Category: Davis

Photo Highlight: Nathan Davis

Posted on by spuddled

Theme #4 for the year is Photo Highlight – in which we’ll focus on one photograph from our family tree. It could be a photograph physically in my possession, one I found online, or one sent to me by email. This week we are taking a look at the following photo of my fifth great-granduncle, Nathan Davis.

This is not a photograph from my collection but is one that I’ve found on several different websites, including Find a Grave.1 It’s fascinating to be able to access a photograph of a relative who died more than 150 years ago. Nathan Davis was born 21 June 1772 in New Jersey and was the son of my 6G-grandparents, Nathan and Ann (Gifford) Davis. In 1794 he married Jane Sutton in New Jersey; they would have eight children.

In 1807 Nathan, along with his brothers William and Joseph (the latter of whom was my 5G-grandfather), purchased 20,000 acres of land in the area that would become West Union, West Virginia. They moved to the area in 1808, though much of their land they sold to Lewis Maxwell. Nathan Davis lived in a brick house where the courthouse later stood.2

In the 1850 census, Nathan and Jane were enumerated in West Union. Living with them was Jane’s 99-year-old father, Cornelius Sutton (who was also my 6G-grandfather). Cornelius died a month shy of his 100th birthday, on 30 September 1850. Jane died on 27 April 1857. In 1860 Nathan was living with his son Lewis’s family. Nathan died in West Union on 23 May 1866. He was 93 years old and was preceded in death by at least 3 of his children.

As I noted, the photograph of Nathan Davis is not physically in my collection. This next photograph, however, is, as I took it myself. In September 2010 Mom, Dad, Sammy the Dachshund, and I went on a genealogical road trip to West Virginia. We visited the Old Seventh Day Baptist “Block House” Cemetery in West Union, and there I took a photo of Nathan’s gravestone, with another smaller one leaning up against it. If you take a look at the photo of Nathan’s gravestone that appears on his Find a Grave memorial, you can see that in the 15 years that have passed since we visited, someone has cleaned the grave, and the small one is no longer resting on it. Maybe it’s time for another road trip.

  1. Find a Grave, (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/72692098/nathan-davis: accessed January 24, 2026), memorial page for Captain Nathan Davis, Find a Grave Memorial ID 72692098, citing Old Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery, West Union, Doddridge County, West Virginia, USA; Maintained by Guernsey Girl (contributor 51468294). ↩︎
  2. Hardesty’s 1883 History of Doddridge County. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~wvpioneers/genealogy/doddridgecountyhistory.html ↩︎

Alphabetical Ancestor: Acenith Davis

Posted on by spuddled

Happy New Year! Wishing my readers all the best in 2026. The first of the 13 themes I’ll be exploring this year is one I used part of the time in 2025 under the “A Is for…” heading. Some of last year’s posts explored ancestors with a name starting with the designated letter, but other times the letter was represented by a word, a place, a title, etc. This year the “alphabetical” theme will focus solely on names. I’ve already realized I may need to shift the order of the themes around from one quarter of the year to the next so I’m not looking solely at names starting with A again on July 5. But I’ll worry about that later. For now, A it is.

I do love names. I used to pore over books of names and their meanings, make lists of favorites, and in junior high spent time writing stories that inevitably involved very large families so I could give all the children weird names. Polii Hornsby, I’m looking at you. One of my favorite “family names” is Asenath. I only recently learned that she was the Egyptian wife of Joseph; I should have been paying more attention when reading Genesis. Anyway, “Asenath” seems to be the most common spelling generally, though not in our family tree. In our tree, “Asenath” appears 6 times, “Aseneth” 8 times, and “Acenith” once. Today I’m focused on that singular Acenith. Though as we shall see, the spelling of her name is all over the place anyway.

Acenith Davis, my third cousin four times removed, was born between 1863 and 1864 in West Virginia, the daughter of Benjamin L. Davis and his wife, Clara Davis. I’m not sure who Benjamin’s parents were, but I have a feeling he was probably one of the many Davis relatives in that area. Clarinda’s own parents were Joshua J. and Catharine (Maxson) Davis.1 Benjamin’s family appears in the 1870 census in New Milton, Doddridge Co., West Virginia. Benjamin was listed as a 35-year-old farmer and was enumerated with wife Clarinda, 26; daughters Eliza J., 9; Acenith, 6; and Catharine, 5; and son Tilbert, 1. At least I think that’s a “T.”2 Ten years later the family was still in New Milton but with some new spellings (“Clerinda” and “Aseneth”), as well as four new family members: John A., 8; Elisabeth L., 5; Amos S., 2; and Martin A., 3/12.3

On 27 November 1886 in Doddridge County, West Virginia, Acenith married her second cousin, second cousin once removed, third cousin, third cousin once removed, fourth cousin, fourth cousin once removed, fifth cousin, half fifth cousin, sixth cousin, sixth cousin once removed, seventh cousin, and eighth cousin.4 This was not a polygamous wedding but her singular marriage to Phillip Sheridan “Sherry” Davis. I told you all those Davises were closely connected. Phillip was born 3 November 1864 in West Virginia to Oliver Greenwood and Priscilla (Maxson) Davis.5

Phillip and Acenith would go on to have nine children: Orva A., born 17 September 1887; Offie H., born 27 October 1889; Tressie Fondella, born September 1890; Eva Emma, born 13 September 1893; Jettie Lou, born 10 February 1898; Samantha Belle, born between 1900-1901; Ada L., born between 1902-1903; Jessie M., born between 1905-1906; and Treva V., born between 1907-1908.6

In 1900 the family was enumerated in West Union, West Virginia, and Phillip was working as a teamster. In 1910 he was listed as a teamster in the oil fields, and the family lived in Greenbrier, Doddridge County. In 1920 they were still in Greenbrier, and Phillip’s occupation was listed as farming, but in 1930 he was enumerated as a water pumper, and the family was living in Salem, West Virginia. However, the family was now missing its matriarch; Phillip was listed as widowed in the census that year.7 Phillip died on 28 April 1951.

I have yet to find information regarding the death of Acenith, but I did find some additional details regarding the family while searching through Newspapers.com that I hadn’t known previously. Sadly, youngest child Treva died 28 August 1916 of typhoid fever at the home of his uncle Al Davis in Salem. The newspaper account, which spelled the eight-year-old’s name “Trevva,” noted that his was the second death in the family and that four other family members, including his parents, were still ill.8 I’m unsure who the first typhoid fever victim was, though I know it was not Orva, who lived until 1964; Offie, who had already died in 1910; Tressie, who married in 1917 and died the following year; or Eva, who lived until 1978.

And about Offie – in 1908, he (then 18) eloped with 17-year-old Effie Clark, daughter of Milton Clark. I need to investigate her further, as there is a third cousin 4 times removed named Milton Clark in our family tree, so she could well be a cousin also.9 One hopes Offie and Effie (!) had a happy if brief marriage. I did find his death record, which lists as his cause of death simply “operation.” It also spells his name “Orfis,”10 Now that is certainly not a name I’ve heard before.

  1. 1850 Census. n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d. ↩︎
  2. 1870 Census. ↩︎
  3. FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census. ↩︎
  4. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎
  5. 1870 Census. ↩︎
  6. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎
  7. 1930 Census. ↩︎
  8. The Daily Telegram [Clarksburg, West Virginia], 29 August 1916, pg. 11 ↩︎
  9. The Daily Telegram [Clarksburg, West Virginia], 23 May 1908, pg. 5 ↩︎
  10. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎

X Is for…Xenia

Posted on by spuddled

There are a surprising number of Xenias in our family tree, but today for the 50th post of 2025, I’m going to focus on my fourth cousin three times removed, Xenia Jane Davis. Xenia was born 30 March 1869 in Doddridge County, West Virginia, and she was the daughter of Donmanuel and Virginia A. (Smith) Davis.1 Interestingly, she had an older brother named Leander, which is the middle name of my nephew, Ben (though Ben was given the Leander part of his name to commemorate his grandfather on his maternal side, and I’m related to my sister-in-law on a different branch of her family tree. Anyway….)

It appears that Xenia and Leander’s mother died sometime between March and August of 1869, as on 19 August of that year, Donmanuel married Virginia’s sister, Mary Magdaline Smith.2 Mary was eight years younger than her sister and had not quite turned 16 when she married her brother-in-law. In both the 1870 and 1880 censuses, Donmanuel, Mary, and their blended family were enumerated in Doddridge County. Donmanuel and Mary would eventually have seven children together: Secelia Chloe, Melvy, Delcy, Lorhemus, Nevada, Oral T., and Buel Lee.3

On 3 April 1890 Xenia married William Henry Holtz in Doddridge County. She was 21 and he was 25.4 They would have three children in quick succession: Armatha in 1891, Cleaoras in 1892, and Lenora in 1893. At least I think – the birth records for Armatha confusingly list her mother’s name as Virginia (Davis) Holtz. Then on 15 January 1894, Xenia died, aged 24. Two days shy of one year later, William Henry Holtz married Florence Etta Everson in Clarksburg, West Virginia. It does not appear that William and Florence had any children together.

From Xenia’s death record, we know that her death was caused by typhoid fever and consumption, with which she had been ill for six weeks.5

The rest of Armatha’s life is less mysterious than her birth; she does appear with her father and stepmother in the 1900 and 1910 censuses. William was listed in both as a railroad track laborer. By 1920 he had become a foreman of railroad repairs, though in 1930 and 1940 he was listed as a farmer. He died in 1942. Armatha went on to marry, have at least three children, and move to Pennsylvania, dying there in 1967.6

William and Xenia’s second child, Cleaoras (or Cleoris) was alternately a gas company laborer, a coal miner, then a road construction laborer. He married in 1921, had six children, and died in 1968 at age 76.7 Youngest child Lenora was an epileptic according to her death certificate; she died of “status epilepticus” at the state hospital at Weston, West Virginia on 25 January 1940. She was only 46.8

And so…fifty weeks down, two more to go for 2025. Which means only two more weeks in which to figure out a theme for next year. Any ideas??

  1. Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/78620075/xenia_jane-holtz: accessed December 13, 2025), memorial page for Xenia Jane Davis Holtz (30 Mar 1869–15 Jan 1894), Find a Grave Memorial ID 78620075, citing Wolverton Cemetery, Doddridge County, West Virginia, USA; Maintained by S (contributor 47342597). ↩︎
  2. Jordan Dodd, West Virginia Marriage Records 1863-1900. ↩︎
  3. FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census. ↩︎
  4. Jordan Dodd, West Virginia Marriage Records 1863-1900. ↩︎
  5. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎
  6. 1910 Census. ↩︎
  7. Ancestry, West Virginia, Deaths Index, 1853-1973. ↩︎
  8. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎

M Is for…Marriage Records

Posted on by spuddled

I’m going to trust the idiom about pictures and thousands of words and focus on the former for this blog post regarding marriage records. Here are the records I have (or of which I have copies) for the first few generations of my direct ancestors.

Generation 1:

26 August 1961
Caldwell, Canyon, Idaho
Theodore Richard Montgomery and Linda Jo Hoffmann
(parents)

Generation 2:

17 September 1930
Winner, Tripp, South Dakota
Lawrence Theodore Montgomery and Blanche Agnes Wilson
(paternal grandparents)
Not a marriage record, exactly, but an article from the Bloomington, Illinois Pantagraph (which makes me wonder…do I actually have the official document somewhere in all my piles?)
12 March 1938
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
Joseph Benjamin Hoffmann
and Velma Marie Swing
(maternal grandparents)

