Davis Family

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I want to do it justice. The Davis family. Washington County.

A family of educators, and that word barely covers it. Renowned, the marker calls them, and once you hear the full roll call, you'll understand why. It all traces back to the Reverend Abner Davis, who founded Shurtleff College up in Alton, Illinois, in 1827.

A man who built institutions. That gift ran in the blood. His daughter Martha married a man named Horace Clark, and in 1851 the two of them joined the staff of Baylor Female College.

That was the first thread. And once one Davis came to Texas, well, the rest of the family followed, drawn here by Baylor. One by one, they came.

Marcia Davis, Abner's wife, born 1794, died 1882. Their son George B. Davis, born 1828, died 1906, and his wife Fannie Breedlove, born 1833, died 1915.

Their daughter Harriett L. Davis, born 1832, died 1917, and her husband B.S. Fitzgerald, born 1827, died 1904.

And then there was Mary Russell Davis. They called her Little Mary. She died in 1865.

When the Reverend Abner Davis passed away in 1852, Little Mary, for a time, went and taught among the Indians. Briefly, the marker says, just briefly. Then she came back and did what the rest of the family did.

She devoted her talents to Baylor. That's the thing about the Davis family. Generation after generation, through loss, through distance, through a country that was still figurin' itself out, they kept teaching.

They kept building. One institution in Illinois, and then a whole Texas chapter that kept going long after the founder was gone. The marker says renowned educators.

It means every word of it.

What the marker says

Renowned educators; family of The Rev. Abner Davis, founder (1827) of Shurtleff College, Alton, Ill. A daughter, Martha (d. 1896), joined the Baylor Female College staff with her husband, Horace Clark, in 1851. Baylor in a few years drew rest of family here: Marcia (Mrs. Abner) Davis (1794-1882); George B. Davis (1828-1906) and wife, Fannie Breedlove (1833-1915); Harriett L. Davis (1832-1917) and husband, B.S. Fitzgerald (1827-1904); and Mary Russell Davis, "Little Mary" (d. 1865), who taught Indians briefly after the father died (1852), then like the others devoted her talents to Baylor.