In the afternoon, the group toured Pebbleton (on the left), the 18th century home of Nicholas and Henry
Landon Davies, and Poplar Forest (below), the retirement home of Thomas Jefferson, which adjoined
the Davies plantation.
Bob Chope, who has been publishing the OLD NICK Newsletter and also organized this event, opened the reunion with introductions and announcements.
Brooke Davies described this Web site and explained how family members can contribute material to be displayed here.
Dave Boyle, our genealogy expert who has identified about 2000 descendents of Henry Landon Davies, presented the results of his research into the royal ancestory of HLD and traced our roots back another 19 generations to King Edward III of England.
The morning session concluded with Clyde Davies describing how numerous family members
migrated westward from Virginia and settled in Osage County, Missouri during the 19th century.
In the afternoon, the group toured Pebbleton (on the left), the 18th century home of Nicholas and Henry
Landon Davies, and Poplar Forest (below), the retirement home of Thomas Jefferson, which adjoined
the Davies plantation.
Many of us searched the woods near Pebbleton for the old Davies cemetery. We did not find the burial site of the earliest generations, but we did find several 18th century Meriweather headstones near the ruins of some more recent stone houses.
The first day of the reunion ended with a delicious dinner at Meriwether's Restaurant.
The second day began with a "work session" - an opportunity for everyone to swap
genealogical data and family folklore.
Anne Glover presented the long history of connections between the Davies and Meriwether families, much of which centered around Sholto (on the right), which is now the Boonsboro Country Club.
The final presentation was Clyde Davies' account of his recent trip to the boyhood home of Nicholas Davies in England.
The Reunion concluded with afternoon trips to the Amherst County Museum and the Jones Memorial Library, both of which are good sources of historical data on the Davies family.
The wedding dress on the left was worn by Ellen Rebecca Davies in 1902 when she married her cousin Edwin Newton Wise, Jr. It was donated to the museum by Louis Sell (their son-in-law, who attended the reunion).