Household #141: Davis, William

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In the 1900 Barney census, William Davis headed a 3-person household. The table below preserves the exact names, relationships, ages, birthplaces, and occupations recorded for the household.

Household Snapshot

William Davis headed a 3-person household in the 1900 Barney census with 1 spouse or marital partner and 1 child.

William Davis's listed occupation was Farmer.

All listed household members were reported as born in Georgia.

1900 Census Household

Children and Later Trails

This section is reserved for later-life child evidence. No later spouse, death, burial, obituary, probate, separate household, or descendant-line identification has been added here yet from direct records.

Family Narrative

• Daughter: Clara Davis, age 1, born about 1899 in Georgia

William Davis appears in Brooks County records from his 1895 marriage through the 1927 death of his wife Bethany. The core household is well supported by the marriage record, the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses, Bethany's death certificate, and later records for daughter Clara.

The Brooks County marriage license and return show that Will Davis and Betheny Howell were married on 6 October 1895. Later census entries use the forms William, Will, Bethenia, and Bethany, but the records line up well enough to treat them as one family. The 1900 census states that the couple had been married four years, which is close but not exact; the marriage record should control.

In 1900 the family was in Barney, where William Davis, age twenty-six, was recorded as a farmer born in May 1874. The household included his wife Bethenia and daughter Clara. The 1900 tenure entries read R and F: a rented farm, numbered 70 in the farm schedule. In 1910 the family was still in Brooks County, then in the Tallokas district, with Clara and younger son James in the home. William was again listed as a farmer, and the place was marked rented. In 1920 the family was back in the Barney area, with Will Davis, wife Bethany, and son James still together. That census also marked the place as rented.

Bethany's earlier identity is also on firm ground. In 1880, Bethany Howell was enumerated in the Dry Lake district of Brooks County in the household of Jessie Howell and Caroline Howell. Bethany's 1927 death certificate identifies her as Bethany Davis, wife of Will Davis, and names her parents as Jesse Howell and Caroline Frazier. The certificate gives her death date as 21 May 1927 in Barney, Brooks County, at age fifty.

The later record trail for Clara helps extend this household beyond the parent generation. A Brooks County marriage record shows Clara Davis married Rube Edmondson on 28 December 1914. By 1930, Clara Edmondson was a widowed head of household in Militia District 1571 in Brooks County, with children Stanley, Vally, and Ruth Edmondson, and with her brother James Davis in the household. In 1940 she was in Moultrie, Colquitt County, still widowed, with sons Walter and Willie James Edmondson and daughter Vallie Lee Jenkins nearby with young children. A Social Security Applications and Claims Index entry ties Clara Davis to spouse Ruben Edmondson and child Walter Edmondson.

William's age is not perfectly steady across the census record. The 1900 and 1910 entries point to a birth about 1874, while the 1920 entry points closer to 1868. For now, the safest wording is that he was born in Georgia, probably in the early 1870s, with May 1874 reported in the 1900 census.

An earlier attempt to connect this household to HH#104 through the Frazier surname should be dropped. Bethany's mother was Caroline Frazier, but that surname alone does not prove a link to another Barney household.

Connections to Other Barney Families

• Bethany Davis was born Bethany Howell, daughter of Jesse Howell and Caroline Frazier.
• Clara Davis married into the Edmondson family and remained tied to her Davis kin, as shown by James Davis living in her household in 1930.

Open Research Questions

• William Davis's death has not yet been pinned down with a direct death record.
• Clara's marriage and later census trail are strong, but a direct death record for her husband Ruben Edmondson would help explain her widow status by 1930.
• If this household is revisited, the literal wording of Bethany's 1927 death certificate can be extracted more fully for burial, informant, and cause-of-death details.

Research Status

Well-documented for the core family. The marriage, Bethany's parentage, the three household censuses, Bethany's death, and Clara's later Edmondson records are all supported. William's death remains the main unresolved gap.

Sources

• 1880 United States census, Dry Lake, Brooks County, Georgia, Jessie Howell household including Bethany Howell.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage license and return for Will Davis and Betheny Howell, 6 Oct 1895.
• 1900 United States census, Barney District, Brooks County, Georgia, ED 9, sheet 7B, lines 55–57, dwelling/family 141, William Davis household. Original census image.
• 1910 United States census, Tallokas, Brooks County, Georgia, William Davis household.
• 1920 United States census, Barney, Brooks County, Georgia, Will Davis household.
• Georgia death index entry for Bethany Davis, 21 May 1927, certificate no. 13045-I.
• Georgia death certificate for Bethany Davis, 21 May 1927, Barney, Brooks County, naming spouse Will Davis and parents Jesse Howell and Caroline Frazier.
• Brooks County, Georgia, marriage record for Clara Davis and Rube Edmondson, 28 Dec 1914.
• 1930 United States census, Militia District 1571, Brooks County, Georgia, Clara Edmondson household.
• 1940 United States census, Moultrie, Colquitt County, Georgia, Clara Edmondson household.
• U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index entry for Clara Davis, naming spouse Ruben Edmondson and child Walter Edmondson.

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