Benjamin Talmage Davis1

b. 9 September 1888, d. 5 February 1981
Ben and Maud Davis - 50th wedding anniv. (cropped)
photo courtesy Jane Sewell
FatherRobert Earl Davis2 b. 21 Sep 1854, d. 18 Jun 1913
MotherNancy E. Bailey2 b. 31 Dec 1857, d. 3 May 1951
Birth9 Sep 1888 Benjamin Talmage Davis was born on 9 Sep 1888 in Marion County, Tennessee.1,3 
Cens-191027 Apr 1910  He was raised on the family farm in Marion County.4 
Marriage1 Mar 1914 Benjamin married Nancy Maud Hudson, daughter of Abner Byron Hudson and Adah Charlotte Smith, on 1 Mar 1914. Nancy was known in the family by her middle name.3 
Milit-Reg5 Jun 1917  Benjamin registered for the World War I draft on 5 Jun 1917 in Marion County. The form stated that he was tall and stout, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was employed as a farmer and was responsible for his wife and child, and also his mother.1 
Cens-192012 Jan 1920 By Jan. 1920 another child had been added to the family. Benjamin was listed that year as a 31 year old farmer who owned his own home which was located on the East Valley Pike. It was mortgaged. Also enumerated were Benjamin's wife, Nannie (26), his daughters Martha O[dell] (4) and Ada A[nita] (2), and his widowed mother Nancy (63). Benjamin's brothers Curry and Joe were enumerated as his neighbors.5 
Cens-193026 Apr 1930 Sometime prior to the 1930 enumeration Benjamin and Nancy moved into the community of Whitwell. The exact location was described by the enumerator as "road has no name". Benjamin's home was not a farm; he was employed as a sawmill operator. Benjamin's mother Nancy, by then 72, still lived with the family which also included: Odell (14), Anita (12), Mary R. (8), Josephine (5) and James (3). Two men who also worked at the sawill boarded with the family.6 
  In the years after the 1930 census 2 additional daughters were added to the family. 
  Although census records recorded Ben by his full first name, he was not known by either Benjamin or Ben. Friends and family knew him as B.T. or as "Doc", a nickname he earned by caring for neighbor's farm animals. He also raised Tennessee Walking horses.7,8 
Death5 Feb 1981 Benjamin died on 5 Feb 1981 in Marion County, Tennessee, at age 92.9,10 
Burial He was buried at Sequatchie Valley Memorial Gardens in Marion County, Tennessee.10 

Related Links and Images:

Click on the first camera icon for a photo taken while Ben and Maud were dating. The second photo is from their 50th wedding anniversary11
This Bible appears to have belonged to Ben and Maud. It may have originally belonged to Ben's uncle James K. Davis (icons link to the following pages: births, marriages, family record - includes data on the family of Robert Earl Davis)

Family

Nancy Maud Hudson b. 28 Feb 1893, d. May 1976
Children
  • Martha Odell Davis6,12 (18 Oct 1915 - 27 Sep 2009)
  • Ada Anita Davis6,7,12 (12 Oct 1917 - 29 Nov 2004)
  • Mary Ruth Davis7,12 (16 May 1922 - 5 Feb 2011)
  • Marie Josephine Davis6,7,12 (16 Mar 1925 - 8 May 2008)
  • James Abner Davis6,12
  • Marguerite Edwina Davis7,12
  • Eva Doris Davis7,12 (22 Jun 1937 - 5 Mar 1962)
Last Edited4 Nov 2013

Citations

  1. [S1620] "World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918", subscription database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.Ancestry.com : May 2007), Data for Benjamin Talmage Davis, Marion Co., TN (June 5, 1917).
  2. [S1714] Goodspeed, "Goodspeed's Biographies of Marion County (1886)", transcription, USGenWeb: Tennessee, Marion County (http://www.rootsweb.com/~tnmario2/biosmain.html : accessed June 2007).
  3. [S3154] Jane Sewell, "Davis Reunion," e-mail to D. Powell, 21 Apr. 2012. Jane included images from a Davis Family Bible. The first entries on both the birth and marriage pages were for James and Nettah (Duke) Davis. The subsequent entries, in a different script, were for Ben and Nancy (Hudson) Davis and their children.
  4. [S1724] Robert E. Davis household, 1910 U.S. cens., Marion Co., Tennessee, pop. sched., 5th district, ED 128, sheet 6A (p. 109 stamped), dwelling 103, family 103, viewed online at Ancestry.com, May 2007, image 11 of 18. Household includes: Robert E. Davis, 54, marr #1, marr 29 yrs, farmer, b. TN, father b. VA, mother b. TN; Nancy E., wife, 53, marr #1, marr 29 yrs, mother of 6 children, 4 are living, b. TN, parents b. TN; Benjamin T., son, 21, farmer; Curry E., son, 19, farmer; both b. TN & parents b. TN.
  5. [S1745] Benjamin T. Davis household, 1920 U.S. cens., Marion Co., Tennessee, pop. sched., 5th Civil district, ED 72, sheet 6B, dwelling 106, family 106, viewed online at Ancestry.com, June 2007, image 12 of 26. Household includes: Benjamin T. Davis, 31, owns home, is mortgaged, farmer; Nannie M., wife, 26; Martha O., dau, 4 2/12; Ada A., dau 2 ?/12; Nancy E., mother, 63, wid; all b. TN; all parents b. TN; farm on East Valley Pike.
  6. [S1746] Benjamin Davis household, 1930 U.S. cens., Marion Co., Tennessee, pop. sched., Civil district 8, ED 58-13, sheet 1B, dwelling 23, family 23, viewed online at Ancestry.com, Jun 2007, image 2 of 10. Household includes: Benjamin Davis, 41, marr at 26, rents home, is not a farm, works as a sawmill operator; Maud, wife, 37, marr at 21; Odell, dau, 14; Anita, dau, 12; cont. sheet 2A: Mary R., dau, 8; Josephine, dau, 5; James E., son, 3; Nancy E., mother, 72, wid; E. Pickett, (m), boarder, 45, teamster at sawmill; Lawrence Graham, boarder, 45, wid, truck driver at sawmill; all b. TN; all parents b. TN; resid in unincorporated Whitwell on "road has no name."
  7. [S1759] Marion County Historical Society, The Story of Marion County [Tennessee], p. 225. "Nancy Bailey Davis" contributed by Jimmy L. Anderson.
  8. [S3154] Jane Sewell, "Davis Reunion," e-mail to D. Powell, 21 Apr. 2012. Jane is B.T.'s granddaughter.
  9. [S1440] "Social Security Death Index", Ancestry.com (http://www.Ancestry.com : viewed May 2007), for Ben Davis data; last residence Whitwell, Marion Co., TN.
  10. [S1740] Mary S. Harris and Euline Harris, Marion County Tennessee Cemetery Records, p. 291.
  11. [S1376] Photos courtesy Jane Sewell, granddaughter of Ben and Maud.
  12. [S3154] Jane Sewell, "Davis Family Reunion," e-mail to D. Powell, 20 April 2013. Jane is the granddaughter of Benjamin Talmage Davis and Nancy Maud Hudson.