Chatham-Brooks-Jones County GaArchives Biographies.....Davis, Charles Anderson 1865 - living 1913 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 15, 2004, 8:41 am Author: William Harden p.671-672 CHARLES ANDERSON DAVIS. A man who has ever been useful in his community, and an able assistant in promoting its agricultural prosperity, Charles Anderson Davis, of Hickory Head district, Brooks county, has nearly all of his life been a tiller of the soil, and in the independent occupation still finds his greatest pleasure. He was born on the farm which he now owns and occupies December 18, 1865, a son of Charles A. Davis. Charles A. Davis, the father, was born, January 21, 1824, in Jones county, Georgia, but was brought up in Harris county, where his parents moved when he was a child, and where they spent their remaining years. He had a natural talent for music, with a clear, strong voice, and while a young man taught music, having classes in Lowndes county, and in various other counties in southwest Georgia. When ready to settle permanently in life, he bought a tract of land in Hickory Head district, in, what is now Brooks county, and built a commodious and substantial log house, which has since been weather-boarded on the outside, and sealed inside. With the help of slaves he cleared a large part of the land, and carried on farming, being assisted by his slaves until they were freed. During the war between the states he served in the Georgia Reserves, going with his command to the defense of Atlanta. On the farm which he cleared from the forest, he resided until his death, October 8, 1884. He was a total abstainer from both liquor and tobacco. The maiden name of the wife of Charles A. Davis was Henrietta McMullen. She was born in that part of Lowndes county now included in Brooks county, December 3, 1831, and died December 25, 1895. Her father, Hon. James McMullen, a native of Georgia, was taken by his parents to southwest Georgia when young, they having been among the earlier settlers of Thomas county. Some time after his marriage he removed from there to that part of Lowndes county now known as Brooks county, buying a tract of land in Hickory Head district. With the help of slaves he redeemed a farm from the wilderness, and there both he and his wife spent their last days. He was an active member of the Whig party, and represented his district one or more terms in the state legislature, and as that was before the days of railroads in this part of the country he journeyed to Milledgeville, then the capital of Georgia, on the hack of a mule. To Charles A. and Henrietta Davis eight children were born, as follows: James R.; Fannie; Jefferson; Charles A., the subject of this brief biographical record; Henrietta; William J., who died at the age of twenty-seven years; and Maggie May. Receiving his early educational advantages in the common schools, Charles Anderson Davis developed into manhood on the home farm, being trained to the habits of industry and thrift which laid the foundations of his subsequent success. At the age of twenty-one years he started in life for himself as an agriculturist, for four years having charge of his brother's farm, later superintending the management of Dr. McCall's and Judge Morton's estates. In 1898 Mr. Davis purchased the parental homestead, which he has since managed with most satisfactory results, as a general farmer and stock-raiser, being eminently successful. He has a very pleasant home, and in the yard in front of the house is a pecan tree that invariably attracts the attention of the passerby. The nut from which it sprang was planted by Mr. Davis' sister about fifty years ago, and the trunk is now fully twelve feet in circumference, the limbs being very long, and the shape symmetrical, the tree being, it is said, the largest tree of the kind in Georgia. On October 18, 1899, Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Miss Clifford Anderson Arrington, a native of Brooks county, Georgia. Her father, Thomas Arrington, was born in Twiggs county, Georgia. Leaving home at the age of eighteen years, he became a pioneer settler of what is now Brooks county. Buying a tract of heavily timbered land, he felled the giant trees, uprooted the sod, and on the homestead which he hewed from the forest spent his remaining years, passing away in 1881, aged fifty-six years. Mr. Arrington was three times married, his first and second wives having been near relatives. He had four children by his first union, namely: William, Mattie, Louise, and Henry; but of his second marriage there were none. Mr. Arrington married for his third wife Fannie Denmark, who was born in Brooks county, Georgia, a daughter of Thomas and Amanda (Groover) Denmark. At his death he left her with six children to bring up and educate, namely: Annie D.; Briggs A.; Hattie; Clifford Anderson, now Mrs. Davis; Julia S.; and Thomas N. Mr. Arrington had assisted his older children, those by his first wife, to homes of their own 'ere his death, and therefore he left to his third wife and her children his entire plantation. Mrs. Arrington was a woman of much energy and ability, and she superintended the farm herself, making the rounds of the place on horseback, and proved herself such a good manager that she was enabled to give each of her children either a college or an academical education, fitting each for the vocation which he or she might choose. She died in June, 1900, having accomplished her life purpose. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have one child, Charges Anderson Davis, Jr., born June 11, 1909. Additional Comments: A HISTORY OF SAVANNAH AND SOUTH GEORGIA BY WILLIAM HARDEN VOLUME I ILLUSTRATED THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 1913 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/chatham/bios/gbs211davis.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb