The Davis Family Genealogy Page

Missing Ancestors

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As with any family, we have our share of ancestors who appear to have fallen right out of the sky. They seem have have left very little information for us to go on in trying to track them down.

We hope by posting this information that someone else will see something that sounds familiar and contact us.

William Catching and Elizabeth (Williamson?) - we'd love to find the descendants from this union. We have located some of them, but there are many unanswered questions on this bunch. William and Elizabeth were both born in Georgia. They moved to Chambers County, Alabama where most of their children were born. By 1858, they were in Lykins/Miami County, Kansas where the remainder of their children were born.

We have no idea when William died or where. Elizabeth was found in the 1880 Census of Columbia County, Arkansas living with her son, Ruben Catching. We have information on her date and place of death, but no clue to go on for William.

The last name for this family has also been seen as Catchings and Kitchens.

John D. Davis - we have info from *one* census record and the info on his tombstone. The dates do not correspond to either one. Oh joy! When you hear the phrase "hitting a brick wall" in genealogy, this is one of our biggest ones.

In 1880, John and his wife Mattie (Martha Ann Catching) were living in Columbia County, Arkansas with their children. According to the Census record, John was 34 years old which would put his DOB around 1846. We *have* found a John D. Davis in a previous Census record in Pike County with a birth date that does correspond to this year, but we have nothing concrete to tie the two together.

The inscription on John's headstone at Blackerby Cemetery, Little River County, Arkansas reads:

In Memory of John Davis

Born Aug. 27, 1840

Died Nov. 5, 1889

"Amiable and beloved husband, farewell. Thy years were few, but thy virtues many; They are recorded not on this perishing stone, but on the book of Life, and in the hearts of thy afflicted friends."

We have no idea if the census or the headstone is incorrect. John's wife, Mattie, was educated - she could read and write, so I'm inclined to think the headstone surely is right, but I've seen some that weren't.

My father-in-law said that he remembered Harve (his father) talking about the "Black Irish". He said that the story he was told goes that 3 brothers came from Ireland to America through New York. One brother went to Kansas, one brother went to Arkansas, and they didn't know where the other one wound up. Because of the Arkansas - Kansas connection to the Davis family, the story may be true. We have not been able to prove anything, but I am posting this in the hopes another person might be able to find something on it in the future.

William (Bill) M. Stevens - born 23 November 1857, son of T.P.D Stevens and Mary Ann Taylor. William and his wife Carolyn went to Texas from the Pike County, Arkansas area around 1905 or 1906 supposedly to work on the Railroad. They may have gone to the Waco or Dallas area. They had a son named Asroe or Isroe. We have not been able to locate any of the descendants from this line. We have been told that William had a large family.

A cousin has a book in the works on the Stevens line and would love to include this line in his work.