Lewis Townsend DAVIS

1833 - 1922  (89 years)

• Name	Lewis Townsend DAVIS
  Born	10 Jan 1833  [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1852
  	teacher
  	A handwritten list of the Lewis T. Davis' students in the year 1852 was signed by him in 1914 and placed in a frame. Many years later, it was donated to the Doddridge County Historical Society by Marsha Leggett, a distant cousin.
  Census	1850, 1860	Doddridge Co, (W)VA
  Occupation	1860  [3]
  	sheriff
  Occupation	1870, 1880  [4]
  	farmer
  Census	1870, 1880, 1900	West Union District, Doddridge Co, WV
  Census	1910, 1920	West Union, Doddridge Co, WV
  Died	8 Dec 1922  [1, 2]
  Buried	Blockhouse Hill Cemetery (Catholic section), West Union, Doddridge Co, WV   [5]
  Notes	Local news item, "West Union Record," Thursday, October 14 1915, in its entirety: "L. T. Davis has greatly improved his property on the corner of Main Street and Church Street, where the Finley brothers have their ice cream parlor." A clipping from the West Union Record newspaper, dated Dec 14 1922, in its entirety: Lewis Townsend Davis We take the following account of the death of Mr. L. T. Davis of this city, written by David E. Cox, the correspondent of the Telegram: West Union, Dec. 9 -- They will lay L. T. Davis, aged 90, West Union's oldest citizen to rest Monday afternoon in the little snow-covered, pine-sheltered cemetery in the casket he helped to make with his own hands. And the services, brief and simple, will be carried out as the aged man arranged them several years before his death. There will be no flowers at this funeral and this will be fulfilling the desires of the aged man. He loved flowers, in fact, he was a flower fancier, but as he said, in paraphrasing the silver tongued Ingersoll, he believed in helping a wildernness of blossoms about the heads of the living. But the main reason there will be no flowers is because it is not flower season. A mantle of snow now cloaks the ground, flowers have wilted away, and the only thing that remains green is the whispering pine trees that shelter his home. Here is what Mr. Davis's notice says regarding flowers: "I do not want any flowers at my funeral unless it should be flower time, and then but a few of my own." Arranged Own Funeral Mr. Davis made complete arrangements for his funeral with A J. Osborn, a local undertaker, and they will be carried out in every detail. His request was that his grave be lined with white muslin and pine twigs from a pine tree in his yard. The aged man had also selected and purchased all his clothing, and the casket in which his body now rests had been in the care of Mr. Osborn, the undertaker, for the last ten years. The history of the casket is unusual and unique. It was made from the limbs of a walnut tree in Davis Park, named in the aged man's honor. This park once was the site of the old blockhouse of Civil War days. It was in sight of this park that Mr. Davis first saw the light in 1833. The Walnut tree was of great size and beauty. Mr. Davis had it cut down and sent to Parkersburg where he personally superintended its use in making his own casket. Upon the arrival of the casket in West Union, the aged man helped screw the handles on the coffin. Buried deep in the heart of the tree from which the casket was made were several bullets that had been shot from the blockhouse. Mr. Davis, in addition to making the unusual request that flowers be omitted at his funeral if it were not flower time, also had another unusual notice distributed among his friends, which read: "The bud of acquaintance only blossoms to be chilled by the frost of separation. Why do we mourn departed friends and shake at death's alarm? Dear friends, come visit my tomb; prepare for grim death, for it's sure to be your doom." Captain of Militia Company In the early days, Mr. Davis was captain of the West Union state militia of Doddridge County. He was commissioned by Governor Letcher, of Virginia, as Doddridge County then was a part of the Old Dominion state. Nor more picturesque character ever lived in West Virginia that Mr. Davis. For years he was a roamer, a soldier of fortune, who traveled extensively. He had been from Canada to Cuba; from Brooklyn, New York, bridge to the golden gate of California; and from New Orleans to San Antonio, Tex. He also had visited many other points of interest, including Pike Peak, Colorado Springs, and loved to tell of the fact that he had caught fish out of both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Mr. Davis was a great hunter, and he delighted to tell of his experiences with bears and panthers in the wilderness. Paid 25c an Acre for Land Captain Nathan Davis, of the British army, and who fought in the War of 1812, was the grandfather of L. T. Davis. He settled in Doddridge County many years ago and built a log cabin on the site where the Masonic temple now stands. He owned virtually all the land in Doddridge County, having purchased it for the mere sum of twenty-five cents an acre. It was he who donated the ground for the public square in West Union where the court house is now located. The son of Captain Davis, John S. Davis, was the father of L. T. Davis, who was then a resident of Lewisport, or West Union proper, and what is now known as Block House Hill addition. ================ Regarding Doddridge County High School's football field: "In 1919, the first year West Union supported a football team, the West Union Record indicated that the field was on an "old ball ground just across the east railroad bridge," which sounds like the site of the current Cline Stansberry Stadium to me. In the 1920s and 1930s, the local papers referred to DCHS's football field as Davis Field or Davis Park. Have you had ever heard of Davis Park before? From the sound of it, DCHS has always played at the same place, but I wanted to make sure." http://www.westunion-wv.com/history/football.htm
  Person ID	I51750	Doddridge County Roots
  Last Modified	23 Jun 2021

