The Davenport family of Brooklyn descended from the Reverend John Davenport, a Puritan minister who helped found the colony of New Haven and Yale University. Amzi B. Davenport (1817-1894), the son of William Davenport and Abigail Benedict, moved from Connecticut to Brooklyn in 1836. In Brooklyn, he opened the Willoughby Street Academy, served as a deacon of Plymouth Church, and worked in real estate in his later years. Amzi Davenport was also the author of The History and Genealogy of the Davenport Family in England and America, published in 1851, and a member of the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society).
Amzi Davenport's son, Henry B. Davenport (1854-1920), was educated at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn and worked as an attorney in Brooklyn. He was the founder and president of the Home Title Insurance Company, and a founder and officer of the Flatbush Savings Bank. Henry and his wife Flora Lufkin (m. 1877) had one son, Maurice Davenport.
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Sources
- Davenport, Robert Ralsey.
The Davenport Genealogy: History and Genealogy of the Ancestors and Descendants of the Rev. John Davenport, Founder of New Haven, Connecticut, and of Yale College. Cambridge, MA: R. R. Davenport, 1982.
From the guide to the Davenport family papers, Bulk, 1840-1899, 1700-1915, (Brooklyn Historical Society)
