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Elijah Lee Davis was born 26 August 1855 in Alabama. From an old family mystery photo, we have learned he had a sister and that one of her children was born in Texas, so the Davis family apparently came to Texas, before moving into Indian Territory. We don't know anything about his childhood or when he came to Indian Territory. Presumably, he came with his family. We do know his eldest daughter, Laura Elizabeth, was born on 6 January 1880, so he was in Indian Territory by at least the late 1870s.
There is a town in south central Oklahoma called Davis near the area where the Gibson family lived and where Elijah met and married Mary Gibson. Perhaps research someday will demonstrate a link!
Elijah married Mary Lavinia Gibson when she was very young, probably well before she turned 15 years of age. Mary died 16 March 1893, according to family records, of cancer at the age of 26. The care of their children passed on to other family members. Among them was Elijah's mother-in-law, Clara Gibson, who is caring for his daughter Mattie in Eason township, Pottawatomie county, Oklahoma Territory on the 1900 U. S. Census. His daughter Laura was already married to Arthur Paul Fulton and they are living in Davis, Chickasaw Nation, Indian Territory. With them, they have younger sister, Saphronia Rachel Davis. To date, we have not succeeded in finding our own ancestor, daughter Lucy E. Davis, and his only son, William Ambrose Davis.
As for himself, on the U. S. Census of 1900, we find Elijah living with two other men, working as a day laborer, in the Creek Nation, Indian Territory, so he appears to have lived a very modest life.
Later in life, Elijah must've stayed near his children and their families, as he died 10 November 1927 in Hominy, Osage County, Oklahoma and is buried there in the Albert J. Powell Memorial Cemetery.
Author: Roger L. Roberson, Jr. • Last updated: 06 December 2009