Isaac Van Norman Davis was born May 10, 1775, in Massachusetts and reared at Williamstown. On February 13, 1799, he married his first wife, Mercy Rogers, an American. She was born August, 1782 and died July 10, 1818. They lived in Lower Canada, Quebec, settling sixty miles south of Montreal. Here Isaac ran a lumber camp for forty winters. In the spring he would raft the lumber to Quebec, buidling his raft on ice and floating it down stream when the ice went out.
After Mercy Rogers death in 1818, Isaac married Marguerite Robidoux February 19, 1920. (Marguerite is frequently referred to as Margaret, the English version of Marguerite) Marguerite was a French lady who was not able to speak English when she became Isaac's bride. Marguerite was born September 23, 1798 and died October 18, 1862 at Pike County, Illinois. Marguerite was reared in the Catholic faith and her children were christened in the Catholic Church. In 1846 Isaac Davis moved his family to Illinois, where he bought land in Pike County and lived there until his death on October 23, 1853.

Children of Isaac Van Norman Davis and Mercy Rogers, all born in Canada:

Orange Runnels, born December 10, 1800, died March 19, 1882 Orange Runnels Davis, born December 10, 1800, died March 19, 1882

Sidney William Davis, born November 7, 1803

Catherine Davis, born August 19, 1805

Clark Parker Davis, born May 13, 1807

Isaac Vannorman Davis born August 31, 1809

Ebenezer Rogers Davis, born October 7, 1811

Benjamin Barzilla Davis, born August 29, 1813, died May 19, 1879

Mercy Rachel Davis, born January 15, 1816, died February 19, 1888

Children of Isaac Vannorman Davis & Marguerite Robidoux, all born in Canada:

Mary Ann (Polly) Davis, born June 8, 1820

Stephen Mose Davis, born February 18, 1823

Elisabeth Flanders Davis, born January 14, 1825

George Washington Davis, born December 25, 1826

Andrew Jackson Davis, born February 18, 1829

Rebecca Pierce Davis, born June 10, 1831

Matilda Ann Davis, born December 27, 1834

Margaret Jane Davis, born March 27, 1838

Notes... History of Huntington and of the Seigniories of Beauharnois and Chateauguay by Robert Sellar. Thanks to the help of Dorothy Gransee who was kind enough to share these excerpts with me;

"Page 50-There were at least 20 American families from the mouth of the English river to Morrison's rapids. As a posible matter of interest I recall them and their lot numbers---Bill and Ike Davis on 19 and 20;---William Dundmuir, commonly styled Doctor, on 29, who came very early. In 1807 he sold (page 51) to his friend and neighbor Ebenezer Rodgers, who turned it over to the care of Isaac Davis."

"Page 47 The Americans were careless alike of religion and education, and Sunday was poorly osbserved. An itinerant preacher visited the settlement, Dr. Rogers, who made pretensions to be a physician. He stayed with Root, who lived on 25 preaching in what was on once his kitchen and sitting-room. On Rogers removing to the States, he wrote Root, telling him he had found a home at last, and as he observed people were more ready to pay to save their bodies than their souls, he had given up preaching and devoted himself entirely to medicine."

"Page 120- a letter about the war is titled--Davis House Chateaugay, 26th Novenber, 1813 by a Seigniory Agent Milne"

"Page 364-Chapter xix Godmanchester "Besides Todd's sawmill, an American Wright put up another which Samuel C. Wead of Westville, NY rented in 1826 and did a large business"

"page 372 --When the government gave a grant for a road from Huntingdon to Dundee, Bowron, in 1829, engaged Col. Pettis, an American who lumbered a good deal and who lived on 37, to lay out and clear one, which he did by beginning at the village a few rods west of Thomson's tavern, and following the ridge as far as it extended, and so secured a dry and direct road, although it cut up the lots badly. The present road substantially follows the line he brushed. The contract for making the Huntingdon end was given to Barlow, who completed it in 1832.The Dundee end was completed three years later"

"Page 375 James Mc Donald relates his trip to their lot on the Trout River (lots 26 & 27)--This time we drove along the States' side until we reached Trout river lines, where we turned north, and found, following the river, a fair road to Morrison's (lot 41). From that downward there was onlly a track which could be used for vehicles in winter, so we had to borrow a canoe from Davis and sailed down to our lot. "

"Page 377--Among those who lumbered on a smaller scale were--Isaac Davis------Thomas Barlow and many others. Barlow was a pushing American who could turn his hand to anything. He had come to live on Trout river previous to the war, and married a Frenchwoman. Like all others who risked their earnings in lumbering, he died comparatively poor."

Page 379--Thomas Marshall lot 42 on Trout River came in 1825 ,,His son James said: The Davis's who were on the lot next to us(41) were decent people. Abram Davis, in company with another American, named Wright, had built a sawmill several years before, close to where the bridge now is, and the remains of the dam are still to be seen. The summer before we came the machinery had een bought by Barlow, and moved into the mill he had built on 44, which was up but not covered in, waiting for boards to be cut be its own saw. The first school was held in a house owned by Davis in 1820, the teacher being an American, Mrs. Brewster. Afterwards, a house on Barlow's lot was made into a school, and taugjht by a man named Shepherd, who was very svere. The first preaching was by Bellew the Universalist, when on his way to Huntingdon. He preached in the upper flat of Barlow's house, which was 2-storied. "

"page 380--The first burying -place was on 39, which is now plowed up. "

"page 380--1831--One afternoon in July it began to rain, and poured down so that next day the river was so high that cribs crossed over Johnston's point. everything was swept away, and Barlow's dam with the rest."

"page 382--Barlow got a small contract on the first Lachine canal and returned in the winter (probably that of 1821) page 383- with 3 old horses and as many tom--eau. These were the first and only horses from the Lines to the Meadows, and he hired them out, with a boy, at $2 a day to take grist to mill. "

"Lumbering was actively pushed along the river, and all the pine, and most of the oak had gone before the Old Countrymen came in. Shaw took out most of the north bank and Barlow on the south. The first sawmill after Davis's was one built by an American, Colonel Allen, on lot 54, ---He sold out to Col. Pettis

"page 473 On the Black River and west of it a few American families continued to live, among whom were --Pettis--. Pettis was a good mechanic, and, for Brayton on 168, put up the first frame barn."

"page 574 First Settlers of Godmanchester Settlers on Chateaugay and Trout river lots, ranges 5 and 6"

"34 Maj. Wright Wm. Dalgliesh John and James Creighton 39 (buriel ground) Stone John Tannahill Peter Booth (Pettis son in law) Wm. Arthur 40 Saml. Pelton (Pettis in law) Thos. Dryden W. Lanktree N. Waggoner 41 Hitchins Issac and Orange Davis Wm. Morrison 44 Thos. Barlow Wm. Wattie Longdale Bradbury 45-46 Thos. Barlow Alex. and Arthur Anderson "5th range 34 Peter Booth Robt. Mack John Pettis (son of Col. Pettis) Jas. Smellie"