  
  

  Father	John S. DAVIS,   b. 10 Feb 1804, Virginia (now West Virginia) ,   d. 5 Jul 1855  (Age 51 years)
  Mother	Esther F. RANDOLPH,   b. 31 Oct 1810,   d. 7 Feb 1894  (Age 83 years)
  Family ID	F20307	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Atha BURNWORTH,   b. Feb 1833, Pennsylvania ,   d. 4 Mar 1910  (Age ~ 77 years)
  Married	CA 1861  [6]
  Notes	1870 Census, Doddridge co, WV (West Union Twp), enumerated on Jun 6 1870 in the Borough of West Union: Lewis T. Davis, 37, b. Va, farmer, value of real estate $4500, value of personal estate $1000; Atha, 37, b. Pa; Mary J, 5; John H, 2; Laverna Jeffrey, white female, 15, domestic servant. 1880 Census, Doddridge Co, WV (West Union District), enumerated on Jun 3 1880: L. T. Davis, 47, b. Va, farmer; wife Atha, 47, b. Pa; dau Mary, 15; son John H, 12. 1900 Census, Doddridge Co, WV (West Union District), enumerated on Jun 18 1900: Townsend L. Davis, 67, b. Jan 1833 in WVa, farmer, married 39 yrs; wife Atha, 67, b. Feb 1833 in Pa, married 39 yrs, mother of 2 children (1 still living); 1910 Census, Doddridge Co, WV (West Union District), enumerated on Apr 211910 in the town of West Union: Townsend Davis, 77, widowed, farmer; son John, 42, divorced, plumber; grandson James D. Foley, 23, single, clerk in store; cousin Verna Lynch, 54, divorced, mother of 2 children (both still living). 1920 Census, Doddridge Co, WV (West Union District), enumerated in Jan 1920 on Main Street in the town of West Union: Lewis T. Davis, 86, widowed; son John H, 51, plumber, divorced; grandson James D, 33, merchant partner in general store, single. (Note: Surname of grandson should have been entered as Foley.) [7]
  Children	+ 1. Mary Jane DAVIS,   b. 14 Apr 1865,   d. Mar 1886, Doddridge Co, WV  (Age 20 years) + 2. John Henry DAVIS,   b. 15 Apr 1868,   d. 21 Jun 1949, West Union, Doddridge Co, WV  (Age 81 years)
  Family ID	F21351	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  96398_HowardFountainDedication_WestUnionWV_3July1915.jpg

  
  

  Documents		96398_HowardFountain_Dedication_WUHerald_8Jul1915.jpg
  		96398_HowardFountain_Dedication_DCRepublican_8Jul1915.jpg

  
  

• Sources

  [S83] Davis - The Settlers of Salem, West Virginia, Susie Davis Nicholson, (Gordon Printing Co, Strasburg OH, 1979 (Revised & Enlarged) < www.wvgenweb.org/harrison/books.htm >), p. 107. [S638] Headstone (year only). [S1890] 1860 Census, Doddridge County, (W)VA. [S2148] 1880 Census, Doddridge County, WV (West Union District). [S1793] West Union WV Cemeteries (Doddridge County), (Wes Cochran, 2515 10th Ave, Parkersburg, WV 26101 (July 1990)). [S1998] 1900 Census, Doddridge County, WV (West Union District). [S83] Davis - The Settlers of Salem, West Virginia, Susie Davis Nicholson, (Gordon Printing Co, Strasburg OH, 1979 (Revised & Enlarged) < www.wvgenweb.org/harrison/books.htm >).