Relatives of Relatives

Samuel DeBarris and Malinda Davenport Lance

One of the things I like about family research or family history are some of the stories that I find my relatives tangled up in actual historical happenings.

The below man, Daniel Seagraves Davenport (1842-1939) was not exactly a relative but close. He was an in-law to a relative. Daniel Seagraves Davenport’s daughter Malinda Elizabeth Davenport (1874- 1959) married my first cousin, 3 times removed, Samuel DeBarris Lance.(1851-1928). (Samuel D. Lance was only 9 years younger than his father-in-law)

Here is what fellow Hunter researcher/cousin/buddy/Facebook Friend Louise Lance Givens found out about the above Daniel:


Daniel and his brothers David and John were in the Confederate Army in the Civil War. They were "forcibly recruited" and compelled to enlist on July 3, 1862 at Fort Nelson near Morganton, Georgia in Fannin County. There they were placed in Company B of Fain's Regiment, Georgia Infantry.

But like many North Georgians, they deserted. Daniel and David went to Tennessee where they surrendered to Union forces in August of 1863. John went home to his farm in Union Co., GA, and hid out. Daniel and David initially spent time in a prisoner-of-war camp, but enlisted in the Union Army, Company C, 5th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry on September 12, 1864 at Cleveland, Tennessee. Their main work was in guarding the railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta and keeping the tracks in shape for traffic. To have spent time in both Confederate and Union armies was not that unusual during the Civil War, especially for independent, Union-sympathizing mountain people.