Magness "Mag" Manuel Davis, child of Willis and Nancy Davis, was born in North Carolina, possibly Franklin County, between 1787 and 1795.
He and Beady Jane Joiner were part of the 1804-1808 Davis/Lindsey migration west from North Carolina to Tennessee and Alabama. Their first two children were born in Tennessee: Isom Johnathan Davis about 1812, and Mary "Polly" Davis in 1814.
Magness and Beady's next child, Alford Davis, was born in Alabama's Lauderdale County in 1820. Three, maybe four more (Beady "Eady", Morning, Margurette Ann, and James) were added during the family's stay there. Federal Census records of 1830, studied in conjunction with neighbors' land patents, locate Magness in the McPeters Branch area between present-day Killen and Lexington. These communities were essentially in the middle of the vast Doublehead Reserve acquired by the U.S, in 1817 and quickly opened to settlers and speculators. Magness and Beady Jane were part of the rush to these attractive former Native American lands on the north side of the Tennessee. The river's low-water fording points over the locale's rock shoals were an additional draw.
Magness was not a slave holder. His father and siblings were and left Tennessee for Bibb County in central Alabama without him as early as 1816. Family lore alludes to the split. Census records document it.
After twenty or so years in Lauderdale County, Magness and Beady Jane loaded their wagons, crossed the river and headed south and west for Marion and Franklin Counties. Both featured new land opportunities from the 1832 Chickasaw Cession. The birth of Magness and Beady Jane's eighth child, Lucinda Davis, documents the family in Franklin County by 1836. In 1842 Magness patented the full 162.98 acres of the NW1/4 of section 3 in 9s-14w in Marion County. No longer a renter, his farming neighbors included Peter Scott and Caswell Lindsey.
U. S. Census data of 1850, 1860, and 1870 place Magness and Beady in Franklin County near their children and grandchildren three miles northeast of Single Springs. Between 1850 and 1878, this western ridge of Skirum Creek in south central Franklin County was a significant Davis enclave. Civil War "unionists" Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis and husband Stephen A. Scott were there. So, too, at various times, at least three of Peggy's siblings.
When Magness died in 1875, there were no close and convenient Davis or community cemeteries. The Alford Davis Cemetery in Marion County's Reids District did not yet exist. Neither did Holly Springs. Nor had communal transition begun at what would become Little Flock/Williams Sanctuary. At the time of Magness' passing, this new burial spot on Baldy and "Betsy" Williams' home place contained only the private graves of two Williams daughters, an infant and a teenager. And Single Springs, more to the west, despite having the graves of two Davis grandchildren, felt relatively distant.
The family of Magness Davis decided to bury his body at a relatively elevated spot on the east side of the ridge road midway between what are now the cemeteries of Holly Springs and Little Flock (aka Williams Sanctuary). In his "Kinsfolk and Relatives…," respected genealogist Cecil Lamar Sumners reports this grave on the "old Childers place." T. K. Childers for a short time had actually shared ownership of this property with his friend and partner E. M. Davis, a grandson of Magness and Beady Jane.
The grave markers at this (Mag) "Davis" site are not the originals. Ruby Cantrell Taylor notes that Marvin Davis, a great grandson of Magness and Beady Jane, arranged for replacements "before he died" in 1975. There are four headstones: one for Magness dated 1795-1875, one for Beady Jane dated 1979-1878, one for their son James dated 1831-1876, and one for his son Harium dated 1865-1877. Additional unmarked graves are certainly possible.
Magness Manuel Davis and Beady Jane Joiner are the heroic and visionary pioneer patriarch and matriarch of their lines in this part of Alabama. It is thought but not proven that Magness' ancestors trace to Davis and Ransom lines of early coastal Virginia. Beady Jane's are proudly believed to be Native American, even though there are hints of European Joyner/Kee links to Virginia and North Carolina.
