You are related to someone by blood only if you have a common ancestor, so work on solidly documenting your own ancestral pedigree.  Then, if your pedigree intersects with another solid one, you know the connection is real.  It is complete and utter folly to pick a famous person, then try to work your way down from that person to yourself because they may have thousands of descendants and, after all your work, you will likely find you aren't one of them.  At least if you work on your own ancestry, the time spent will not have been wasted, even if you have to abandon the family legend of being related to someone famous.  And now that we have DNA testing, the best way to keep from wasting years working on the wrong family is to start your research with a DNA test.

Many have claimed relationship to Jefferson DAVIS through descent from siblings of his grandfather, Evan DAVIS, Jr., yet of Evan Jr.'s five siblings, three have been proven not to have had any children (no children are named in their wills), and there is no evidence that the other two ever married or had children.  To quote the leading authority on the genealogy of Jefferson DAVIS:

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"The outstanding characteristic of the Davis family seems to be that its members were as short lived as they were unprolific." 

(Barb 1971: 499)

• Joseph Emory DAVIS, who had three surviving children (all daughters).
• Samuel A. DAVIS, who had three surviving children (two sons, one daughter).
• Anna Eliza DAVIS, who married a SMITH and had six surviving children.
• Isaac Williams DAVIS, who had one surviving son, but no surviving grandsons.
• Lucinda Farrar DAVIS, who married a DAVIS, by whom she had one surviving son and at least one surviving grandson; and a STAMPS, by whom she had three surviving children.
• Amanda Jane DAVIS, who married a BRADFORD and had four surviving children.
• Matilda DAVIS, who married a VAUGHN.
• Mary Ellen DAVIS, who married a DAVIS and had two surviving children (both daughters).

The genealogy of the DAVIS wives, Jane COOK and Mary EMORY, remains virtually unknown.  Uncovering their ancestry would certainly provide many more people with a connection to Jefferson DAVIS.  Ditto the descendants of Mary EMORY's two sons, Isaac WILLIAMS and Daniel WILLIAMS, who were "half uncles" to Jefferson.   And while there is no evidence that Joseph DAVIS or Benjamin DAVIS, brothers of Evan DAVIS, Jr., ever married and had children, neither is there conclusive proof that they did not, which matters I discuss on their web pages.  These avenues are certainly worthy of further research. 

At long last, genealogists have a scientifically objective tool with which to measure the degree of relatedness between men:  by comparing genetic markers on their male Y-chromosomes.  The male Y-chromosome is handed on intact and unchanged from father to son down through the generations (except for rare mutations).  The more closely two men are related, the more their Y-chromosomes will resemble each other, which means we can not only prove whether or not two men had a common ancestor, we can estimate how many generations back that ancestor was.

The problem we face with claims of relationship with Jefferson DAVIS is finding a male DAVIS relative of Jefferson's whose relationship to Jefferson is undisputed to use as the standard to match.  I urge anyone surnamed DAVIS to participate in the project, but most especially, I would implore any DAVIS male who is descended from Jefferson's brother, Samuel A. DAVIS, to participate in the testing.  Why Samuel? 

Samuel A. DAVIS (1788/9-c1830) is the only brother of Jefferson DAVIS who is proven to have had surviving male offspring.  There may be other DAVIS'es who connect to Jefferson further up his ancestral line, but Samuel is the closest and least questionable.  We cannot use a descendant of Jefferson DAVIS, himself, because he had no surviving male offspring; and we cannot use a descendant of Jefferson's sister, Lucinda Farrar (DAVIS) DAVIS, because her male descendants carry the Y-chromosome of her husband, Hugh DAVIS, not of her brother, Jefferson DAVIS. 

So please, if you are a male DAVIS, join the DAVIS Y-chromosome DNA Surname Project at FTDNA and get tested.  And if you are a descendant of Samuel A. DAVIS, I beg you on bended knee to get tested and put an end to the disputed claims of relationship to Jefferson DAVIS!  If you will come forward and can satisfy me that you've a solid paper connection to Samuel, I am willing to pay for your testing!

Please Note:  the administrator of the DAVIS project at FamilyTreeDNA is not challenging the pedigrees submitted by project participants, so do not automatically accept the "paper" genealogies there as proven.  For example, test subject #23060 is claiming a "proven" connection to Jefferson DAVIS on a line that has already been proven untrue.

Note that the four Jefferson DAVIS grandchildren lived well into the 20th Century.  If you are alive today and your parents or grandparents are not among the above, then you cannot possibly be descended from Jefferson DAVIS.

1.  Kirk Bentley Barb.  1971.  "Extract from Genealogy of Jefferson Davis."  Appendix III, pp. 488-508 in Papers of Jefferson Davis, Volume 1, 1808-1840.  Haskell M. Monroe, Jr., & James T. McIntosh, eds.  Louisiana State Univ. Press, Baton Rouge. 

2.  Genealogy of the Davis Family online at the Rice University web site.

3.  Additional sources are given on each individual family group sheet.

Family Group Sheets

Every-Name Index to Kin of Jefferson DAVIS

1743 - Will, Evan DAVIS, Sr.
1758 - Letters of Administration, Mrs. Mary DAVIS
1758 - Will, Samuel DAVIS
1762 - Indenture, William DAVIS
1764 - Will, William DAVIS
1767 - Indenture, William DAVIS
1772 - Will, Mrs. Christiana DAVIS

Jefferson DAVIS (20th Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans) 
Robert Packer BRODHEAD (Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania)

Summary of Bogus Jefferson DAVIS Genealogies