John Davie was a merchant based in Bideford

Bideford

Bideford is a small port town on the estuary of the River Torridge in north Devon, south-west England. It is also the main town of the Torridge local government district.-History:...

, Devon

Devon

Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

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John Davie was the son of John Davie and Marie Sutton who married in 1638. He in turn married Mary Luscombe.

John was active in the tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 trade.

In 1682 he was an alderman and took statements in the Bideford witch trial

Bideford witch trial

The Bideford witch trial resulted in the last ever hangings for witchcraft in England. Temperance Lloyd, Mary Trembles and Susannah Edwards were tried in 1682 in the town of Bideford in Devon...

.
In 1684 he bought Orleigh Court

Orleigh Court

Orleigh Court is a late medieval house in Buckland Brewer 4 miles to the south west of Bideford, Devon, England.It is a two storeyed building constructed from local slate stone...

, Buckland Brewer

Buckland Brewer

Buckland Brewer is a village and civil parish in the Torridge district of Devon, England, about 5 miles south of Bideford. Historically the parish formed part of Shebbear Hundred. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 777.-History:...

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His son, Joseph Davie inherited Orleigh Court.
His daughter Henrietta Maria married Walter Moyle

Walter Moyle

Walter Moyle was an English politician and political writer, an advocate of classical republicanism.-Life:He was born at Bake in St Germans, Cornwall, on 3 November 1672, the third, but eldest surviving son of Sir Walter Moyle, who died in September 1701, by his wife Thomasine, daughter of Sir...

 on 6 May 1700. Another daughter Anne Davie married William Clevland, and was the mother of John Clevland.