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Thomas Wesley Davenport born 31 Jan 1839 Jefferson Co., Illinois died 11 Dec 1921 Springfield, Colorado married in Wise Co., Texas Sarah Safar L. Lipsey born 26 May 1841 died 25 Oct 1910 Decatur, Texas..

Children:
William Frank Davenport 16 Mar 1862
Jerome (Jake) Davenport 2 Jan 1864
Mary Saphire (Sophia) Davenport 7 Jan 1866
Edmond Jones (James) Davenport 7 Feb 1868
Nancy Emelilne Melinda Davenport 7 Jan 1870
Leon Charles Eugene Davenport 22 Feb 1872
James Renshaw Davenport 7 Jan 1874
Jessie Parish Davenport 27 July 1876
Hattie Estelle Davenport 16 Mar 1878
Ida Ora Davenport 3 Apr 1881
Mettie May Davenport 15 Sep 1883

The following was written by Fred Ward who is the son on Nancy Davenport Ware.
She was the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Davenport. Fred lived with his family on the farm adjoining Thomas on the south. Fred was born in 1901. He lived close to Thomas and Sarah until her Death in 1910. Most of the information was given to Fred verbally by his mother. Just before her death in 1962. Since Thomas's family moved after 1900 some of the information is incomplete, but the part pertaining to Thomas and Sarah is interesting.

