Davis - Isaac
ISAAC DAVIS
Source: Crawfordsville Daily Journal, February 6, 1913
Besides Mr. Davis, Eight Men, Who Held Meeting In Court House Three and one-half Years Ago Have Since Joined the Silent Majority. On the afternoon of Tuesday, July 13, 1909, fourteen men, all past the age of eighty years, assembled in the court house here, held a reunion talking over the old days and then gathered for a group picture. They were all men who had taken an active part in the development of Crawfordsville and Montgomery county, and some of them were and are still active. In a short three and half years more than half of this number have passed away. The death of Isaac Davis, Tuesday, was the ninth visit of the grim reaper into the folds of the fourteen men who held this remarkable meeting in the court house in the summer of 1909. Five only of those present that day are still with us and enjoying good health. The five survivors and their ages are:
Elijah Clore, 84;
M.D. White, 84;
F.G. Imel, 88;
V.P. Hall, 86;
Dr. P.M. Layne, 84.
Those besides Mr. Davis who have passed away are, William H. Schooler, John S. Brown, C.W. Elzroth, Squire Smith, Samuel E. Watson, Warren H. Ashley, John Burgess and Samuel T. Long. Since the death of Mr. Schooler, who was 94 years old when the meeting was held, Mr. Davis has been the oldest living survivor of the remarkable reunion. He reached the age of 94 years old on the twenty seventh day of last October. Uncle Drake Brookshire, of near Ladoga, who since the death of Uncle John Halet, is the oldest resident of Montgomery county, will soon celebrate his 94th birthday. A newspaper article describing the reunion in 1909 has the following to say of Mr. Davis: "One of the largest land owners in Montgomery county is Isaac Davis, known to nearly every one in the city and county and daily seen upon the streets of Crawfordsville, despite his 88th year. Mr. Davis is a native of Butler county, Ohio, where he was born October 17, 1824. Five years later he was brought to this county with his parents penetrated the unknown Indiana forests and decided to make their home on Indian creek, nine miles southwest of the spot where Crawfordsville now stands. His parents were Randolph and Abagail Davis and his mother also lived to be 99 and a fraction." "It was not until I was nearly twelve years of age that I first saw the little village of Crawfordsville, said Mr. Davis, and then I rode behind my father on horseback. We had an old sheepskin for a saddle. It was a nine mile ride to town in those days we didn't come very often." The ground upon which the old Indian Creek baptist church now stands in Brown township was donated to the church organization by Mr. Davis father, who stipulated in the gift, that the church should own the land as long as its pastors preached the doctrine of the pretest nation. When they ceased to preach this, Mr. Davis provided in the deed that the land should revert to his heirs. The land has not been forfeited. When a young married man, Mr. Davis resided in Shelly (? Shelby?) county for a brief period. He soon returned to this county, however, and made the purchase of a few acres of land. To these he has added from time to time until he now owns something like 1800 acres of fertile Montgomery county land. One thousand acres are contained in one farm located near Wesley. He has 500 acres in Ripley township, and another 210 acre farm east of Crawfordsville. Mr. Davis has bought and sold farms in the
*Buried Oak Hill with 2nd wife, Elizabeth McMaken Davis
Source: Crawfordsville Daily, February 5, 1913
The death of Isaac Davis at four-thirty Tuesday afternoon marked the passing of Crawfordsville's oldest citizen. Mr. Davis reached the age of ninety-one years on the seventeenth day of last October. After a prolonged illness resulting from the infirmities of old age he passed away Tuesday at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. L. Walter Breaks. Mr. Davis has been in failing health for tow or three years, but his decline has been more marked for the past six months. He was bed fast only a week. His failure to life to the age of one hundred years was one of his great desires in his declining days which he failed to realize. Mr. Davis was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Davis. He was born in Butler county, Ohio, in October, 1821, and came to Brown township, Montgomery county with his parents. When the deceased first came to this county he was twenty one years old and the only residences in Crawfordsville were three small cabins. He saw all of the towns in the county grow to their present size. His parents came from New Jersey, where his ancestry settled at an early day. His mother was past 99 years of age when she died and his father also reached a ripe old age. Mr. Davis remained upon the farm until he was twenty-five years of age, when he returned to Ohio, farming and dealing in real estate. He was married here to Jessie Makepiece, January 8, 1846. She died in October, 1870 From Ohio he again came to Indiana and for twelve years lived in Franklin and Shelby counties. Later he returned to Montgomery county, settling near Crawfordsville. In 1864 he embarked in the grain trade along with his brother, John L. Davis, General M.D. Manson and Col. John Lee. These men kept in operation two warehouses, one of which was the famous Darter's mill. He was also in the pork packing business with John and Aaron Blair for many years. In April 1861, he joined Company G, Tenth Regiment, Indiana Infantry, remaining with this regiment until he was mustered out. He was sergeant of the company and the oldest man in its ranks. His grandfather Joshua Davis, served in the Revolutionary war and his father fought for his country in the war of 1812. In 1862 Mr. Davis was elected sheriff of Montgomery county by the Democrats. Since the war he had been a strong Republican. On January 4, 1872, Mr. Davis was remarried, his second wife being Elizabeth McMaken, of Ripley township. Her death occurred in August 1908. To this marriage, three daughters were born, Mrs. Walter Breaks, of this city, Mrs. Samuel Snoddy, of Lafayette, and Mrs. Alexander Dow, deceased. One sister, Mrs John Burgess and Miss Eliza Davis and three brothers, Jacob, Thompson and John L. Davis, preceded the deceased to the grave. Mr. Davis has been a resident of Crawfordsville the last time he moved here for the past twenty-four years. Prior to that time for several years he had been one of the largest stock raisers and farmers of Ripley township. His farm in that township was located two and a half miles southwest of Yountsville. He was also the owner of large farm located in Wayne township near Wesley Station, on the Big Four railway. Mr. Davis was a large stockholder in the Montgomery county Fair Association until five years ago when his failing health caused him to dispose of his stock. He was elected an honorary member of the association after his retirement. Mr. Davis was a member of the Presbyterian church. He was a moral and temperate man in the strictest sense of the words and enjoyed the respect and highest esteem of all who knew him. Funeral services will be held from the home of Mr. and Mrs. Breaks at two o'clock Thursday afternoon. The services will probably be in charge of Rev. Switzer, of Lafayette. This pastor was a life long friend of the late deceased. Interment will be made in Oak Hill cemetery with the following acting pall bearers: George Davis, W.F. Hulet, R.M. McMaken, A.M. Parrish, A.G. Breaks, M.V.B. Smith, H.C Hall and W.W. Searight. - thanks to Kim again
File Created (appropriately) 4 July 2010 - thanks, Kim H for this great article !!