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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Elisha N. Davis, a leading farmer and highly-respected citizen of Magness Township, was born in Gates County, N. C., on the 4th of April, 1834, the son of Miles M. and Rebecca (Hayre) Davis. The former was born in 1803; he and a brother and sister being left orphans when quite young, he was apprenticed to a shoemaker to learn the trade, at which he worked until twenty-five years of age, then married and afterward moved on a farm. Going from North Carolina to the western part of Tennessee in 1834, in 1858 he came to this county, where he died in 1866. His father came from Wales at an early day. The mother of Elisha Davis was born in North Carolina about 1815 and died in Tennessee in 1844. Her grandparents were born in Ireland and emigrated to America at an early day, before the Revolutionary War in which her grandfather took part. She had a family of seven children, the subject of this sketch being the second son. As his parents were in limited circumstances, Elisha Davis was deprived of an education. In January, 1856, he married Margaret I. Gregory, who was born in Tennessee in 1837 and died in 1876, leaving eight children, four of whom are still living: Martha E. (wife of Robert Huddlestan), Charles N., Thomas J. and Lillie H. Mr. Davis was married a second time to Susan H. Sherman, at Memphis, Tenn., on December 20, 1877. Mrs. Davis was born March 16, 1845. By this marriage he has had one child: Miles Mexico. In 1860 Mr. Davis emigrated to Lonoke County, Ark., where he remained until 1865, then returning to Tennessee. In 1877 he again came to this county and purchased a quarter section of land, thirty acres of which were under cultivation. Since then he has opened up thirty more. In 1862, in May, Mr. Davis enlisted in the Confederate service, and ten days afterward was captured and carried to St. Louis, where he was taken sick and confined in the hospital all summer. He was exchanged in the fall and returned to his regiment near Fort Smith, January 10, 1863, remaining in actual service until the following year when he made his way home. The battle of Helena, Ark., was the principal engagement in which he took part. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are members of the Missionary Baptist Church. Mr. Davis has always been a strong Democrat, but since the two old parties have consolidated on Wall Street, and the great issue for the consideration of the people is capital against labor, he has decided to vote with the laboring people. He is a man who has ever endeavored to obey the Divine injunction, to earn bread by the sweat of the brow. He has had many misfortunes in life, the good Lord having seen fit to put the rod to his back, but his encouragement is in the assurance that “Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth.”

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This family biography is one of 143 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Lonoke County, Arkansas published in 1889.  For the complete description, click here: Lonoke County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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