 Howe Enterprise September 11, 1969 pg. 1 (condensed version) DAVIS FAMILY REFLECTS COLORFUL PAST William C. Davis was born in Giles County, Tennessee in 1814. He married Hettie Wallace in Florence, Alabama in 1836. Mr. Davis and his 16-year-old bride moved to Benton County, Missouri and in 1848 they emigrated to Texas with their family, settling on land west of Howe. They began housekeeping in a dugout and later built a cabin. Some of the life of William C. Davis was pieced together from Mrs. J.D. Finney's records and documents as well as Walter Enloe's stories. Henry Clay Davis, young son of William Davis, was scalped while visiting at a ranch his step-father, Anderson White, owned in Montague County in February 1859. This tragedy caused William to take up the pastime of "scalping Indians." One such experience occurred when he saw a hunting party of five east of town; deciding they were heading for the waterhole, he chose a route that got him to the place first. When they appeared, William killed and scalped all of them. Then he moved the dead bodies away from the water so that the cows could drink. The bodies were later buried by the DeSpain family, who lived nearby. Later Mr. Brown, a contractor who was using mules to widen the road (as it was to be the first road graveled in the area), uncovered bones for which there was no headstone. Mr. Enloe took one of the skulls to Austin College to be examined and it was confirmed that the skull was that of an Indian. Because John Stark would not allow him to keep the bones, he took the bones back to a ditch between the road and the railroad tracks where some Negroes workers had been buried. Fifty-five years later Mr. Enloe returned to the spot and retrieved a few of the bones. Another tale is that while Billy (William) Davis was living in his dugout, he heard Indians in his corral one night. Using the back tunnel of his underground home, he was able to get above ground and sneak upon the Indians, opening fire with his WInchester. The next morning Billy erected a tall pole at the front of his dugout and hung one of the Indian's head on it. From that time on, Indians avoided Billy Davis' place he began to hang the scalps he had collected on the bois d'arc trees that he used as fences on his land. Hetty, Billy Davis' wife, once saw some Confederate soldiers approaching their cabin; knowing that they had very little food and that the soldiers would eat all she had, she stepped outside. When the soldiers dismounted, she asked them if they had had the small pox. The soldiers hurriedly mounted up and left without saying a word. Another time during the war, Billy sent Hetty and their oldest son to the Rio Grande with their herds in order to keep the soldiers from confiscating them. Mr. Enloe tells that Billy was responsible for killing the last panther in the area. While out bear hunting with his dogs, Billy came upon the big cat but his dogs shied away. Billy went home and returned to the same spot on Loy Helvey's land the next day without his dogs in order to shoot the panther. He also is credited with shooting the last bear found in the area. The tale goes that Billy and Issac (Ike) Sparks found the bear near Davis Lake east of town. Billy struck out at the bear with his Bowie knife but instead he hit a tree with the knife, breaking the blade in two. Ike said that Billy came out of the woods, running & hollering, "Shoot him, Ike, shoot him!" which Ike did. Billy Davis was well known for breeding and selling his famous Davis mules all over Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, etc. He branded his mules on the jaw with a "U." Later his son, Harrison, would brand a stirrup on the left shoulder of each mule. Mr. Davis is also accredited with bringing the powerful Morgan horses to Texas and it is believed that they were used on the stage line that went through Farmington. Found among Billy's person effects were: a receipt for his dues to Travis Lodge #117 in Sherman, dated 1869 a receipt for $3 for a year's subscription to the Sherman Courier, dated 1869 a ledger sheet containing the items bought from Lonny & Edwards store in Sherman, dated 1878. Included in the list of items were: 14 yards of calico for $1 1 gallon of molasses, 75c 1 tin bucket, 40c 4 yards of crash, 40c 1 ounce Indigo, 15c 2 pounds of starch, 20c Calomel candles, 35c coffee & sugar, $1 1 box liniment, 25c 1 wool hat, 50c 2 boxes axle grease, 20c 1 box castor oil, 15c 1 box lye, 15c 6 yards of duck, $1.20 2 paris of boots, $5 Sometimes he paid on his account with money or sometimes with hay; one time he traded 95-1/2 lbs. of pork for $3.82 worth of credit. In 1872 Mr. Davis gave $10 for an interest share in a patent of a new invention, a beehive, and received permission to use this type of hive. Besides his Confederate discharge papers, some old letters and documents listed above, he had a receipt for his Masonic tombstone, which stands in Hall Cemetery, dated 1883. His wife Hetty had no tombstone to mark her grave in Hall Cemetery in 1969, the family started a fund to erect one. The descendants of William & Hetty Davis, living in or around Howe, were: William Harrison Davis > John Pinkney "J.P." Davis > Harrison Davis of Dorchester, Claudine Francis, Benton Davis of Dorchester. George Washington Davis > Charley Davis of the Davis Honey Co. in Howe, Willie & Lillie Davis (whose children lived in Sherman), Jewel Davis Jeffries > son Albert Jeffries of Howe Weldon & Cleta Davis > Ralph Wayne Davis (carried on the Davis Honey Co. in Howe) Elizabeth A. Davis wed F.H. Stroud > Benjamin M. Stroud & Martha B. Stroud wed Jackson Ferman Wilson > Warren A. "Doc" Wilson Robert Alexander Davis > Wesley Davis, Joe Davis > Eva Lois Smith & Naomi Jeffries, Ora Coleman > Louise Finney, Ethel Tolbert > Charlsie Tolbert wed James Davis, postmaster at Howe Howe History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |