that it was Elizabeth, not Nancy, who married James Well before she married Thomas Wilson.
(Updated 3/17/2023)
Finding Nancy's ancestry was a challenge. For many years Nancy Davis's maiden name was unknown to her current descendants. Through the search for her maiden name we learned about her life. Nancy left a clue concerning her maiden name for she named one of her sons William Carter Davis. In order to assess the accuracy of Nancy's last name as Carter, we needed to go back a generation or two in the Jackson County Carter families so we could look for DNA matches for verification. Ultimately, when comparing cousin DNA to Greg Hampton with shared ancestors, the evidence was overwhelming that Nancy was the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester.
Prior to Samuel W. H. Davis (Simeon's father) and family crossing Georgia and Alabama to move to Jackson County, Mississippi (1812), Mathew Carter II came from Georgia to the same county. Son Mathew Carter III married Mary Rester in Bulloch County, Georgia, on 2 May 1807, and the Georgia passport for the Carter family to move to Mississippi was issued 16th April 1811. Mathew Carter II died in 1812 in Mississippi, leaving wife Cassandra Barber (Barbour) Carter, and multiple offspring including sons Mathew III (1781-1858) and William (1783-1852).
One of Samuel Davis's sons was Simeon Davis (born 1795 in Georgia). Simeon owned property near what is now Lucedale, next to his father's property. Simeon married Nancy in approximately 1826 or 1827 (their first child was born in 1828), when he was approximately 32 years old and Nancy was approximately 18 years old.
Nancy was around 11 years old in the 1820 census. In that census, there were three Carter males in Jackson County. William Carter (brother of Matthew Carter III) had no daughters in that age group. Matthew Carter III showed two daughters in the 10-15 age group. The Matthew Carter III family trees at ancestry.com accounted for only one daughter, Elizabeth Carter, born in 1807. Once we inserted Nancy (born in 1809) into the family tree and expanded the trees of Matthew Carter III and his wife, Mary Rester (going back multiple generations), there were numerous and substantial DNA matches with others from those trees and Greg Hampton, the second great-grandson of Simeon and Nancy Davis. Many of these matches had no other shared family names.
There was another Carter male in the area. Thomas Carter also had a daughter in the correct age group as Nancy in the 1820 census. By the 1830 census, Thomas and his family had moved, possibly to Hinds County. From the 1820 census, we know that Thomas was born before 1875, and we don't know that much about him otherwise. He is not listed in Carter family trees at ancestry.com. However, in the 1820 census, his name falls near George Davis's and Cassandra Carter's names, indicating that he may have lived close to them. No land records for him could be found. Because of the DNA matches to the Barber family, in order for Thomas to have been Nancy's father, Cassandra or a sister would have had to have been Thomas's mother. Cassandra and Mathew Carter II were not married until 1780 so it is highly unlikely that Cassandra was Thomas's mother. Thomas would also have had to have married another Rester woman to have the matches on that side. Not impossible, but unlikely, and so for all those reasons, we ruled out Nancy being a direct descendant of Thomas.
Mary Rester and Mathew Carter III married in Georgia in 1807. Mary died in 1813. At some point Mathew remarried, and the 1850 census show his wife as ten years younger than Mathew with the name of "Ann." Some have speculated that this was Anne Goff, but there are some issues that arise from that theory, one being that the marriage records show that it was William, not Mathew, who Ann Goff married.
There was some speculation as to how the Simeon Davis and Nancy Carter met. Linda Ellis has a reference on Mathew Carter III's Findagrave.com page that could aid in explaining it. The Samuel W. H. Davis family first settled on Pascagoula Rim, perhaps close to the Carters. According to the Ocean Springs archives, the elder Davises moved closer to their sons in the now-Ocean Springs area, and the U.S. Indexed Early Land Ownership and Township Plats, 1785-1898, show the properties of Samuel (brother or father) and Simeon. The plat map was done sometime in the late 1820s to mid-1830s; there are multiple dates on it. The land plat map for the Carter family has notes on it showing 1844, but it is unclear when the original map was made. That shows Mathew Carter III's land, along with his mother's, along Cedar Creek, somewhere further to the east, and possibly north of the Davises lands probably miles away. Just south of Mathew Carter's land is the land of George Davis, most likely Samuel W. H. Davis's brother and Simeon Davis's uncle. It is possible that Nancy Carter could have met Simeon Davis when he was visiting his uncle, or earlier, when the elder Davises may have lived closer. Another possible scenario is that the Carters could have had the Davises build a boat for them, because family lore has it that the Davis family, in addition to farming, built boats.
Thanks to Linda Ellis's reference to The Autobiography of A. C. Ramsey (1879) the most likely scenario is that Nancy and Simeon met at church. In that book, Ramsey talked about the Salem Church camp in Jackson County. There is a historical marker that states, "Begun in 1826, the Salem Methodist Campground moved to this site in 1842. Meeting in October of each year, except 1863 & 1864, it is the oldest regularly held Methodist camp meeting in Mississippi." Ramsey stated, "Where is the sainted Peter Helverston, William Carter, Matthew Carter, Samuel Davis, Henry Fletcher, Edmund Goff, Bryant Perrell, William Mizzle, Father Wells, Isaac Wells, besides many others who were generally seen on that ground with open arms, open hearts, and open tents to receive, feed, and care for the people assembled there to hear the Word of Life."
Of course, there are some limitations to this position that Nancy Davis is the child of Mathew Carter III and Mary Rester. First, as far as we know at the present time, only one of Nancy and Simeon's second great-grandchildren has checked for DNA matches to the Carter/Rester lines. It would be helpful if other descendants performed the same exercise.
Secondly, there are a couple of trees on ancestry and statements on findagrave that have Anna Nancy Davis having married James Well rather than Simeon Davis. None of those trees have well-documented facts behind them and the DNA profile does not fit. The origin of this idea is most likely from a May 25, 1826, letter from Matthew Carter III written to his sister and brother. In it is speaks of his eldest two daughters getting married (Elizabeth and Anna) and there is a lot of illegible words, leaving a lot to the imagination. One way to interpret is that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson, after the death of James Well. The next sentence is illegible, and may indicate that Nancy married Simeon Davis. Some people may have interpreted some of the illegible words to say that Elizabeth married Thomas Wilson and Anna married James Well. There is one genealogy database that indicates that it was Elizabeth, not Nancy, who married James Well before she married Thomas Wilson.
(Updated 3/17/2023)
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