Generation 3:

The marriage of paternal great-grandparents Charles William Montgomery and Laura Blanche Walker on 22 February 1883 in Richland County, Illinois appears in Ancestry.com’s Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940, but this database doesn’t include images, unfortunately. So moving along…

13 March 1907
Boone County, Nebraska
Carl Ozro Wilson and Sophie Christine Roberg
(paternal great-grandparents)
7 December 1902
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Paul Hoffmann and Emma Alice Slagel
(maternal great-grandparents)

Another one that’s missing (why have I not written away for these??):
18 June 1913; Peoria, Peoria, Illinois; Albert Carl Swing and Lena Agnes Hunkler (maternal great-grandparents)

Generation 4:

25 December 1858
Hamilton County, Ohio
John Montgomery and Belinda Simmons
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
15 February 1857
Noble, Richland, Illinois
Marcus Walker and Mary Ann Conklin
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another not-quite-document, but an excerpt
31 August 1879
Brush Creek, Fayette, Iowa
Wellington David Wilson and Lucinda Blanche Davis
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
Another one that’s more of an excerpt…
3 December 1878
Rushford, Fillmore, Minnesota
Anders Mathis Roberg and Agnette Evensdatter Lien
(paternal great-great-grandparents)
17 January 1875
Renaucourt, France
Jacob Hoffmann and Christine Schmidt
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
30 November 1875
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Samuel Slagel and Mary Demler
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
17 February 1884
Fairbury, Livingston, Illinois
Albert Carl Swing and Catherine Marie Hoffmann
(maternal great-great-grandparents)
14 December 1886
Peoria, Peoria, Illinois
George John Hunkler and Maria Elizabeth Rusch
(maternal great-great-grandparents)

These are not all the marriage records I have, though they do become more sparse from here on out. I would keep adding more here, but I figure this blog post is already 13,000 words long, so that will do for now.

G Is for…Glass Factory

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s post is a bit of a departure from the usual doom and gloom. Sorry to disappoint. But I wanted to highlight an occupation followed by a number of our relatives, especially our West Virginia cousins who were part of or descended from the Seventh Day Baptists.

In particular, the town of Clarksburg, West Virginia, became well-known for its glass factories. According to an article in The Exponent Telegram, the glass industry started in Clarksburg in 1899 when Belgian glassworkers were convinced to move to the area from Pittsburgh. The first window glass plant built was the Lafayette Cooperative Glass plant, followed by the founding of companies such as the Salem Cooperative Window Glass Company, the Peerless Window Glass Company, Rolland Glass Company, and others.1

In addition to window glass, the industry in the area extended to the production of glassware. The Hazel Atlas company operated the world’s largest factory for producing glass tumblers in Clarksburg. Hazel Atlas produced a large quantity of “Depression Glass.”2

Depression Glass bowl, a gift from Aunt Rosie (who was not related to the Seventh Day Baptists but loved dishes)

I was able to find 78 individuals in our family tree who had some connection to the glassmaking industry. I will not be detailing all of them. Cazzie B. Barnes, fourth cousin 3 times removed, whose mother was one of our Davis relatives, was born between 1869-1870 in West Virginia. In 1920 he was enumerated with his wife and 8 children in Clarksburg. The occupation for “Cass” is listed as “Laborer, Glass Factory.”

Ten years later Cazzie’s nephew, Richard Clark Barnes, son of Cazzie’s brother Erna Riffey Barnes, was listed as “laborer, glass company.” He was eighteen years old and still living at home, though this was in the “Coal District” of Harrison County, West Virginia rather than in Clarksburg proper.

