Davis Family

For over one hundred years, the Davis family owned a farm in an area of Frederick County, Maryland, called New Market. William Morsell, Sr. (1745-1813), grandfather of Rachel Morsell Davis, originally bought land in the 1780s and added to it through smaller purchases throughout his life. Morsell, a Quaker, was a surveyor and apparently a merchant as well. He had three daughters and one son, William Morsell, Jr. (1778-1846). He employed a number of servants and owned one slave, Abraham, whom he set free as a provision of his 1808 will.

William Morsell, Jr., continued to accumulate more land adjacent to the original tract. Various portions of this land were referred to as Prather's Adventure, Partnership, Solomon's Flower, Long Range, and the Lady. William Morsell, Jr. had only one child, Rachel Morsell Davis (1809-1886), who became his sole heir.

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