Their 8 children (5 with known Find A Grave memorial #s) in birth order are:
Isom (Isham) Jonathan Davis b c1812, d c1880, memorial 253569460 , m Jane "Jennie" Littrell, memorial 253580519
Mary "Polly" Davis b 1814, d 1915, m Caswell R "Case" Lindsey, memorial #46860554
Alford Davis b 1820, d 1892, m Sarah Ann Belzora McCarley, memorial #86762559
Beady Davis b c1822, m. Franklin Creel
Morning Davis b c1824, d aft1900, m John A McKinney
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis b 1828, d 1908, m Stephen A Scott, memorial #53010949
James W Davis b c1831, d aft1880, m Emily Lindsey, memorial #158943020
Lucinda "Cinda" Davis b 1839, d 1924, m Benjamin F Digby, memorial #28473191
(Complied by RT Scott from: relevant Federal Census records for 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870, also 1850 Agricultural Census for Franklin Co AL; General Land Office Patents, Franklin Co AL Land Records and Township and Range Maps for Lauderdale Co AL; Documents at Miss Dept of Archives and History; Franklin Co AL Archives and Tishomingo Co Miss Historical & Genealogical Society; Published Cemetery works of Dorothy and William Stalcup; "Davis Cemetery Survey" by Hilton & Chris Ozbirn; "Journey in Time: History of the Shoals" by Harry Wallace; Family Records Collections of Marvin Davis, Hoyt Davis, Daniel Davis, Darwin Davis, Jean Davis Martin, Kate Kennedy, Peggy Clark, Troy McCarley, Victoria Davis Scott, Sharon Ozbirn Embry, Elsie Jones, Cindy Tarwater, Wanda Williams Tarwater and Gladys Scott Holland; Findings of notable researchers Cecil and Gladys Sumners, John P. Sprayberry, Ruby Cantrell Taylor, Bill C. Pickford, Jessie Emerson, Robin L. McCarley, Joseph Scott and Jimmie Nell Nichols Meadors; Unpublished Data, Analysis and Histories in "Mag Davis Cemetery: Northwest Alabama Davis Patriarchs" and "Alford Davis Cemetery on the Old Home Place" and "Single Springs: One Cemetery, Two Churches" and "Williams Sanctuary: Origins and Occupants;" Newspapers: TimesDaily (and predecessors), Franklin County Times, The Marion County Times; Remote and in person interviews and site visits by Joseph Scott and RT Scott.)
He and Beady Jane Joiner were part of the 1804-1808 Davis/Lindsey migration west from North Carolina to Tennessee and Alabama. Their first two children were born in Tennessee: Isom Johnathan Davis about 1812, and Mary "Polly" Davis in 1814.
Magness and Beady's next child, Alford Davis, was born in Alabama's Lauderdale County in 1820. Three, maybe four more (Beady "Eady", Morning, Margurette Ann, and James) were added during the family's stay there. Federal Census records of 1830, studied in conjunction with neighbors' land patents, locate Magness in the McPeters Branch area between present-day Killen and Lexington. These communities were essentially in the middle of the vast Doublehead Reserve acquired by the U.S, in 1817 and quickly opened to settlers and speculators. Magness and Beady Jane were part of the rush to these attractive former Native American lands on the north side of the Tennessee. The river's low-water fording points over the locale's rock shoals were an additional draw.
Magness was not a slave holder. His father and siblings were and left Tennessee for Bibb County in central Alabama without him as early as 1816. Family lore alludes to the split. Census records document it.
After twenty or so years in Lauderdale County, Magness and Beady Jane loaded their wagons, crossed the river and headed south and west for Marion and Franklin Counties. Both featured new land opportunities from the 1832 Chickasaw Cession. The birth of Magness and Beady Jane's eighth child, Lucinda Davis, documents the family in Franklin County by 1836. In 1842 Magness patented the full 162.98 acres of the NW1/4 of section 3 in 9s-14w in Marion County. No longer a renter, his farming neighbors included Peter Scott and Caswell Lindsey.
U. S. Census data of 1850, 1860, and 1870 place Magness and Beady in Franklin County near their children and grandchildren three miles northeast of Single Springs. Between 1850 and 1878, this western ridge of Skirum Creek in south central Franklin County was a significant Davis enclave. Civil War "unionists" Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis and husband Stephen A. Scott were there. So, too, at various times, at least three of Peggy's siblings.
When Magness died in 1875, there were no close and convenient Davis or community cemeteries. The Alford Davis Cemetery in Marion County's Reids District did not yet exist. Neither did Holly Springs. Nor had communal transition begun at what would become Little Flock/Williams Sanctuary. At the time of Magness' passing, this new burial spot on Baldy and "Betsy" Williams' home place contained only the private graves of two Williams daughters, an infant and a teenager. And Single Springs, more to the west, despite having the graves of two Davis grandchildren, felt relatively distant.
The family of Magness Davis decided to bury his body at a relatively elevated spot on the east side of the ridge road midway between what are now the cemeteries of Holly Springs and Little Flock (aka Williams Sanctuary). In his "Kinsfolk and Relatives…," respected genealogist Cecil Lamar Sumners reports this grave on the "old Childers place." T. K. Childers for a short time had actually shared ownership of this property with his friend and partner E. M. Davis, a grandson of Magness and Beady Jane.
The grave markers at this (Mag) "Davis" site are not the originals. Ruby Cantrell Taylor notes that Marvin Davis, a great grandson of Magness and Beady Jane, arranged for replacements "before he died" in 1975. There are four headstones: one for Magness dated 1795-1875, one for Beady Jane dated 1979-1878, one for their son James dated 1831-1876, and one for his son Harium dated 1865-1877. Additional unmarked graves are certainly possible.
Magness Manuel Davis and Beady Jane Joiner are the heroic and visionary pioneer patriarch and matriarch of their lines in this part of Alabama. It is thought but not proven that Magness' ancestors trace to Davis and Ransom lines of early coastal Virginia. Beady Jane's are proudly believed to be Native American, even though there are hints of European Joyner/Kee links to Virginia and North Carolina.
Their 8 children (5 with known Find A Grave memorial #s) in birth order are:
Isom (Isham) Jonathan Davis b c1812, d c1880, memorial 253569460 , m Jane "Jennie" Littrell, memorial 253580519
Mary "Polly" Davis b 1814, d 1915, m Caswell R "Case" Lindsey, memorial #46860554
Alford Davis b 1820, d 1892, m Sarah Ann Belzora McCarley, memorial #86762559
Beady Davis b c1822, m. Franklin Creel
Morning Davis b c1824, d aft1900, m John A McKinney
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis b 1828, d 1908, m Stephen A Scott, memorial #53010949
James W Davis b c1831, d aft1880, m Emily Lindsey, memorial #158943020
Lucinda "Cinda" Davis b 1839, d 1924, m Benjamin F Digby, memorial #28473191
(Complied by RT Scott from: relevant Federal Census records for 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870, also 1850 Agricultural Census for Franklin Co AL; General Land Office Patents, Franklin Co AL Land Records and Township and Range Maps for Lauderdale Co AL; Documents at Miss Dept of Archives and History; Franklin Co AL Archives and Tishomingo Co Miss Historical & Genealogical Society; Published Cemetery works of Dorothy and William Stalcup; "Davis Cemetery Survey" by Hilton & Chris Ozbirn; "Journey in Time: History of the Shoals" by Harry Wallace; Family Records Collections of Marvin Davis, Hoyt Davis, Daniel Davis, Darwin Davis, Jean Davis Martin, Kate Kennedy, Peggy Clark, Troy McCarley, Victoria Davis Scott, Sharon Ozbirn Embry, Elsie Jones, Cindy Tarwater, Wanda Williams Tarwater and Gladys Scott Holland; Findings of notable researchers Cecil and Gladys Sumners, John P. Sprayberry, Ruby Cantrell Taylor, Bill C. Pickford, Jessie Emerson, Robin L. McCarley, Joseph Scott and Jimmie Nell Nichols Meadors; Unpublished Data, Analysis and Histories in "Mag Davis Cemetery: Northwest Alabama Davis Patriarchs" and "Alford Davis Cemetery on the Old Home Place" and "Single Springs: One Cemetery, Two Churches" and "Williams Sanctuary: Origins and Occupants;" Newspapers: TimesDaily (and predecessors), Franklin County Times, The Marion County Times; Remote and in person interviews and site visits by Joseph Scott and RT Scott.)