Did I say there was to be no doom and gloom in today’s post? Oops. Edgar Francis Bonnell, my fourth cousin twice removed, was 32 years old when he was struck by a train and killed. This was in Salem, West Virginia. His death certificate lists his occupation as Glass Worker.

https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=35957&Type=Death

Then we have a whole slew of Davises involved in the glass industry: Artie Davis, fourth cousin twice removed, was a glass plant laborer in 1930 when he was 19 and living in Clarksburg; Artie’s father Lennis was also a glass company laborer in both 1910 and 1920, though by 1930 he was working as a watch repairman. Cleo Jefferson Davis, fourth cousin three times removed, was a press operator at a glass factory in 1940. Cleo lived in Doddridge County.

As with Edgar Bonnell, we are able to learn the cause of death for Cleo’s father, Corles Davis (third cousin four times removed), from his death certificate. In 1946 he was a glass worker for the McBride Glass Company when he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. Two McBride Glass Companies are among the list of 50 “West Virginia Glasshouses” appearing in the 1930 census according to the National Depression Glass Association website.

Both Corles’s twin brother Harland, and Graden F. Davis, sixth cousin once removed, worked as glass blowers, though 30 years apart: Harland in 1910 and Graden in 1940. At the time of his enumeration, Graden was 25 years old and living in his grandmother’s boarding house in Salem.

Others had equally specific job titles listed in various censuses: paper cutter, glass factory (Haymond Rankin Davis, sixth cousin once removed); packer and grinder, glass factory (Hazel Aretta Davis, fifth cousin twice removed, and Lagretta A. Davis, fourth cousin three times removed, two of the few females on the list); mould polisher, glass factory (John Jefferson Davis, fourth cousin three times removed); and snapper, glass factory (Noah Lewis Davis, fourth cousin three times removed).

I could go on…but I won’t. My fingers are getting tired, and I promised not to list all 78 individuals. But it’s easy to see the impact the glass industry had on our family many times over. Which also makes me think I have a good excuse to add to my glassware collection….

  1. https://www.wvnews.com/theet/opinion/op-ed_columns/a-little-history-of-area-s-early-glass-manufacturing/article_7b1dfd9f-d46d-5027-a5d2-78e1cb85d064.html ↩︎
  2. https://www.wvencyclopedia.org/entries/318 ↩︎
C Is for…Cause of Death

C Is for…Cause of Death

Posted on by spuddled

Not surprisingly, a “Cause of Death” entry here is bound to be kind of gloomy. This one is both gloomy and confusing. I created a report in my RootsMagic database to help me analyze all the various causes of death in the family tree and decided to highlight William S. Davis and his daughter Harriet, my first cousin 6 times removed and my second cousin five times removed, respectively.

William was the son of Nathan and Jane (Sutton) Davis and the grandson of my 6G-grandparents, Nathan and Ann (Gifford) Davis. He was born 15 December 1805 and in 1827 he married Sophia Chaney, his third cousin, in Tyler County, (later West) Virginia.1

Their first child was Harriet, born on 14 October 1828. Daughter Jane was born 30 September 1830, and Helen Mary was born in 1833. Primary evidence is scant, so I’ll report what I have learned with the caveat that it may not be a completely accurate account. The Find a Grave website describes the fate of William and Harriet, noting that both died of injuries sustained in a tornado in 1837. Harriet has a headstone in the Old Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in West Union, West Virginia, where her date of death is noted as 1 June 1837. No headstone for William has been found.

Find a Grave Memorial ID 76947167

Find a Grave, as well as the Doddridge County Heritage Guild website, reference an account of the tornado as found in Hardesty’s 1883 History of Doddridge County. This work describes the tornado as the most destructive storm in that area but indicates it occurred on 3 June 1833, not 1 June 1837. It notes that it destroyed the log Seventh Day Baptist Church building as well as the home of a Joseph Davis when his home was also destroyed. It does not mention a William Davis or the death of a daughter Harriet.

