Biography of Willis Davenport, Franklin Co, AR

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Submitted by:
        Date: 16 Aug 1998
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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed
Publishing Co., 1889.

Willis Davenport, a farmer of Franklin County, was born in Greenville
County, S. C., June 25, 1849, and is a son of Willis and Frances
(Coker) Davenport. Willis Davenport, father of our subject, was born
in Ohio in 1812, and when young went with his parents to Greenville
County, S. C.; he was a farmer by occupation, and died in 1881. The
mother was a native of Greenville County, S. C., and was born in 1820.
In this family were nine children: Charles, Willis B., Isaac
(deceased), John, William, Joseph, James, Nancy (wife of S. J.
Garrett) and Polly (who married John Garrett). The mother is still
living in Greenville County, S. C., with one of her sons-in-law.
Willis B. Davenport was reared on a farm in his native county, and
received a limited common-school education. In 1861 he enlisted in the
Confederate army, and participated in two battles in Virginia, and the
Seven Days' fight at Richmond; he was disabled, and returned home in
1864, but subsequently enlisted in the Sixteenth South Carolina
Regiment, and was in active service until the close of the war, when
he returned home, where he remained until 1868; he then engaged in
farming in Alabama for seven years, when he returned to South Carolina
for a short time, and in 1874 located in Arkansas. In 1881 he removed
to his present farm, which consists of eighty acres. In 1867 he
married Martha N. Copeland, who was born in Blount County, Ala., in
1851. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport are the parents of six children, viz.:
Shirley Augustus, Charles M., Willie (deceased), Frances E., Kittie E.
(deceased) and James. Mrs. Davenport is a member of the Baptist
Church. Politically he is a Democrat.