Ann Read was the second daughter and third child of the ten children of Samuel Read, I and Maria Freese. She may have been named after her mother's sister Anna Freese Kirkpatrick (1777-1820). Ann is named as a daughter of Samuel Read in his will; however her married name is not given in the document (Warren County Surrogate Court Records, Wills, Book 3, page 126). The will was written 8 January 1855. By the time the will was written, Ann was the widow of Mark W. Davis.

Mark Davis was born 4 March 1806 in New Jersey. He and Ann were married sometime before their daughter Irene was born in January of 1827. Initially, Ann and Mark Davis settled in Knowlton Township. At least two of their four children, Irene and Hiram, were born in the township. The 1830 United States Federal Census lists four residents in the household of Mark Davis (1830 United States Federal Census, Knowlton Township, Warren County, New Jersey, page 379):

Table 1: Household of Mark Davis in 1830

Shortly after the census was taken, Mark and Ann had their third child, a son named Jerome. He died shortly before his third birthday and was buried in Union Brick Cemetery next to his uncles Hiram, Marshall and Ira Read who all died as small children.

By 1840, the Davis family had left Knowlton Township and moved to Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey where they operated a hotel for drovers (Kern 1938). Drovers were men who moved through the rural farm areas purchasing livestock. They then drove the livestock to market on foot. Drovers might pick-up animals in Warren County which were driven to market in Newark. The Davis family appears in the 1840 census as residents of Harrison Township. In addition to Mark and Ann and their children Irene and Hiram, there were six other peple listed in the household. Two were men between the ages of 40 and 50, there was another male between 20 and 30 years of age, two women between 30 and 40 years of age and one free person of color between the ages of 10 and 24 (1840 United States Federal Census, Harrison Township, Hudson County, New Jersey, page 170). Several of these unrelated individuals were probably employed by Ann and Mark. The household composition in 1840 was as follows:

Table 2: Household of Mark Davis in 1840

Another son, also named Jerome, was born in 1846. This child lived less than a month. He too was buried in Union Brick Cemetery in Warren County. Mark Davis died 16 July 1850 (Kern 1938) and was buried with his two young sons in Union Brick Cemetery. Ann Read Davis lived another nine years. She died 22 January 1859 (by the family Bible, 22 January 1858 by the cemetery record) (Kern 1938) possibly in Essex County. Her daughter Irene was married to Geroge W. Cross by 1848. They resided in Newark in 1850. It is possible that Ann resided with them toward the end of her life. Ann was not buried in Union Brick with her husband and sons. She was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey (Kern 1938).

PRIMARY

Cemetery

Census

Probate Records

SECONDARY

Go to Top of Page

Return to Main