John Douthitt Sr. was born 1709 in Ireland. He came to America as a young man and married Mary Scott
in 1737 in MD. Their son , John Jr was born in MD in 1740. He married Elinor Davis in N. C. in 1764.
John and Elinor's son, Joseph Douthitt, was born in Rowan Co N. C. in 1775. Joseph's son, James
Douthitt, was born June 23, 1806 in N. C. Joseph and his wife Elizabeth brought their family north to IN
ca 1815. In 1826, James and Joseph Douthitt both appear for the first time in the tax records of Daviess
County. James Douthitt married Elizabeth Barnett in Daviess County on January 19, 1826. She was a
daughter of Solomon Barnett. Her brother, Reason Barnett, married James' sister Elizabeth Douthitt the
same day. James and Elizabeth Douthitt had two sons. Davis A. born on Dec. 19, 1826 and Pleasant
Evan on Jan. 30 1832. James Douthitt died of kidney disease May 21, 1852 according to the Vital
Statistics record. He was 45 years old. The Douthitt family lived on a farm near Knottsville, in an area
known as Scythia. My Mother was born in 1914 in the house that James built. The following is a
transcript of a daily memorandum book that James kept from February to November in 1851. I copied it
exactly as written, working from a photo copy. Some words were hard to decipher. Capitol letters were
especially tricky. Some people identified by their initials may be misinterpreted. All of the persons
named are either neighbors, aquaintances or relatives. Most lived in the Yelvington and Knottsville
Precincts. James' Mother lived in Hancock County and his father-in-law, Solomon Barnett, lived in Ohio
County.
February- May
June- November
