Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas) Page: 253
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Davis. He attended school in Walnut Springs
until moving to far west Texas with his
parents. He attended the Monahans Public
Schools, graduating in 1953. He was a
member of the Baptist Church and the Young
Men's Brotherhood where he assisted in
radio announcements for the church on the
K.V.K.M, radio station. He became a highly
publicized boxer during the 1950s. He held
amateur boxing championships for a period
of ten years, 1946-1956.
After graduating from high school he
enrolled in Howard Payne College, where he
was elected to "Who's Who in American
Universities and Colleges" for 1955-56. He
graduated with honors in 1957, receiving a
B.S. degree in education and art. He received
a Master of Education degree from Texas
Wesleyan College and a teaching major in
physical education from North Texas State
University.
Benny has been employed by the Fort
Worth Independent School District since
1957 as a teacher and a coach. He also
coached boxing for the Panther Boys' Club
in Fort Worth for a period of ten years.
During the summers of 1958-1959 he worked
for Nona and Ab Greer at the Lakeside
Village swimming pool as lifeguard.
He is former president of Cowtown Bowm-
an Archery Club and former archery cham-
pion in Fort Worth and Wichita Falls.
Benny's wife, Gloria, attended Fort Worth
Public Schools. She attended T.C.J.C. and
T.C.U. where she studied for a major in
nursing and a minor in history. She is
employed at the Medical Surgical Clinic in
Fort Worth.
Their children, Rhonda, Amy, and Sarah
Fay, attend Fort Worth schools. They are
active members of the United Methodist
Church.
by Fay Davis
DAVIS, JAMES MONROE
F287
James Monroe Davis was born in McLen-
nan County, Texas, in 1853, the son of Lee
Roy and Catherine Davis. The county was
named for Catherine's father, Neil McLen-
nan who was the first settler in the county.
Lee R. Davis was in San Antonio in 1835
during the Mexican War when General Cos
surrendered to the Republic of Texas.
Ella Davis was born in Guntown, Missis-
sippi in 1861, daughter of Bryant and Julia
Johnson Woodward. The family first moved
to Bosqueville in McLennan County, then to
Bosque County and later to Hamilton
County. Mr. Woodard was a Mexican and
Confederate War veteran and his death in
Walnut Springs in 1910 was caused by an old
bullet wound in his foot received while he was
in the Army. Mr. and Mrs. Woodard are
buried in the Bird plot in Walnut Springs
Cemetery.
James Davis attended Salado College. He
and Ella were married in Waco in 1877. In the
meantime George Barnard, George Erath
and Neil McLennan had surveyed land in
what is now Bosque County. Lee Roy Davis
received a grant of 640 acres of this land from
Texas for his service in the Mexican War.
James inherited 365 acres of this grant upon
his fathers death and later bought 320 acres,
from his brother Thomas, of the same grant.Later he bought another grant joining his
acreage making a large farm of 1,134 acres
between Walnut Springs and Iredell with the
Bosque River running through it.
In 1880 James and Ella moved to Bosque
County with their two children, Tom J. and
Clifford who was only six months old. Later,
another son, Robert Davis, was born in
Bosque County. When the children were
ready to go to high school, Mr. Davis built a
house in Walnut Springs. Mrs. Davis and the
children lived there during the school year so
they could attend Central College. Later they
attended Buffalo Gap College near Abilene
and Clifford and Tom graduated there. Tom
attended Texas A & M, Clifford, North Texas
Normal College (now North Texas State
University) and Bob, Meridian College.
James died in 1920 and Ella in 1943. Both
are buried in the Walnut Springs Cemetery.
by Mrs. Charles Edwin Booth
DAVIS, SAMUEL WELLS
F288
The Davis family reaches back in American
history to 1638 when three young brothers set
sail from England to find their fortune in
America. They can truly say that "they saw
America born."
Samuel Wells Davis was born January 3,
1884, in Thompson Ville, Illinois. He was a
descendant of Francis Davis, the youngest of
the three brothers that emigrated to America.
His parents were Joseph Hardin David and
Lydia Ellen Cripps Davis. Joseph Hardin
Davis was a son of Robert Allison Davis and
Sarah Elizabeth Irvin Davis. Robert Allison
Davis died in Mexico City during the war
with Mexico at the age of twenty-eight.
J.H. Davis came to Texas with his family
in 1896, one reason being the disastrous
conditions resulting from the financial panic
of 1893.
His son Samuel was quite industrious. He
acquired the position of mail carrier at the
age of fifteen from Clifton to Cayote and
Smith Bend. He kept this position approxi-
mately six or seven years, then went to work
for O.J. Rea in the grocery business. During
his lifetime he worked also for Schow Broth-
ers and Clifton Mercantile Company. His
longest tenure of service was with Clifton
Mercantile, where he worked for over forty
years.
On Sept. 1, 1912, he married Rena Terrell,
a daughter of William A. and Narcissus
Abbot Terrell. To this union three children
were born: Samuel, Jr., Rena Ellen, and
Thomas Lee.
Sam, Jr. had four children; Anne in 1944;
Lissa in 1946; Samuel, III in 1947, and
Stewart Lee in 1948.
Rena Ellen married Forrest Jenson, and
they had six children; Betty, 1937; Mary,
1942; Forrest, Jr., 1944; Glen, 1949; Cath-
erine, 1951; and Dale, 1956.
Thomas Lee married Georgene Carr, and
they had a son, Tommy, born in 1957.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis were Methodists. Mr.
Davis died in 1977 at the age of eighty-seven.
Mrs. Davis still survives.DAWSON, EARL
F289
A young couple, Earl and Mayme Dawson,
accompanied by their young children, Sam
and Maurine, often traveled to Bosque
County from their home near Frost in
Navarro County. Looking down into the
Bosque Valley from atop a hill near Clifton,
the desire to live in such a lovely area was
expressed.
In 1948, broken in spirit by their son's
death off Tokyo in World War II, they
decided to move to the area and thus be
nearer to their grandchildren. The daughter,
Mrs. Charley Miles, lived at Mosheim.
The Dawson home midway between Clif-
ton and Meridian on Highway 6, was often
the scene of visitors from their past as well
as new acquaintances. Flowers grew rampant
in the yard, pecan trees offered a cool shade,
and cotton grew in the fields.
Canasta provided entertainment for many
hours. Their grandchildren were a favorite
topic.
In July of 1968 they moved into Clifton.
Earl died in September. Mayme lived until
November, 1971.
They were buried at Frost, according to
their wishes, beside a young son, Earl Jr., who
died at the age of two years, and at the spot
where a memorial stone had been erected for
Sam Beckham Dawson, their son who died in
1945.
Years later, the evidences of flowers and
trees survive as testimony of added beauty to
Bosque County. The acres on Schumacher
Branch bear many reminders and remains in
the family.
by Mrs. Charley Miles
DAY FAMILY
F290James Day
by Forrest Jenson
James Day was the popular and genial
editor of the People's Tribune of Walnut
253s' k
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Bosque County History Book Committee. Bosque County: Land and People (A History of Bosque County, Texas), book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth91038/m1/269/?q=campbell: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Denton Public Library.