"This is tribute to the father of this large family and is my Grandfather on the maternal side. It seem that he was the dependence of a large family and many others in and outside of his immediate responsibility. His Father in law and his spinster daughter came to live with them and did until they passed away.
It seems that when misfortune overtook some of the direct members of his family, he was the one they all went to for help, and such as it was, it was always shared with those who came to him in the time of need, I don't think that throughout his life anyone was ever turned away from his door or home as humble as it was, and it was a never a complaint of his, at time, time that any imposition had been place upon him. He was the cheerful giver and sustainer in many instances with what he had in any way of resources. I don't think any man ever worked harder to try to support those whom he considered his dependents or his responsibility. His wife even though bearing eleven children was never strong, and he left Wise County and went to Missouri for about six years following the close of the war, in anticipation of improving her health. That accounts for three of the children including my mother being borned in that state. After they came back to Texas in the early seventies it was trying times and there was nothing to do and money was hard to come by, and the government owned all of it, so of necessity he secured employment with them as a freight to the forts in West Texas, Fort Belknap and Griffin, and he hauled flour under contract to those points from Sherman Texas. Of course at that time he was exposed to the hazzards of the trial and used what is now known as the old butterfield route, which was used as the route from St. Louis to El Paso and then into California. This was yet during the time of the Indian depredation in the particular part of the country and he more than once was encountered by them, but fortunately without bodily harm or injury. After this tenure he bought another homestead and proceeded to make the improvement for a permanent home, then settled down to farming again, in more or less successful way reared the large family that he had to the best of his ability and the opportunities than available. As the children grew up married and passed on to other field and places he still remained and maintained a home in case they returned for refuge in adversity. He was never idle and in seasons when most men would take it easy, he was at his business all the time. I think I never saw a handier man with an axe than he. As said before money in those days was hard to come by, and during winter season there was a market for wood, and he would on rainey days and cold days swing the axe and push the saw all day long clearing out all the time new land to be cultivated, and had each growing season what he called new land. You could sell a wagon load of wood in those days for $2.00 and $3.00 per load and two loads a day to town six miles away was nothing unusual for him. Besides what he raised on the farm this would buy the necessities that he could not produce himself. So his life was spent with many misfortunes and disappointments, but through it all he carried on and enjoyed the family life and had the satisfaction of having known that he had made the best of everything and at the same time had gained something in the sacrifices he had made for others, and no man ever in my opinion cherish a family more than he, and many Grandchildren in after years was a great joy to him and no Granddaddy was ever more of an Idol than he with them. He was never known to instigate any differences with neighbors or between them and often acted as the mediator in trivial differences as of natural consequence would arise. He being in no way antagonistic always tended to his own business and let others do the same thing. He having been in Wise County before the (Civil) war and having paid particular attention to the situation as did most everyone in that time, wondering and anticipating what the outcome would be.
It can be said that during this time as is recorded there were the two factions rife in this southland, as between those who were called loyalist and those who still contained the ideals of states rights, and the great amount of aggitation that was constantly coming up between these two factions it did not pay to talk too much. It being a new county and the country and the most of the settlers also being new, this particular county in its then position and condition, was perhaps more divided than others in the area, and some trouble was always in the making. He took not too much interest in politics but always was more or less stood for those things that he sincerely thought was for the best interest of everyone. He was devoutly religious, and I never heard him in my life utter a word of profanity, and I have heard him reprimand his boys who some time used it, in no uncertain terms. He being my maternal grandparent I can see that my mother inherited a lot of his traits, first, that of keeping busy all the time, and also bearing the many things that I would consider impositions. No one ever gave any more consideration to the family relationship than they, nor was anyone more prone to take care of their own business and let others alone. As stated before, grandmother in her ill health a greater part of her life, too placed a lot of the domestic source upon him, and with his kindness and goodness he bought about an understanding that the children should take the responsibility of share and share alike, and could be stern and positive at times in his own way of letting it be known around the home that it was something that like and like interest had to be taken care of. His faithful diligence always persisted. The old homestead has now decayed and it is not like I remember it fifty or sixty years ago. It is entirely different as there is not house or other of the improvement that were built by him, no cultivated land and little time left it is difficult to think that in that time so much change could come about. Time changes a lot of things, this country has been one that has been more or less abandoned, people have looked and found newer land and homes, and those who still live there have changed their ways and means of earning a livelyhood. There are a few but not many of his descendants in that part of the country, they have scattered everywhere and even a lot of the second generation have lost tact of the others and know not of their whereabouts or welfare and this has happened since he passed on. He was known by a lot of people in Wise County and any and all either called him Grandpa or Uncle Tom. His friends were many and he was one to everyone, as they all knew. They still have in that County what was call the Confederacy of old settlers (or otherwise the reunion) , it was organized just after the close of the war. It has been dedicated as a county park and maintained by the county to the memory of this old settler and pioneers, it is now used on many occasions and in varied ways by the direct descendants of those who came there first. In August of each year they still go there to meet those of former years who have moved away but came back to renew acquaintances and talk of the time past and gone. But its not like it was in the early day when communication were much also slower and distances greater, and where the population is not gradually decreasing where as then it was entirely upward. Those who were responsible for its organization all gone and the second, third and perhaps sometimes the fourth generation have forgotten the things and aims and purpose it meant to those who met there again in comradeship to talk of their trials and tribulations, the primitive times and privations, and had the consolation that even though it was a lost cause, their individual liberties were not threatened and that in the future if not for them maybe their posterity would be more enlightened and delighted to know that times for them as they are now were not made in a day or decade, but by the visions of the ancestors of former days. The pioneers of this particular county no doubt was some of the most courageous men in this areas history. Many of them having been appointees to the Texas Ranger forces and served well and long in the defiance of the lines of civilization, and it is but fitting that they should be remembered at least once a year, and their virtues extolled to the understanding of those who never even give it a thought that through their sacrifices we are yet permitted to live in peace and tranquility and follow our daily pursuits of avocation without carrying the differences in the form of firearms. In Wise County the Woody's and Mannings as representative of the Rangers and in Jack County the pioneers as the Kutch, and many others to many to name, at one time formed an association to mark the historical spots, and to erect memorials to mark them, and in a traditional way commemorate, pay tribute and respect to those who fell in battle and to acknowledge the patriotism of those who have made the supreme sacrifice. Most every place has some historical significance and in most instances they kept with reverence, but in the defiance line of the pioneer which lies in this particular areas or geographically speaking in this inconsistent with our ancestral prestige. To make jesting or joking remarks about them is not in compliance with the traditional traits of those who lived here before us. With much less impunity and far greater respect for age and the things of essentiality."
This information was received from Charles Ferguson who compiled the Lipsey information.

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