So you can see why I am confused. Whatever happened to William, by October 1840 Sophia had remarried, to a Joseph Garlow. They had a daughter, Alice Lee, and sons, John C. and Thomas, and they eventually moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Sophia died in 1886 and Joseph in 1892, and they are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. No cause of death is listed for either of them.2

The Gazette; Cedar Rapids, Iowa: 15 March 1886, pg. 4
  1. www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com, Memorial ID 152838958. ↩︎
  2. ibid. ↩︎
B Is for…Burial

B Is for…Burial

Posted on by spuddled

I thought I’d dive back into the “On This Day” prompt idea today, as well as fulfilling the alphabetical theme. So today we’re looking at Martin Van Buren Davis, my second cousin 5 times removed, who was buried on this this in 1927. Born 20 September 1840 in Harrison County, (later West) Virginia, his parents were Nathan Gifford and Mary Ann (Davis) Davis. Nathan and Mary Ann were first cousins once removed. He was enumerated with them in 1850 and 1860 in Doddridge County.1 2

On 1 November 1866 in Doddridge County, Martin married his second cousin, Phedora Bonnell. It seems no one could figure out for sure how to spell Phedora’s name. It appears with various spellings throughout the records in which she appears: Phedor, Theadore, Fedora, Phedora, Phedorah, Theadora, Fadorah, and Phedara. She’s also listed alternately as Phedora Bonnell and Phedora Davis.3

From 1870-1920 Martin and what’s-her-name were enumerated in Grant, Doddridge County, West Virginia. The couple had nine children: Mabel, Isabel, Cora, Edith, Gifford Nathan, Elsie, Edward, Guy, and Elizabeth. Mabel and Isabel both died in 1873. Edith died in 1901 at the age of 29, after which her widower (a second cousin once removed) married her older sister, Cora. Cora herself only lived to age 44.4 5 6 7 8 9

On 15 August 1921, Phedora died of paralysis and was buried the following day in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Salem, West Virginia. Martin survived her by six years, dying on 12 July 1927 of indigestion. He was buried 13 July 1927 in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.10

Martin Van Buren Davis Death Certificate, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History
Copyright 2021. All Rights Reserved.
  1. 1860 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
  2. 1850 Census (n.p: www.ancestry.com, n.d). ↩︎
  3. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎
  4. 1870 Census. ↩︎
  5. FamilyHistory Search and/or www.ancestry.com, 1880 Census. ↩︎
  6. 1900 Census. ↩︎
  7. 1910 Census (n.p: 1910, n.d). ↩︎
  8. 1920 Census. ↩︎
  9. www.findagrave.com, www.findagrave.com. ↩︎
  10. West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records. ↩︎
Y Is for…Young Bride

Y Is for…Young Bride

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s entry takes a look at Piety Maxson, my first cousin seven times removed, who was married at about fifteen years of age. A Seventh Day Baptist, she was the daughter of Ephraim and Elisabeth (Davis) Maxson and was born in 1781, either in New Jersey (where her parents were married and her older siblings were born) or in what would become West Virginia (where her younger sister was born). Her maternal grandparents were my 7G-grandparents, Thomas William and Tacy (Crandall) Davis. Ephraim and Elisabeth several daughters but only one son, as confirmed in Ephraim’s will, dated 1795.

Ancestry.com. West Virginia, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1724-1985 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
Original data:West Virginia County, District and Probate Courts.

On 17 November 1796 in Harrison County, Virginia (later West Virginia), Piety married Jonathan Davis.1 Thanks to the intermarriages amongst the Seventh Day Baptists (and not that unusual in general for that time period), Piety and Jonathan were related in the following ways:

  • First cousins once removed
  • Second cousins
  • Second cousins once removed
  • Third cousins once removed
  • Fourth cousins
  • Fourth cousins once removed
  • Fifth cousins once removed
  • Half second cousins once removed

Jonathan was my second cousin 7 times removed (amongst other relationships). When they married, Jonathan was 20, having been born on 15 January 1776, and Piety, as we have said, was probably 15.

https://archive.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.aspx?Id=38750&Type=Marriage