Magness "Mag" Manuel Davis, child of Willis and Nancy Davis, was born in North Carolina, possibly Franklin County, between 1787 and 1795.
He and Beady Jane Joiner were part of the 1804-1808 Davis/Lindsey migration west from North Carolina to Tennessee and Alabama. Their first two children were born in Tennessee: Isom Johnathan Davis about 1812, and Mary "Polly" Davis in 1814.
Magness and Beady's next child, Alford Davis, was born in Alabama's Lauderdale County in 1820. Three, maybe four more (Beady "Eady", Morning, Margurette Ann, and James) were added during the family's stay there. Federal Census records of 1830, studied in conjunction with neighbors' land patents, locate Magness in the McPeters Branch area between present-day Killen and Lexington. These communities were essentially in the middle of the vast Doublehead Reserve acquired by the U.S, in 1817 and quickly opened to settlers and speculators. Magness and Beady Jane were part of the rush to these attractive former Native American lands on the north side of the Tennessee. The river's low-water fording points over the locale's rock shoals were an additional draw.
Magness was not a slave holder. His father and siblings were and left Tennessee for Bibb County in central Alabama without him as early as 1816. Family lore alludes to the split. Census records document it.
After twenty or so years in Lauderdale County, Magness and Beady Jane loaded their wagons, crossed the river and headed south and west for Marion and Franklin Counties. Both featured new land opportunities from the 1832 Chickasaw Cession. The birth of Magness and Beady Jane's eighth child, Lucinda Davis, documents the family in Franklin County by 1836. In 1842 Magness patented the full 162.98 acres of the NW1/4 of section 3 in 9s-14w in Marion County. No longer a renter, his farming neighbors included Peter Scott and Caswell Lindsey.
U. S. Census data of 1850, 1860, and 1870 place Magness and Beady in Franklin County near their children and grandchildren three miles northeast of Single Springs. Between 1850 and 1878, this western ridge of Skirum Creek in south central Franklin County was a significant Davis enclave. Civil War "unionists" Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis and husband Stephen A. Scott were there. So, too, at various times, at least three of Peggy's siblings.
When Magness died in 1875, there were no close and convenient Davis or community cemeteries. The Alford Davis Cemetery in Marion County's Reids District did not yet exist. Neither did Holly Springs. Nor had communal transition begun at what would become Little Flock/Williams Sanctuary. At the time of Magness' passing, this new burial spot on Baldy and "Betsy" Williams' home place contained only the private graves of two Williams daughters, an infant and a teenager. And Single Springs, more to the west, despite having the graves of two Davis grandchildren, felt relatively distant.
The family of Magness Davis decided to bury his body at a relatively elevated spot on the east side of the ridge road midway between what are now the cemeteries of Holly Springs and Little Flock (aka Williams Sanctuary). In his "Kinsfolk and Relatives…," respected genealogist Cecil Lamar Sumners reports this grave on the "old Childers place." T. K. Childers for a short time had actually shared ownership of this property with his friend and partner E. M. Davis, a grandson of Magness and Beady Jane.
The grave markers at this (Mag) "Davis" site are not the originals. Ruby Cantrell Taylor notes that Marvin Davis, a great grandson of Magness and Beady Jane, arranged for replacements "before he died" in 1975. There are four headstones: one for Magness dated 1795-1875, one for Beady Jane dated 1979-1878, one for their son James dated 1831-1876, and one for his son Harium dated 1865-1877. Additional unmarked graves are certainly possible.
Magness Manuel Davis and Beady Jane Joiner are the heroic and visionary pioneer patriarch and matriarch of their lines in this part of Alabama. It is thought but not proven that Magness' ancestors trace to Davis and Ransom lines of early coastal Virginia. Beady Jane's are proudly believed to be Native American, even though there are hints of European Joyner/Kee links to Virginia and North Carolina.
