Johnnye Mary Morris, Dora Davis Webb, & Nuri Ansari
Davis
Back row- from the left; James, Elisha, Clara, & Edward.
All Content Copyright@Debra C. Davis/Elisha Davis Family 2000
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| Davis Family History | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| by Johnnye Mary Morris, Dora Davis Webb, & Nuri Ansari |
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| Following the Civil War, Tennessee was the first southern state readmitted to the Union of the United States. this was in July of 1886 and the beginning of the Reconstruction Era. On July 20th a free black man, Isaac White, purchased a 43 and 3/4 acre tract of land in Haywood County. Somewhere near Brownsville in Haywood County, a slave-girl named Hannah Davis was preparing to give birth to a son. These events are historically important because they were 3 and 1/2 years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, and one year before enfranchisement of black people in that state. The most significant of these events was the birth of the male child that would eventually become the son-in-law of Isaac White and the paternal forbearer of the Davis family. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| According to oral family history, Isaac Davis was born in 1866 to the slave-girl Hannah. His father is believed to have been white well-to-do land owner Jim Sherman. Isaac had two sisters, Nancy and Mamie Lamere, and a half brother William. There is no known information available regarding their destinies. We do know that he was raised by his Aunt Betty and Uncle Jim Clark. It seems the Clarks gave young Ike an appropriate upbringing, which instilled in him a strong sense of family values, ambition, political/civic mindedness, and loving fear of God. His achievements in life, and the many skills he developed, bare out his creative and industrious nature. Although his formal education ceased at the fourth or fifth grade level, he learned about agriculture, farming, carpentry, masonry, how to carve ax handles, as well as how to repair shoes. He was the choir master for his first church, Beulah Chapel. When it closed down he used the building as an addition to his home. It is also said that he employed his special talents to build the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in 1910, which still stands today. It became necessary for his friends and neighbors to harvest his crop in order to complete the church project. His contribution to the construction of Brownsville's first cotton compress once again demonstrated his talents and the influential role he played in the community's development. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Isaac Davis | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Upon reaching maturity Papa Ike, as did most young men at that time, decided to marry and start his own family. His choice was Dora, one of Isaac White's daughters. Oral history tells us that the attractive daughter of land owning farmers had the ambition and smarts to earn a high school education. We estimate their marriage to have taken place sometime between 1885 and 1890. From this union came eight sons; Casher, Edward, Elisha, Eugene, James, Robert, Thomas, Sherman, and six daughters; Betty, Beulah, Clara Anna, Dora, Maggie Florence, and Minnie. He was able to support his family with wages earned from carpentry work. This income was more than likely supplemented by tenant farming. On October 20, 1900, Papa Ike purchased 44 acres of land from J.E. Stewart and his wife for $350.00. He made a down payment of $100.00 and paid $50.00 a year for the next 5 years on the November 15th birthday of his son Elisha. The land passed to his sons upon his death in 1930. In his time, Isaac Davis distinguised himself as a successful African American entrepreneur and wage earner when most blacks were sharecroppers and dependent on white landowners for economic security. He owned and maintained land in an era when landownership for blacks was almost impossible. moreover he was a registered voter and exercised his voting right during a period of disenfranchisement for blacks in Haywood County, Tennessee. He left his descendants a legacy of self-esteem, pride, political activism, courage, and love of family. We could not have asked for more. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The children of Isaac & Dora Davis |
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| Front row- from the left; Dora, Casher, Thomas, & Eugene. Back row- from the left; James, Elisha, Clara, & Edward. |
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| Haywood County, a good place to live. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Home | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The content of this site is the property of Debra C. Davis and the Elisha Davis Family. No use is permitted without their consent. All Content Copyright@Debra C. Davis/Elisha Davis Family 2000 |
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