A nephew of Benjamin Franklin, Davenport was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; received an academic education; studied law in Burlington, New Jersey; admitted to the bar in 1776 and commenced practice in Gloucester City, New Jersey; clerk of Gloucester County Court in 1776; during the American Revolutionary War enlisted as a private in the New Jersey Militia, later becoming brigade major, brigade quartermaster, and in 1778 assistant quartermaster for Gloucester County; appointed colonel in the New Jersey Militia in 1779 and subsequently major general, which rank he held until his death; prosecutor of pleas in 1777; moved to Woodbury, New Jersey in 1781 and continued the practice of law; appointed first surrogate of Gloucester County in 1785; member of the New Jersey General Assembly from 1786-1789; colonel in the New Jersey Line during the Whiskey Insurrection of 1794; appointed brigadier general of Gloucester County Militia in 1796; appointed to the United States Senate as a Federalist to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of John Rutherfurd, and served from December 5, 1798, to March 3, 1799, when a successor was elected and qualified; elected to the Sixth United States Congress (March 4, 1799-March 3, 1801); was not a candidate for renomination in 1800; resumed the practice of law; appointed master in chancery in 1826; died in Woodbury, Gloucester County, N.J.; interment in Presbyterian Cemetery in north Woodbury, New Jersey.