Their 8 children (5 with known Find A Grave memorial #s) in birth order are:
Isom (Isham) Jonathan Davis b c1812, d c1880, memorial 253569460 , m Jane "Jennie" Littrell, memorial 253580519
Mary "Polly" Davis b 1814, d 1915, m Caswell R "Case" Lindsey, memorial #46860554
Alford Davis b 1820, d 1892, m Sarah Ann Belzora McCarley, memorial #86762559
Beady Davis b c1822, m. Franklin Creel
Morning Davis b c1824, d aft1900, m John A McKinney
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis b 1828, d 1908, m Stephen A Scott, memorial #53010949
James W Davis b c1831, d aft1880, m Emily Lindsey, memorial #158943020
Lucinda "Cinda" Davis b 1839, d 1924, m Benjamin F Digby, memorial #28473191
(Complied by RT Scott from: relevant Federal Census records for 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870, also 1850 Agricultural Census for Franklin Co AL; General Land Office Patents, Franklin Co AL Land Records and Township and Range Maps for Lauderdale Co AL; Documents at Miss Dept of Archives and History; Franklin Co AL Archives and Tishomingo Co Miss Historical & Genealogical Society; Published Cemetery works of Dorothy and William Stalcup; "Davis Cemetery Survey" by Hilton & Chris Ozbirn; "Journey in Time: History of the Shoals" by Harry Wallace; Family Records Collections of Marvin Davis, Hoyt Davis, Daniel Davis, Darwin Davis, Jean Davis Martin, Kate Kennedy, Peggy Clark, Troy McCarley, Victoria Davis Scott, Sharon Ozbirn Embry, Elsie Jones, Cindy Tarwater, Wanda Williams Tarwater and Gladys Scott Holland; Findings of notable researchers Cecil and Gladys Sumners, John P. Sprayberry, Ruby Cantrell Taylor, Bill C. Pickford, Jessie Emerson, Robin L. McCarley, Joseph Scott and Jimmie Nell Nichols Meadors; Unpublished Data, Analysis and Histories in "Mag Davis Cemetery: Northwest Alabama Davis Patriarchs" and "Alford Davis Cemetery on the Old Home Place" and "Single Springs: One Cemetery, Two Churches" and "Williams Sanctuary: Origins and Occupants;" Newspapers: TimesDaily (and predecessors), Franklin County Times, The Marion County Times; Remote and in person interviews and site visits by Joseph Scott and RT Scott.)
He and Beady Jane Joiner were part of the 1804-1808 Davis/Lindsey migration west from North Carolina to Tennessee and Alabama. Their first two children were born in Tennessee: Isom Johnathan Davis about 1812, and Mary "Polly" Davis in 1814.
Magness and Beady's next child, Alford Davis, was born in Alabama's Lauderdale County in 1820. Three, maybe four more (Beady "Eady", Morning, Margurette Ann, and James) were added during the family's stay there. Federal Census records of 1830, studied in conjunction with neighbors' land patents, locate Magness in the McPeters Branch area between present-day Killen and Lexington. These communities were essentially in the middle of the vast Doublehead Reserve acquired by the U.S, in 1817 and quickly opened to settlers and speculators. Magness and Beady Jane were part of the rush to these attractive former Native American lands on the north side of the Tennessee. The river's low-water fording points over the locale's rock shoals were an additional draw.
Magness was not a slave holder. His father and siblings were and left Tennessee for Bibb County in central Alabama without him as early as 1816. Family lore alludes to the split. Census records document it.
After twenty or so years in Lauderdale County, Magness and Beady Jane loaded their wagons, crossed the river and headed south and west for Marion and Franklin Counties. Both featured new land opportunities from the 1832 Chickasaw Cession. The birth of Magness and Beady Jane's eighth child, Lucinda Davis, documents the family in Franklin County by 1836. In 1842 Magness patented the full 162.98 acres of the NW1/4 of section 3 in 9s-14w in Marion County. No longer a renter, his farming neighbors included Peter Scott and Caswell Lindsey.
U. S. Census data of 1850, 1860, and 1870 place Magness and Beady in Franklin County near their children and grandchildren three miles northeast of Single Springs. Between 1850 and 1878, this western ridge of Skirum Creek in south central Franklin County was a significant Davis enclave. Civil War "unionists" Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis and husband Stephen A. Scott were there. So, too, at various times, at least three of Peggy's siblings.
