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R. DAVIS FROM:
The
History of Gallatin, Saline, Hamilton, Franklin, and Williamson Counties,
Illinois (Chicago: Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1887).
P. 692-693.
R. Davis, farmer and carpenter, was born in 1823 in Gallia County, Ohio,
one of twelve children of Neamiah and Mary (Allison) Davis. The
father, a farmer, of Welsh origin, was born August 20, 1778, in Maine,
coming to Cincinnati's present site when nineteen, he cleared the land on
which the water-works now stand in 1797. After a year here he lived
in Athens, Ohio until 1817, in Gallia County; then, until 1839, he again
removed to Hannibal County, Ill., where he died in 1854, having lived to
see all his children with families of their own. The mother, born
January 31, 1789, in Pennsylvania, and at the outbreak of the Indian war
in 1790, came with her parents to Marietta, Ohio, where her father
commanded the fort, and where she was made familiar with the hardships of
frontier life and scenes of Indian cruelties for seven years of her
childhood. She died October 29, 1882. Our subject was educated
in the district schools of Illinois and Ohio, and is now living on the old
homestead. April 14, 1847, he enlisted in Company E, United States
Infantry, engaged in the chief battles of the Mexican war, and was
honorably discharged in August 1848. In 1849, he married Annie,
daughter of William and Sallie Sturman, born in 1829 in Hamilton
County. Their eleven children are Amelia P., Edwin E., Frederick A.,
Celeste A., Theresa J., Ona L., Elda W., Adella C., Stephen A., Samuel M.,
and Robert E. L. Three are deceased. In August 1862, he
enlisted in Company E, Eighty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was
engaged in the quartermaster's department and ambulance
corps. He was wounded at Vicksburg June 29, 1863, and honorably
discharged in December, 1863, on account of paralysis from his
injuries. He is a substantial man, and owns 171 acres of fine
land. He is a member of the Greenback party, casting his first vote
for Polk. He belongs to the Primitive Baptist Church. |