FamilySearch.org lists a total of 15 children (!) for Jonathan and Piety, though I only have details in my own database on one, Samuel Chaney Davis, born in 1817. If the FamilySearch details are correct, Piety had her first child in 1797 and her last in 1822.2 Jonathan died on 22 March 1845 in Champaign County, Ohio, and Piety died almost exactly two years later, on 19 March 1847. She died in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, which is also in Champaign County. Jonathan and Piety are buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Champaign County’s Goshen Township.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/LZ8Y-FFQ
  1. Ancestry.com. West Virginia, U.S., Marriages Index, 1785-1971 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. ↩︎
  2. https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/LHZK-DS4 ↩︎
P Is for…Prolific

P Is for…Prolific

Posted on by spuddled

Today we’re exploring the life of Absalom Davis (my second cousin 5 times removed) and his wife Polina S. W. Davis (also my second cousin 5 times removed), who raised a family of 16 children. Absalom and Polina were first cousins; his mother Sarah and her mother Hannah were sisters, the daughters of Joshua Gifford and Content (Davis) Davis. Joshua and Content were also related; they were half first cousins twice removed.

Absalom was born 9 December 1809 in Harrison County in what would become West Virginia. Polina was born 8 December 1811 (or possibly 8 February 1811) in Virginia (again, probably what is now West Virginia). On 9 October 1828 the two were married, and 10 months later had their first child. I’ve been able to find at least somewhat detailed information on all the children but one. Of Worthington Davis the only mention I’ve seen is in the obituary of his sister Penelope that appeared in the Seventh Day Baptist Church’s Sabbath Recorder newsletter of 20 January 1919, where he is listed as one of the siblings who predeceased her.

The Sabbath Recorder, 20 January 1919

The astute will notice that this listing only adds up to a total of 15 children, not 16. And it’s true that I have an Elen Murry Davis in my records, noted as born 4 April 1853, but I no longer recall where I obtained this information. The perils of not recording one’s sources from the very beginning…

The first U.S. census in which all members of a household are listed by name is the 1850 census. That year Absalom and his family were enumerated in Doddridge County, (now West) Virginia. Absalom was listed as a farmer with real estate worth $300. He was 41 and listed as being born in Virginia and able to read and write. The rest of the household consisted of: Polina, 38; Charlotte, 20; Theadore, 19; “Julian,” 17; Zacharias, 15; Elvira, 14; Donmanuel, 12; Anderson G., 9; Elijah, 8; Elkana, 6; Sylvanus, 3; and Penelopy, 1.1

In 1860 the family was still in Doddridge County, but the census taker unhelpfully listed everyone just by intials: A, P.S.W., D, A.G., E, E, S, V, P, J.W., and E. Inexplicably, V[andelee] and P[enelope] are out of order, as Vandelee is listed as 10, and Penelope as 12. “J.W.” is James W., and the final household member, “E. Davis,” is listed as 30 years old, so it’s unclear who this individual is.2

By 1870 many of Absalom and Polina’s children had left to start families of their own; in that year the couple, living in Grant Twp., Doddridge County, were 60 and 58 years old respectively and had real estate valued at $2945 and personal estate valued at $300. Only Vandelee, 19; and James W., 14 still lived at home, along with a “common laborer” named Edmund Maxwell. Elijah, his wife, and 3 children, were living at the next farm over.3

Ten years later James W. was still living with his parents, along with his wife Martha, whom he had married within the past year. The household was enumerated in the New Milton District of Doddridge County.4 Eight years later Absalom died at age 78. His death was attributed to pneumonia and dropsy.

West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records.

Polina would outlive Absalom by almost 13 years, long enough to appear in one additional census without him, not counting the lost 1890 census. In 1900 Polina was in Greenbrier, Doddridge County, living with her granddaughter Lovie (daughter of Anderson G.) and Lovie’s husband James McCuen, who was a mail carrier. Lovie and James had been married less than a year.5

The following year Polina died at age 89. She and Absalom are buried in the Greenbrier Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery in Doddridge County. According to the Find a Grave website, there are a total of 126 Davises buried in this cemetery; these include Absalom and Polina’s children Anderson G., Elijah, James W., Theodore, Charlotte, and Penelope. Surprisingly, of the 16 Davis children, at least thirteen lived long enough to reach adulthood and marry. Quite a feat for that time and place. At least in this instance, cousins marrying cousins doesn’t seem to have hindered them much.