When Magness died in 1875, there were no close and convenient Davis or community cemeteries. The Alford Davis Cemetery in Marion County's Reids District did not yet exist. Neither did Holly Springs. Nor had communal transition begun at what would become Little Flock/Williams Sanctuary. At the time of Magness' passing, this new burial spot on Baldy and "Betsy" Williams' home place contained only the private graves of two Williams daughters, an infant and a teenager. And Single Springs, more to the west, despite having the graves of two Davis grandchildren, felt relatively distant.
The family of Magness Davis decided to bury his body at a relatively elevated spot on the east side of the ridge road midway between what are now the cemeteries of Holly Springs and Little Flock (aka Williams Sanctuary). In his "Kinsfolk and Relatives…," respected genealogist Cecil Lamar Sumners reports this grave on the "old Childers place." T. K. Childers for a short time had actually shared ownership of this property with his friend and partner E. M. Davis, a grandson of Magness and Beady Jane.
The grave markers at this (Mag) "Davis" site are not the originals. Ruby Cantrell Taylor notes that Marvin Davis, a great grandson of Magness and Beady Jane, arranged for replacements "before he died" in 1975. There are four headstones: one for Magness dated 1795-1875, one for Beady Jane dated 1979-1878, one for their son James dated 1831-1876, and one for his son Harium dated 1865-1877. Additional unmarked graves are certainly possible.
Magness Manuel Davis and Beady Jane Joiner are the heroic and visionary pioneer patriarch and matriarch of their lines in this part of Alabama. It is thought but not proven that Magness' ancestors trace to Davis and Ransom lines of early coastal Virginia. Beady Jane's are proudly believed to be Native American, even though there are hints of European Joyner/Kee links to Virginia and North Carolina.
Their 8 children (5 with known Find A Grave memorial #s) in birth order are:
Isom (Isham) Jonathan Davis b c1812, d c1880, memorial 253569460 , m Jane "Jennie" Littrell, memorial 253580519
Mary "Polly" Davis b 1814, d 1915, m Caswell R "Case" Lindsey, memorial #46860554
Alford Davis b 1820, d 1892, m Sarah Ann Belzora McCarley, memorial #86762559
Beady Davis b c1822, m. Franklin Creel
Morning Davis b c1824, d aft1900, m John A McKinney
Margaret Ann "Peggy" Davis b 1828, d 1908, m Stephen A Scott, memorial #53010949
James W Davis b c1831, d aft1880, m Emily Lindsey, memorial #158943020
Lucinda "Cinda" Davis b 1839, d 1924, m Benjamin F Digby, memorial #28473191
(Complied by RT Scott from: relevant Federal Census records for 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860 and 1870, also 1850 Agricultural Census for Franklin Co AL; General Land Office Patents, Franklin Co AL Land Records and Township and Range Maps for Lauderdale Co AL; Documents at Miss Dept of Archives and History; Franklin Co AL Archives and Tishomingo Co Miss Historical & Genealogical Society; Published Cemetery works of Dorothy and William Stalcup; "Davis Cemetery Survey" by Hilton & Chris Ozbirn; "Journey in Time: History of the Shoals" by Harry Wallace; Family Records Collections of Marvin Davis, Hoyt Davis, Daniel Davis, Darwin Davis, Jean Davis Martin, Kate Kennedy, Peggy Clark, Troy McCarley, Victoria Davis Scott, Sharon Ozbirn Embry, Elsie Jones, Cindy Tarwater, Wanda Williams Tarwater and Gladys Scott Holland; Findings of notable researchers Cecil and Gladys Sumners, John P. Sprayberry, Ruby Cantrell Taylor, Bill C. Pickford, Jessie Emerson, Robin L. McCarley, Joseph Scott and Jimmie Nell Nichols Meadors; Unpublished Data, Analysis and Histories in "Mag Davis Cemetery: Northwest Alabama Davis Patriarchs" and "Alford Davis Cemetery on the Old Home Place" and "Single Springs: One Cemetery, Two Churches" and "Williams Sanctuary: Origins and Occupants;" Newspapers: TimesDaily (and predecessors), Franklin County Times, The Marion County Times; Remote and in person interviews and site visits by Joseph Scott and RT Scott.)
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