A prudent and providential decision to present himself before the General Court in Williamsburg before proceeding to Hanover proved wise and valuable. This was the first of many wise decisions he would make over the following years. Previously, visiting preachers had bypassed this step, and thus provoked the ire of the court for avoiding their authority. Throughout his ministry in Virginia, Davies would work within the colonial system. He conducted himself circumspectly and earned the respect of the ranking officials in the court at Williamsburg.

His first stay in Hanover lasted about one month, and he returned to New Castle. His health was failing and he painfully missed his home and family. Returning home, he carried a message from the people in Hanover. They addressed it to the Presbytery asking for Davies’ permanent services. Even at home in New Castle, his health continued to worsen. The tragic death of his wife and stillborn son put him into a low state of mind, and he worsened anticipating his own death.

He continued to preach when able, and the work caused improvement in his health. By the spring of 1748, he seriously considered where he should settle and how to serve God. He received a written request, signed by the heads of more than one hundred families in Hanover County. A representative of the group delivered the request. Davies admitted he had hoped to settle near his native place, but the importunity of the Hanover congregation captured his heart. Nearly twenty-five years old, Samuel Davies set out for Virginia. His parents sold their property and moved with him. A close friend and fellow student at Fagg’s Manor, John Rodgers, who Davies insisted should be his assistant came with them.

They went straight to Hanover, and then on to Williamsburg to file for Rodgers’ license. However, he had preached at Hanover without the benefit of a license and thus illegally, and the court refused to issue a license. The Governor, Sir William Gooch remembered Davies from the previous trip, and the young preacher’s moderation and good character impressed him. They gave Davies a license, but they granted that Rodgers could only help Davies temporarily.

The frontier ministry began with difficulty and harsh opposition. These circumstances brought frustration and discouragement. A characteristic of Davies’ life was his commitment to keep pressing on. Clear understanding of his call to Virginia helped as he worked always strengthened by the grace of God. The purpose was neither to make a name for him nor to pursue any financial gains. In a letter to the Bishop of London, dated January 10, 1752, Davies wrote a statement of his purpose for coming to Virginia:

It was not the secret thirst of filthy lucre, nor the prospect of any other personal advantage in which induced me to settle here in Virginia. For sundry congregations in Pennsylvania, my native country, and in other northern colonies, most earnestly importuned me to settle among them; where I should have had, at least an equal temporal maintenance, incomparably more ease, leisure, and peace, and the happiness of the frequent society of my brethren. . . But all these strong inducements were over weighed by a sense of the necessity of the Dissenters, as they lay two or three hundred miles distant from the nearest ministers of their own denomination, and laboured under peculiar embarrassments for the want of a settled ministry.^[1]

This strong sense of the Dissenters’ plight combined with the firm knowledge God could meet those needs made Davies even more committed to labor on the Virginia frontier. Heritage, preparation and convictions laid a strong foundation for a fruitful ministry.

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^[1] Pilcher, George W., Samuel Davies Apostle of Dissent in Colonial Virginia, The University of Tennessee Press, 1971, p. 17