After serving as the chaplain of Hilton Castle, he became the minister of St. Stephen Coleman Street in London. In 1625 he returned to Oxford for further studies.

Following a disagreement over the inclusion of the destitute in church congregations, in 1633 he resigned from the established church and moved to Holland. In 1637 he acquired the patent for a colony in Massachusetts and sailed with much of his congregation for Boston. In March of 1638 he co-founded the Colony of New Haven along with his classmate, Theophilus Eaton, a wealthy merchant from London who became the colony's first governor. He was a large proponent of education in his colony and is often credited with the co-founding of Hopkins School.

As a burgess, he was an important figure in the colony up until his departure to Boston in 1669. He died in Boston of apoplexy in 1670 and was buried in the same tomb as John Cotton. Yale University's Davenport College is named in his honor.

It is a possibility that many of the so-called "self portraits" that Rembrandt did of himself, were in fact portraits of Davenport since Rembrandt was sometimes known to associate with those who ministered to the destitute, and known pictures of John Davenport bear a striking resemblance to Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.

Recently, DNA evidence has proven that his grandfather, Edward Davenport of Coventry, was descended from the Davenports of Henbury. In addition, the DNA evidence has established his descent from Ormus de Davenport, of Cheshire, and also his relationship to the present day Lord Bromley Davenport.
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Short bio of John Davenport: h t t p://mssa.library.yale.edu/findaids/stream.php?xmlfile=mssa.ms.1072.xml
John Davenport was baptized at the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Coventry, England, on April 9, 1597, presumably shortly after his birth. He was the fifth son of Henry Davenport, who was mayor of Coventry in 1613. He attended Oxford for a short time, but was forced to drop out for financial reasons, only to return in 1615 when he received a Bachelor of Divinity degree Magdalen College. By 1615, Davenport was already preaching and in 1624, he was elected vicar at St. Stephen's in London, despite ecclesiastical objections that he had Puritan leanings. Though he confessed complete conformity at the time, Davenport became increasingly more Puritan and on August 5, 1633, fled England for Haarlem, in the Netherlands. He fell into conflict there too, and returned to England in 1637 with the intention of sailing for America. Davenport arrived in Boston on June 26, 1637, and in April, 1638 settled in New Haven, where Davenport became pastor of First Church. As pastor of the town, Davenport was one of the most influential figures in the early history of New Haven. However, he was unable, despite earnest resistance, to prevent New Haven from being annexed by the larger colony of Connecticut in 1662. Davenport died in Boston, in March of 1670.

• Married: BEF 1619 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England

1. John DAVENPORT b: 15 APR 1635 in The Hague, Holland
2. Joseph DAVENPORT b: ABT 1637