Biography of Sylvia Belle Davidson Hager

Sylvia Belle Davidson was born March 15,1907 in Clay County Kentucky in Wildcat ,Kentucky.
She was born late in her parents life as they already had children married and grandchildren when she was born her siblings are as follows.
Wilson Davidson,Dulcenia Davidson Nolan ,Sarah Liza Davidson,Nancy Davidson Turner ,Bev Lucas Davidson,Ova Davidson, Farris Davidson,America (Meck) Davidson Doyle and Buddy Davidson.
They were farmers hunters and trappers in the Wilds of Daniel Boone country as the farm was a family farm they all worked and raised their crops and worshiped God on Sunday they were a very religious family and their ancestors had settled the land nearly two hundred years before them so their Homes and family were a great source of pride for them.
Her parents were already middle aged when she was born her father was 48 years of age and her mother 46 years old.
Her father was Blevins Davidson and her mother Ellen Romaine Potter Davidson
Paternal grandparents were Silas Davidson and Sarah (Sallie) Hays Davidson
Maternal Grandparents were Richard Potter and Nancy Stewart Potter
When she was 13 years of age she had inherited the wondering of what was over the horizons and what life had in store for her these are in her words to me her granddaughter and namesake Sylvia Acord Bragg.
At the age of 13 years she just could not keep from day dreaming of what was over the next mountain it was if something was calling to her another way of life.
Although she would never lived in Wildcat Kentucky she visited ever summer as she loved her parents very deeply and her brothers and sisters would remain close to her all their lives.
One day she had a disagreement with her mother it was over her shoes she had not taken them off before she walked through the creek on the way to church with her mother.
So that was the day she started walking and did not look back as she walked she was not afraid because she had spent lots of time in the mountains and fields as it was always her job to take the lunches and water to her father and brothers no matter how far from home they were working and she spent lots of time with her dad as they had a coal bank on the farm and they would talk for hours as he would rest and tell family stories of how his ancestors had traveled to the New Wilds called Kentucky and the hardships they encountered as they traveled from the Black Mountains of Virginia.
She did not remember how long it had taken her as when she got hungry she would stop at a farm and ask to work for her food and when she was tired and sleepy she would stop in a field or someone’s barn and sleep.
When she stopped she was in Elk Creek at Emmett Logan County West Virginia
She got a job working in the boarding house there and the woman that owned it was good to her she and she was working there when she met Watson Riley Hager this dashing man that she would fall in love with.
He was working in the coalmines there and had already been in World War 1.
They married August 5,1922 in Lincoln County West Virginia as that was where his parents were and he was born and raised there.
They had 4 children Mary (Betty) Baxter ,David Watson Hager, Myrtle Hager Acord and Blevins HagerSr.
Things went well for a few years and the times were hard as they moved from one coal camp to another as the struggle for the United Mine Workers and the fights between Union organizers and the company thugs made so much unrest and hard times for the miners and their families.
The men would only get a few days a week and the rent for the company houses came before food for the children and with them working so many hours and so little pay she took hearing their children crying for food as long as she could one day she ask her mother-in-law that was now a widow and living with them also if she would take care of the children while she went in search of work.
She found a job cleaning in a tavern and ever Saturday she would take her payday and buy groceries and clothing for her family this worked fine for almost a year.
Then she came home one Saturday with the groceries and grandpa had a girlfriend and again she grabbed her oldest daughter Mary (Betty) by the hand and she didn’t look back for several years they went to Welch McDowell County West Virginia from there to Pineville Wyoming County West Virginia where she rented a building across from the Court House and started her café she even managed to hire some people to work for her she said when Court was in business was even better.
Then there was a fire and several businesses in Town burned and hers was among them and all she had worked and saved was once again gone.
She found out about a building in Oceana, Wyoming County ,West Virginia that was for rent and there was a lawyers office downstairs also this was in 1942 ,so she started out once again she managed to buy her building in 1944 ,and she met Kelly Raymond Hurst s/o Dr. Posey Hurst and Dora Hendricks Hurst ,they would fall in love and be married he had as were his mother and his 2 sisters were school teachers ,that was not what he wanted to do in life as his love was automobiles and he had his own business as a mechanic and his garage was just up the street from hers and all went well for several all the time she would invest her money in buying rental property but it was not to last as World War 11 was still going full force Then my grandfather Watson Riley Hager got in touch with her to let her know he was going into the service once more and his sister Becky Hager Brumfield had their son Blevins Hager and the other 2 children had been taken from him.
So my grandmother started the task of gathering her children up as now she had a good home and could provide for them.
Her happiness once again was not for long grandpa Kelly had became an alcoholic she filed for divorce.
Then as the years went by grandpa Kelly went to Florida with Aunt Betty to work as she had married James Baxter and now lived in St.Petersburg,Florida.
Then in 1963 The Logan General Hospital called and grandpa Watson was very sick and was asking for her she brought him home to Oceana when he was released from the hospital and that’s where he remained each thought the other had divorced them and so they were still married they remained together until his death April 17,1979.
Also grandpa Kelly had made his home with them as Grandmother had bought the Hurst Home place now lived there they remained best friends he remained with her until her death August 26,1982.

Submitted by; granddaughter Sylvia Acord Bragg

sbragg@mail.woolco.com