Pierce H. Davis

    A resident of Grant county since 1881, Mr. Davis has been a substantial farmer in Jefferson Township, his home being in Section nine and he has a reputation for successful management of his farm, and by his own personal character and his family relations, stands as one of the leading citizens of Grant County.

    The original ancestry of Mr. Davis is Welsh, but the family located in Virginia, previous to the Revolutionary war, and the line from the first ancestor to the present runs as follows, according tot he best information obtainable: Thomas Davis, great-grandfather of Pierce H. was born in Wales, but spent the greater part of his life in Virginia. The family in Wales was very wealthy, and Thomas, as one of two sons, had a large inheritance. However, when he left for the new world, he left his credits and funds in banks in his native country, and through some loss of records, or for some other cause not now known, he practically lost all his heritage. Thomas Davis was a Quaker when he came to America, married a Virginia Quaker girl, and all the subsequent generation have been of the same faith. The children of Thomas and wife were: Harmon, Joseph, Isaac, Jehu, Rachel, Sarah, Ann, Hannah and Eunice. All these children were married, all had families of their own, and all except Eunice lived to be quite full of years. Some of them lived and died in Virginia, while others went west to Ohio, and died in that State. Farming was their regular vocation, and all were of the Quaker faith.

    Harmon Davis, grandfather of Pierce H., was born in Grayson County, Virginia, about 1775, grew up on a farm, and married Hannah Middleton, a native of Grayson county, and of Quaker stock. Her father enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and owing to his Quaker principles refused to fight, and was consequently transferred to the rear and served as cook, finally being discharged on account of illness. After some of his children had been born in Virginia, Harmon Davis moved in the early part of the last century to Ohio, settling on a piece of unbroken land, and in the pioneer home thus established the rest of his children were born, and all were reared to years of maturity. Then the family came to Wayne County, entering land where the little city of Dublin now stands. Some years later Harmon Davis sold out that property and bought land elsewhere in the same county, where he lived until his death. His widow outlived him some years, and died in Fenton County, Indiana, about 1857, when past eighty years of age. Their children were: Joseph, Isaac, Thomas, Jehu, Rachael, Sarah, Ann Hannah,  and Eunice. It is a curious fact that all these children were named for some of their uncles and aunts. They all grew up and were married and had children, and most of them spent their final years in Indiana.

    Thomas Davis, third in the above family, was born in Grayson County, Virginia, in 1805, and was a small child when his parents moved to Ohio, and was grown when they reached Wayne County, Indiana. Though reared on a farm he acquired the trade of carpenter and followed that profession for a number of years. In Wayne County, he married Hannah, a daughter of Abraham and Mary (Pierce) Moore. All the family located in Wayne County, and Abraham Moore and wife died there when old people. They were farmers and among the hardy early settlers, and brought with them their religious faith as Friends. Thomas Davis and wife settled on a farm in Wayne County, and later moved to Greens Fork, where both died, Thomas in 1894, and Hannah in 1888. The names of their children were as follows: Susan, who died after her marriage, leaving a daughter; Abraham, who died in infancy; Pierce H.; Tacy, who died after his marriage, but left no children; Rachael, widow of Luther Frazier, now lived in Richmond, Indiana, and has a son and daughter; Naomi, the wife of George J. Nicholson, of Greens Fork, Wayne county, has one daughter; William and Wilson, twins, the latter dying in infancy and William, now a resident of Upland, and he father of five children.

    Pierce H. Davis was born in Greens Fork, Wayne County, May 29, 1834. His boyhood was spent in his native locality, and he is one of the few men still living whose attendance at school was in a log cabin. He well remembers that old school house with its greased paper windows, its puncheon floors, its rough slab benches and desks, the old quill pens, and other primitive facilities and methods of instruction. Mr. Davis is also one of the men who in early years swung the cradle in reaping grain, has also handed a flair and thresher, and has used a plow with the old fashioned wooden moldboard.

    After he became of age he was married in Hamilton County, at Noblesville, to Mahala A. Cook. She was born in Morgan County, Indiana, May 19, 1834, and is the daughter of Abraham M. and Mary L. (Carson) Cook. The Cooks were likewise natives of Grayson County, Virginia, were of substantial Quaker stock and on migrating westward, Mrs. Cook rode a horse all the way to Morgan County, Indiana. They were young people then and quite equal to enduring the hardships of pioneer existence. From Morgan County, Mr. and Mrs. Cook moved to Hamilton County, where he entered three tracts each of eighty acres four and a half miles west of Cicero. There he worked steadily for many years in the improvement of his land, built up a good home and farm, and died there about 1873. He was born about 1807. His wife died five years later when seventy years of age. They were both birthright Quakers, and charter member of the Friends Church in Hamilton and Morgan Counties. Mrs. Davis is the only one of the five Cook children still living, the other having been: Caleb, Jessie, Caroline and Malinda. All were married but Caleb and Caroline had no children.

1. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Davis are: Viola Ellen born October, 1857, has been twice married and is now living in Marion, and she has the following children by her first marriage -Oscar, Estella, Burr, all of whom are married.

2. Mary H., born in June, 1860, is the widow of Harmon Ballenger , and the wife of Monroe Pence, and they live near Converse, where they are farmers, her children are -Volney, Viola, Bertha, Claude, Ithamar, and all are married except the youngest.

3. Charles V., born in August, 1863, is a master carpenter at Marion, and by his marriage to Elizabeth Roberts ahs children, Clyde, Glenn, Nina, Thelma and Leo. Clyde and Glenn being married.

4. Pella May, is the widow of John Deeren, and lives in Crawford County, Kansas, and her children are -Dolly, Minnie, John, Anna.

5. Rosa Bell is the wife of James McConway, a Missouri farmer, and their children are Norma, Beather and Morris.

6. Dora is the wife of Elmer McCrait of Upland, and their children are Mary A., Resa, and Eva, the last two being twins, and Bernice.

7. William P. W., lives at home and assists in the management of the homestead, his strong affection for his parents never having allowed him to stray into the field of matrimony

8. Sylvester S. A. is a farmer in Jefferson Township, owning eighty acres of improved land, and by his marriage to Hattie Curtis has one daughter Lula.

    Mr. and Mrs. Davis have lived in Jefferson Township of Grant County since 1881, and in 1883 bought their present well improved farm. Among the interesting relics of the past to be found about the Davis homestead, is an old flint-lock rifle, still in good repair, and showing unusually thorough and careful construction in both stock and barrel. This heirloom has come down through the Davis family, and belonged to the great-grandfather before the Revolutionary war. It is an interesting old weapon, and in its time no doubt killed a great number of deer, bear, and other wild game, and has never been outside of the family ownership, being passed down from one generation to another.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.

                                                                                               Home                    E-mail me