378 MAJOR JOHN F. LACEY 



My grandmother was Eleanor Davis, daughter of Evan 

 Davis and Mary Davis. 



Evan Davis I presume to have been of Welsh origin, as 

 Pat Murphy is no more Irish than Evan Davis is Welsh. 

 A few years ago at Oskaloosa, the Welsh people of Cen- 

 tral Iowa held an Eisteddfod and a committee was 

 sent to invite me to preside over the meeting. I ac- 

 cepted of course, as I always felt honored by any mark of 

 appreciation by the Welsh people. Before separating, 

 one of the committee said, ' ' Have you any Welsh blood 

 in your veins? If so, we would like to tell our people." 

 I said, "No; but my mother's grandfather was a Hun- 

 garian named Evan Davis. ' ' They replied that that kind 

 of a Hungarian would answer their purpose very well, 

 and I was accordingly introduced as the presiding officer 

 and announced as a descendant of a "distinguished Hun- 

 garian named Evan Davis." The little Welshmen all 

 saw the point and welcomed me as a brother. 



Isaac Patten left Georgia in the early years of the nine- 

 teenth century and settled in Belmont County, Ohio, along 

 with other Quakers from Georgia who left that state be- 

 cause of the institution of slavery. Isaac Patten was the 

 son of Wm. Patten and Rachel his wife. This is as far 

 as I have been able to trace my mother's family. They 

 were all of English or Welsh stock. 



On the other side my grandfather, John Mills Lacey, 

 Sr., was descended from English ancestry whose history 

 I can trace back to about the year 1700. Robert Lacey, 

 from whom our family descended, came from England to 

 Virginia and settled near Norfolk. His sons, Robert and 

 John, emigrated to Georgetown, Delaware. John was the 

 father of Spencer, who was my great-grandfather. 



My great-grandfather Spencer and his father John 

 were both soldiers in the War of the Revolution. John 

 was a fifer and Spencer a drummer in Colonel Neill's 



