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This is my best guess for the father of John Wilson Davis, but is admittedly a guess.
Throughout the middle Tennessee area, there are several John Davis of the right age to be our John Davis. Sticking close to Cheatham county and the immediate area, however, and using the information gathered in interviews with Ruby Hewgley Barnes and Elba Hewgley Oliphant (grand daughters of JW Davis), the field narrows considerably.
John Wilson is in his own home in the 1900 census. The 1890 census was destroyed. Going back, then, to the 1880 census, there are two possible candidates living in Cheatham County. In the home of a widow H.H. Davis (age 35), there is a 13 year old male named Johnie Davis. In the home of James T. Davis, there is also a 13 year old male, by the name of John W. Davis.
In the interviews with John's granddaughters, they remembered the following siblings of John - Lillian, General, Jeff, and Walter. John W. the son of James listed above has the following siblings in the 1880 census: William W., Angeline, Joseph B., Fountain, Henry, and Mary Jane. Johnie, the son of H.H., has the following siblings: Jessie (M), G.W., T.J., and W.E.
There appears to be no correlation between the siblings in the interviews and the siblings of John son of James. Since the siblings of Johnie son of H.H. are almost all listed as initials in the census, one must continue to be creative, at least until additional information is found. G.W. could be General, T.J. could be Jeff, and W.E. could be Walter. Indeed, there is a Walter Ennis Davis buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery who was born in 1877, matching the dates for W.E. in this census. Likewise, there is a later General Will Davis (a namesake son or nephew of our General, perhaps?) buried in the Dozier Cemetery.
I have also reviewed the 1860 and 1870 censuses for Cheatham county in case there are additional John Davis's that could be ours, that might be missing from the 1880 census, and it is still just these two. Of course, there are numerous John Davis's in Davidson county in these censuses that could be the correct one.
Assuming for the moment that H.H. Davis is the correct mother for John, that still necessitates a search for who H.H. was and who John's father is.
In the 1880 census, H.H. is 35 years old. There is no female Davis in the 1870 Cheatham county census that is of the right age to be her that isn't already accounted for in the 1880 census. Going back to the 1860 census, however, there is a Jno S. Davis, age 23 maried to an H. Davis, age 15, which fits the age age we would expect from the 1880 census. Searching in the surrounding counties for this family for the interim time period, one finds J.S. Davis age 35, married to Harriet Davis age 25 in District 25 of Davidson County, not far from where they were in Cheatham. In their home are the children Martha E., Jesse W., John W. and Mary A; John and Jessie are the correct ages to be the Jessie and Johnie we find in the 1880 home of H.H. The oldest child is 9 years old, so they've likely been married since 1860, despite the young age of Harriet.
I believe John Wilson Davis' parents to be this John S. Davis and Harriet H. (Carney) Davis.
This theory is backed up by the fact that in the 1910 census, a Harriet Morgan is in son Walter's home with a relationship of 'Mother' - so we know Walter's mother's name is Harriet. Evidently she remarried a Morgan after John Davis' death.
Re: John S. Davis death: his last child was born abt 1877, and his wife is shown as a widow in the 1880 census. His death should be sometime between 1866 and 1880. I have thus far not located a burial site for him.
Several other researchers have his name as John Steven Davis, though I've not seen a reference for the middle name.
[2379] The Bonnie Hudgens marriage index on the Cheatham Co TN rootsweb site at http://www.rootsweb.com/~tncheath/grooms.html has 22 Mar 1859 as the marriage date. This may be the date of the bond.
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[S21]
U.S. Census - 1860
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[S42]
U.S. Census - 1870
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FTM Marriage Index: Tennessee 1851-1900
© 2005 John Scott , 305 Murphy Court , Macon , GA 31216 , jsscott@tennesseeheritage.com. Permission is granted to copy portions of this document for personal use only. May not be published in paper form, electronically, or by any other means without permission.