Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/709

 DAVENPORT DAVID 705 Methodist (1 German and 1 colored), 2 Pres- byterian, 1 Reformed, 4 Roman Catholic (1 German), and 1 Unitarian. Davenport was laid out in 1836, incorporated as a town in 1842, and as a city in 1851. DAVENPORT, John, first minister at New Ha- ven, Conn., horn in Coventry, England, in 1598, died in Boston, Mass., March 15, 1670. He was educated at Oxford, and became an eminent preacher among the Puritans in Lon- don, and minister of St. Stephen's church. About 1630 he was engaged in purchasing the church lands in the hands of laymen, for the benefit of poor congregations ; and great pro- gress was already made in the execution of the plan, when it was interrupted by Bishop Laud, who feared it would turn to the profit of the nonconformists. Davenport soon became a non- conformist himself, was obliged to resign his charge, and retired to Holland in 1633. There he became involved in a controversy, taking sides against the general baptism of children, and in about two years returned to London. He had been concerned in the patent of the Massachusetts colony, and seeing a favorable account of it in a letter from Mr. Cotton, he went to Boston, arriving there June 26, 1637. He was invited to sit with the synod then in session, but was deterred by the sharp religious controversies of Massachusetts from settling there, and on March 30, 1638, sailed with a company for Quinnipiack to found a new colony, which was called New Haven. The first Sabbath after the arrival he preached un- der an oak. He was minister in New Haven for 30 years, and was active in the organization of the civil government. The Bible was made the basis of the civil law, and as trial by jury is not mentioned in the Bible, no place was given it in the state. The constituent assembly, held in a barn, June 4, 1639, resolved that church members only should be burgesses. The carefulness of Davenport in regard to the admission of members to the church gave him also the keys of political power. Such was his reputation abroad, that he was invited, with Hooker and Cotton, to sit with the Westminster assembly of divines, but he could not be spared from his church. When the regicides Goffe and Whalley were flying from pursuit, he hid them in his house, and exhorted his people from the pulpit not to betray them. About 1662 a sharp discussion arose in New England in regard to the general baptism of children. Davenport took the same ground he had taken in Amsterdam. He succeeded Wilson as pastor in Boston, Dec. 9, 1668. Some who disap- proved of his controversial position left the church when he came, and united to form the church afterward known as the Old South. D'AVEZAC, Auguste Genevieve Valentin, an Ameri- can lawyer, born in Santo Domingo, died in 1850. He was educated in France, fled with his family to the United States from the negro insurrections in his native island, studied medi- cine in North Carolina, settled as a practising physician in Virginia, and afterward, at the suggestion of his brother-in-law Edward Liv- ingston, studied law and rose to distinction in New Orleans. In the war of 1812 he acted as judge advocate and aid to Gen. Jackson, and in 1831 he was appointed by President Jack- son charge d'affaires at the court of the Neth- erlands. He subsequently changed his resi- dence to the city of New York, and again, during the administration of President Polk, was charge d'affaires at the Hague. DAVID, the second king of Israel, youngest son of Jesse, born in Bethlehem in Judah about 1085 B. C., died in Jerusalem about 1015. He was still tending the flocks of his father when he was chosen by the prophet Samuel as the future king. He was even then remarkable for beauty, valor, and musical skill, and was early brought to the court of Saul to soothe the mel- ancholy of the king by his harp. Subsequently he challenged and slew the Philistine giant Goliath, and won the friendship of Saul's son Jonathan, the love of his daughter Michal, and the admiration of the people ; but drew upon himself the jealousy, and finally the fury of the unhappy king, who repeatedly attempted to kill him. To this end he tempted him to ser- vices of extreme danger, by promising him his daughter in marriage as a reward ; but David's success made him the king's son-in-law. Saul afterward openly tried to slay him, and he escaped only by the devotion of his wife and her brother, and the favor of Samuel and the priests. Learning from Jonathan that the king was resolved upon his death, he fled to the Philistines, and, not finding safety there, feigned madness, and adopted a life of outlaw- ry in the fastnesses of southern Judah. Here he gathered a band of followers, and commit- ting his aged parents to the king of Moab, on whom they had the claim that Jesse was the grandson of Ruth the Moabitess, he baffled every attempt of Saul to capture him, and even twice found opportunity of revenge, which he declined to take. He returned at length to Philistia as chief of a powerful band, and re- mained until the death of Saul and Jonathan at the battle of Gilboa (about 1055). He was now acknowledged as king by his own tribe, and made Hebron his residence. Abner, the general of Saul, proclaimed Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, as the legal successor to the throne ; but after seven years, finding David's power continually growing, he intrigued in favor of David. Abner was assassinated by Joab, and soon afterward Ishbosheth was assassinated by two obscure persons, and David, after having reigned in Hebron seven years, was ac- knowledged king by the whole nation. He now conquered the remnant of the heathen in the land, enlarged its border from the Euphrates to the Mediterranean, and from Damascus to the Arabian gulf, and established the military power of the kingdom. Having wrested Zion from the Jebusites, he fixed there his capital. The priests had suffered greatly because of