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Born: July 5, 1845, Fairfield, TN
Died: August 15, 1881, Bedford County, TN
Married: Margaret A. Jennings
February 3, 1876 — Wartrace, TNChildren:
Eudora Davis Allen
Benjamin F. Davis, II
Gertrude Davis (died at birth)
Sara Blanche Davis Howard LynnSiblings:
Henry, Thomas, Nancy, John
Samuel, Emma and Robert DavisParents:
Frances Burt and John S. Davis
Very little information is available about Ben Davis. I do know he was educated at Normal College, Winchester, Tennessee, and was a merchant by profession. Both US census and Wartrace, TN, records of the era indicate that he owned a business and was listed as a merchant in that town. Ben was 16 in 1861, at the time the Civil War began, but he did not serve in the military at any time during 1861-1865. Ben died at age 36, of heart problems, so it is possible he was never robust.
Ben's father, John Sims Davis, owned a large farm and was one of the founders of present day Fairfield, TN. Fairfield was developed on speculation that the railroad line would run through there, but a different route was selected instead. Without the railroad, most of the town quietly disappeared, but Fairfield is well documented by Tennessee historians.
Ben appears in the 1870 census as living and working on the family farm with his mother and other family members; his father was deceased by 1870. He appears, too, in Goodspeed and other histories of both Fairfield, where he was a postmaster, and Wartrace, where he owned a dry goods store.
Ben was married twice. His first wife, Kittie Scruggs, grew up in Fairfield, too. They were marred on December 26, 1871. Based on records of the area, their families had some business dealings together and so the couple must have known each other long before they married. Kittie was born on March 26, 1849, and died on January 22, 1875. Ben is buried next to her in the churchyard of the New Hope Baptist Church in Fairfield. Some older family members wrote that the couple had a son who died at about age 12, but I have not been able to find any record of his existence or a burial site.
My great-grandmother, Maggie Jennings, was his second wife. They met and married early in 1876 and had four children before Ben's death in August, 1881. The 1880 census lists his profession as retired merchant. I do not know whether he retired because of health problems, or whether he intended to start a new venture.
Ben died at his mother's home in Bedford County, Tennessee, at age thirty-six. According to his will, he was taken ill while visiting her. The will was witnessed and filed by one of his brothers.
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