West Virginia Division of Culture and History, West Virginia Vital Research Records.
  1. The National Archives in Washington, DC; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: District 13, Doddridge, Virginia; Roll: 942; Page: 25b ↩︎
  2. The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Residence Date: 1860; Home in 1860: Doddridge, Virginia; Roll: M653_1342; Page: 450; Family History Library Film: 805342 ↩︎
  3. Year: 1870; Census Place: Grant, Doddridge, West Virginia; Roll: M593_1686; Page: 22A ↩︎
  4. Year: 1880; Census Place: New Milton, Doddridge, West Virginia; Roll: 1401; Page: 417c; Enumeration District: 124 ↩︎
  5. Year: 1900; Census Place: Greenbrier, Doddridge, West Virginia; Roll: 1757; Page: 4; Enumeration District: 0022 ↩︎
M Is for…Military

M Is for…Military

Posted on by spuddled

For today’s post, I had grandiose ideas of making a simple list of all the relatives in my database with military activity. Then I realized even just providing a complete list of names would result in an outrageously long post. So instead, here is just a sampling of what I found.

Thomas William Davis, my 7th great-grandfather: born 15 May 1719 in Westerly, Rhode Island, he served as a captain in the 3rd Regiment, Monmouth County (New Jersey) Militia in 1777 and also from 1780-1781. He later moved to Monongalia County in what would become West Virginia, where he died in 1791.

Thomas Goolsberry Childers, my 1st cousin 6 times removed: this Thomas was born 31 January 1790 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. Records I found make him sound like an early-day Forrest Gump, so I should probably do some more research to verify claims that he: took part in the Battle of Tippecanoe, then was captured by the British during the War of 1812 and held prisoner for two years, then in 1832 fought in the Black Hawk War before moving to Texas and taking part in the Battle of San Jacinto with Sam Houston. Thomas died in Coryell County, Texas in about 1851.

Andrew J. Slatten was my third cousin four times removed: he was born somewhere around 1831-1833 in Illinois. In 1860 he was living in Des Moines, Iowa, and was occupied as a lawyer. Shortly after the Civil War broke out, he enlisted in Company D, 2nd Reg. Iowa Volunteers, Infantry. Less than a year later he was wounded at the Battle of Fort Donelson in Nashville in February 1862. Two months later he died in Saint Louis as a result of the leg and temple wounds he had received. He is buried in Des Moines’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

Find a Grave Memorial ID 38394272

Ozro C. Taylor, third great-granduncle: born 21 January 1847 in New York State, he enlisted 29 August 1864 in the 1st Regiment of the New York Light Artillery in Malone, New York. He enlisted as a substitute for a Seymour Gibbons; he was later mustered out at Elmira. He later moved to West Union, Iowa, where he was occupied in the livery business. He died 8 December 1890 “after ailing all fall.”

Ozro Taylor’s gravestone, West Union Cemetery

While most of the relatives I found were men, not all of them were. Mary Alice Evans, third cousin four times removed: born 18 February 1889 in Nortonville, Kansas, she served in the Army Nurse Corps between 16 February 1918 and 28 July 1919. She had been a nurse before the war and would continue her occupation after her military role ended. She died in 1948 in San Joaquin County, California, and is buried in the Stockton Rural Cemetery.

And last but not least from this random selection we have Ernest E. Bauer, half first cousin twice removed: born 14 January in either 1894 or 1895 in Gridley, Illinois, he left from Watseka, Illinois on 21 June 1918 to serve for six months during World War I. After his return he married Mary Yergler in Cissna Park, Illinois, in February 1920, and he died there in October 1966.