John Davie

John Davie (1640–1710) of Orleigh Court in the parish of Buckland Brewer, Devon, England, was a prominent tobacco merchant from Bideford, Devon. His Bideford town house which he built in 1688, was Colonial House, now the Royal Hotel, in which survive several 17th-century decorative plasterwork ceilings, said by Pevsner & Cherry (2004) to be amongst the best in Devon, and a grand staircase.

John Davie was the son of John Davie by his wife Marie Sutton who were married in 1638. The Devon topographer Rev. John Swete wrote in 1797 of the family's origin: "The family of Davie is supposed to have assumed its appellation from de Via, or de Way, their antient seat in or near the parish of Harwood (possibly Horwood, 3 miles east) three miles south east of Biddeford. The place also where this name long flourished was Uppecott in the parish of Beauford near Great Torrington which hereditarily descended unto it from Gilbert (surnamed thereof) who owned it in Edward II's reign. Of this stock is Sir J. Davie of Creedy".

He was active in the tobacco trade, of which Bideford was one of the main centres in England. In 1682 he was an alderman and took statements in the Bideford witch trial. In 1684 he bought Orleigh Court in the parish of Buckland Brewer, near Bideford.

He married Mary Luscombe (died 1709) by whom he had the following progeny:

A mural monument to John Davie (died 1710) and his wife Mary survives, affixed high on the west wall of the North Aisle Chapel ("Orleigh Chapel"), in Buckland Brewer Church, Devon. On a large central white marble roundel is inscribed the following Latin text, now partly worn-away, transcribed by W.H. Rogers:

Subtus jacent Johannes et Mariaa Davie de Orleigh in comitatu Devoniae par amantissimum. Felici olim juncti connubio nec jam dissiti sepulchro. Mercator ille hisce regionibus praeclarus consiliis operibus exemplo Biddefordensibus suis ita benefecit ut commercium heic loci cum illo simul et floruisse et cecidisse paene videatur. Charitate plenus optima et diffusissima pauperes sustentabat non tam dando quam ad utiles labores Bovocando (sic, i.e. PRovocando) ipse interea factus opulentus divitiis bene partis. Aderat omni tempore dilecta conjux Maria mater familias pia constans frugi pudica. Marito fida curarum omnium socia et solamen perpetuum. Obiit: hic vicesimo septimo Octobris 1710, illa quarto Aprilis 1709. Optimis parentibus monumentum hoc pietatis ergo posuit Josephus filius et haeres ex patris testimento superstes .

...
Wikipedia