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Daniel
I think this is the bio that you are referring to which is different from the one posted.
This was sent to me by Doug Wesley about 3 years ago. I had also seen it in the library
in Lafayette, I believe. Hope it helps someone else too. Our lineage is through Samuel
& Abigail's daughter, Alice, who married Julius Hull. Would really appreciate any
further information on the parents of Samuel...Moody & Rebecca (Morgan) Davis!
Biographical History of Tippecanoe, White, Jasper, Newton, Warren & Pulaski Counties,
Indiana, Vol I & II by Lewis Publishing Company
Samuel Davis. This worthy pioneer of Tippecanoe County has been an important factor in
its development and since 1855 has lived on the homestead where he dwells today, in
Sheffield Township. Among the numerous public enterprises in which he has aided might be
mentioned the Dayton and Lafayette grave road, which was built through the efforts of a
few public-spirited citizens in 1861, at which time there were but seven other members of
the company in the count, and Mr. Davis was one of the leading directors of the company.
In 1890 the county purchased the road. Among the neighbors and associates of almost half
a century he stand high, his reputation being above reproach.
The founder of the Davis family in America was a native of England. Moody Davis, the
father of our subject, was born in New England, January 7, 1785, and was a carpenter and
millwright by trade. He married, in New Hampshire, Rebecca Morgan, whose birth had
occurred March 26, 1788. They began housekeeping in a hewed log cabin that the husband
built on a quarter section of land that he had purchased in Vermont. Having cleared forty
acres of the heavy timber with which it was encumbered, he planted thirty acres of wheat,
and, assisted by his industrious wife, he cut the crop with a hand sickle. Heavy frosts
ruined the harvests, the times were hard, and he finally traded his land for a team of
horses and a wagon and set out with his little family for western New York. He located
within twenty miles of the spot where the famous Battle of Lundy's Land was fought,
July 25, 1814, and the following morning Mr. Davis set out for the battleground. Arriving
there, he found that !
the carnage had ceased, and that there was plenty of work for him to do, in assisting to
care for the wounded and in burying the dead. In 1815 he started with his family to Ohio,
going as far as Olean Point, on the Ohio River, in wagons and there he bought a partly
built flatboat and finished it, and they floated down the stream to Cincinnati. Thence
they proceeded to Butler County, Ohio, and at a point on the big Miami River, about three
and one-half miles northeast of Hamilton, Mr. Davis built a gristmill, and operated it for
twelve years. He also built a stillhouse and purchased a half section of land, and from
these various sources was independently well-off, and had no one to thank for it but
himself, for by his own sturdy might and fortitude he had carved out his fortune. At one
time he made a trip down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to New Orleans on a flatboat
loaded with flour and whisky and , having sold the same, he proceeded to walk back, some
fifteen hundr!
ed miles. He reached home safely with the large sum of money on his p
erson. In early days his mill was a very busy place, as farmers came as far as one
hundred miles to have their grain ground. Mr. Davis was a Jacksonian Democrat and,
riligiously, was a Baptist. His brothers, William and John and sisters Amanda and
Priscilla, all settled in Ohio and reared their families in that state. Mrs. Rebecca
Davis, a typical pioneer woman, brave and hardy, survived her husband, dying February 22,
1849.
Samuel Davis, of this sketch, was next to the youngest of ten children, the dates of whose
births are as follows Josiah, January 3, 1807; Julia A. April 24, 1808; Adeline, March 12,
1810; Moses, March 21, 1812; Almon, September 4, 1814; Mary, February 8, 1817; Azariah,
October 23, 1819; Ursula, February 11, 1821; Samuel, September 15, 1823; and Amanda,
September 8, 1834.
From his early years until after his marriage, Samuel Davis lived on the old homestead in
Butler County, Ohio and gained but a limited education in the subscription schools of that
period. December 14, 1847, he married Abigail, daughter of Dodd and Sarah Lindley. She
was of Irish and Dutch extraction and was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, March 12, 1824.
The young couple lived for six years or son on the Davis homestead, and in 1855 they set
out for their new home in Tippecanoe County, Indian. Mr. Davis made the trip with two
wagons and horses and was six days on the way, for it snowed steadily night and day. The
rest of the family came on the railroad, but the train was snowbound and the short journey
took two days to make. Little improvement had been made on the one-hundred-and-fifty acre
tract, part praise and part timber, on which Mr. Davis settled, but he industriously went
to work and soon had developed a model farm. He cleared about thirty acres, added
thirty-se!
ven acres to his original tract, and built a substantial two-story brick house. He has
been very successful as a farmer and businessman, and rightly deserves the prosperity,
which he enjoys. He uses his ballot in favor of the Republican Party.
The first wife of Mr. Davis died December 3, 1872. She was a member of the Presbyterian
Church and was loved by all that knew her. Their two children are Alice, born October 1,
1849, and Adeline, born September 16, 1851. The second marriage of our subject was
celebrated in this county, September 8, 1874, the lady of his choice being Mrs. Amelia C.
Travis. She was born January 4, 1838 in Pickaway County, Ohio, a daughter of Joseph and
Mary (Morris) Gougar, of Pennsylvania stock. The mother was a daughter of Samuel and
Amelia (Preble) Morris. Mrs. Davis had four brothers and sisters, namely: Martha A.,
John M. Eleanor E. and Samuel M. Davis. Her father was a farmer and seven times did he
journey down the rivers from Cincinnati in New Orleans with produce. A worthy member of
the Lutheran church, serving for years as a deacon, he exemplified in his daily life the
high principles in which he be lived. He died January 8, 1857, and his wife passed away
September 2, 1853. !
After the death of her parents, Mrs. Davis came to this county to visit her sister, Mrs.
Eleanor Lutz, and the following year was married to Joseph Travis, a farmer and grain
merchant. They were married August 11, 1863, and Mr. Travis died April 8, 1871. Mrs.
Davis is a consistent member of the Presbyterian Church.
The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Davis were pioneers of Pennsylvania. On one occasion
when Mr. Gougar assisted by his wife and two elder daughters, was in the field making hay,
their cabin was entered by some Indians, who asked the two terrified children who were
there, taking care of an infant, where their parents were. The brave children would give
no information, but one of the red men discovered their elders in the distant field and
the band started in that direction. The little boy and girl thus left alone, snatched up
the baby and fled for the nearest fort, which they reached after many weary hours of
traveling about one o'clock in the night. The Indians attacked the parents in field.
Mrs. Gougar defended herself vigorously with her pitchfork, but was soon overpowered,
scalped, and tied to a bush. The father had no arms with which to defend himself, and as
he sprang upon a rail fence nearby an Indian shot at him. The rail broke beneath his
weight and he fell to!
the ground. Strange to say, the red men believed him dead and without further notice of
him the hostilities dispersed. As soon as he dared Mr. Gougar fled to the forest, and the
following day, when searching for his wife, he found her tied to the bush, and still
living, though she soon expired. The two daughters were carried into captivity and were
treated well. They were given a feather bed to sleep on at night, this adjunct of
civilization having been taken from one of the cabins, which had raided by them. The
family, who paid a ransom for her, afterwards recovered one of the daughters. The other
had blue eyes and the Indians would not give her up. She married a chief and would never
leave them.