Many Rivers To Cross1: Rivers of Life Rolling On The River

Living in the Jonah’s of my imagination are the proud women and men who would rather die than be taken from their home leaving countless families alone weeping and crying.

I can hear them saying, "You tried to break me down here in this hell hole of a hull, thinking I would join my aunts and uncles on the bottom of the deep blue ocean." 

Some of our own from one Continent we know, huge and vast coming from the past.

How many I ask are the bones that lie in the deep are a reflection of 

me when they were in the flesh?   

After watching Many Rivers To Cross; the first episode on PBS, my mind 
wandered back and forth between my Texas counties and my ancestors
who may have taken the same route shown. So far I have no documented verification.

                                                                                                                    

Everyone that knows me has been told that I am stuck in Texas with my

research and that I have a million billion trillion bricks and blocks

that have fallen in my way.

Okay I admit I am exagerating about those trillion or so bricks and blocks but I do have 1024 direct descendants who fit in there somewhere.

I am not going to call them walls because I do have human Walls that are in my shared DNA with names like Thelma, Steven and Crystal that I have come to love sight unseen.

This show bought home, that I have had very few rivers in my life to cross.

My Ancestors bore the brunt of that.

Just because I have not found Mr and Ms Elusive does not mean that I have to jump off the top of the roof of my house.

The front porch step will do just fine.

Does Texas have many rivers?  You bet she does; they are long, they are wide and they are wild.

With that being said, Mariah Taylor my elusive 3^rd great grandmother

and her parents may have crossed the Sabine River which snakes all the way from the Gulf of  Mexico up to East Texas.

The Sabine River:

I have not gotten a handle yet on where Mariah was really born but her son

Joseph was born in Harrison County reportedly in Jonesville Texas.  Near

Jonesville there was Swanson’s landing. It was a port that was used

to deliver goods and slaves from New Orleans.

Did Mariah’s ancestors come that way?  

My paternal greats on my Daviss side could have gotten off somewhere 

around Galveston Texas, crossed over the Brazos River or the Navasota River not knowing that one day two of their offspring may meet up one day just like the mighty rivers that kiss the ocean.

The Brazos River

The Navasota River

What about Captain John Taylor who steered the Hannah Elizabeth in 1836 from Barbados. He brought a boat load of slaves to what was known as 

Brigs landing,  a port in Orange Texas. Some he left  and the rest he headed towards Galveston to sell.

Was Mariah’s family on that brig?  Were they shuffled off and transported

to Harrison County Texas? 

(excerpt found in the Gateway to Texas: The History of Orange and Orange County)

In order to stay off that front step, I tend to piddle and hope that my piddling 

will lead someone else to find their family with little nuggets and gems

one step at a time. 

I have no idea if this 34 year old man (they referred to him as a boy)

that was found on the north side of the Sabine was my ancestor; but he was someone's child husband or brother.  His name was George

                                                                                                                                   

            How many rivers does George have to cross to be called a man?

  

                           

                               The Standard Clarksville Texas October 25, 1856 

In the 1870 Census in Albany New York , 27 year old Kate Rivers was listed as a servant. Ms Rivers was born in Africa.

How many Rivers Lord, How Many Rivers To Cross?

                                This is the excerpt of the 1870 census

I went looking for any Davis that I could find to tie into my Daviss.  Even though this particular Davis was not mine he was living in a levee camp in Missouri.

Since we are talking about rivers,  Davis’s next door neighbor

was a Teamster by the name of Red River. He and his parents were from Tennessee according to the 1910 census.

                 How many rivers did Red have to cross to work at the Levee?  

                      Here is a excerpt of  Red listed on the 1910 census

When I lived in Dallas Texas in the early 1970's I used to cross over the

Trinity River Bridge. The area I lived in was dry. You were not able to buy 

beer or liquor. The trip across the bridge was the only way we could secure a 

happy week-end with spirits especially during football season. 

Need I say more?

The Trinity River

Try crossing over this bridge

Yes, Yes, Yes, there are still waters!!

I Am Who I Am: I Am Ancestors A Plenty

Across the ocean I really began with many hearts beating. 

I am who I am, but who am I? 

This journey has taken me through many census pages looking and seeking parts of me that came to America many years ago.

There were two changes in my life that started me on my Daviss Journey.

The first one started one day in June 1961.

I was sitting on Agneda Taylor Hodge's front porch in Altus Oklahoma.  She was the sister of my brothers wife Gwen. 

I spotted this man walking on the grounds of Lincoln High School located next door.
His back was to me but his walk looked oh so familiar.
In fact he had that cool walk just like my brother Theodore and his frame, head and all, resembled his.

I asked Agneda if she knew who he was. She said it was Prof Davis, the school principal.

My ears perked up; Prof Davis, how does he spell his name? Heck if she said Daviss with that extra S then he had to be a part of me. One "S" she said, but now that I think about it, he does kind of look like your brother. 

Agneda used the terminology Prof instead of Professor. That made me think that she must think well of this man Prof or was that a term used in a small town where everyone knows everyone.

I can’t remember if the sail went out of my boat but I did dismiss the connection because all I knew was that I had Two S’s in my Daviss.

A couple days later this lady came over who was a teacher at the school. We got into a conversation and she told me her name was Mrs Jones, but just call her G.G. like the rest of them. (another sign of familiarity) but knowing my age and manners, I stuck to Mrs Jones. 
Prof Davis name came up and I told her what I told Agneda, about him walking like my brother.

Well this teacher asked me what my parents names were and where were they from?  Of course I said Theodore with two S’s on the Davis and that he lived in Denver Colorado.
She told me that Prof had a brother named Ted who lived in Denver. She was not sure if his real name was Theodore nor if he was known as one S or two but she would find out from Prof.

Thinking to myself, my Denver dad is a two S kind of guy.

The next day there was a knock on the door and bless my heart, there stood that man who was walking on the school house grounds with a picture album in his hand.  He came in the house, opened the book and said to me. Is this your father?

Staring back at me was a photo from long ago that was a duplicate of the very one in an album I had. 

That man had a big grin on his face. He was my father’s brother! Wright Cuney Daviss, son of James Penn and Betty Owens Daviss.

                                                                                                                        

Prof Davis was actually Prof Daviss! Wow, I got a good hug out of that one and I returned the favor and hugged him back.

A two S Daviss carrying a one S name. 

That revelation blew me away but it also put in the back of my mind if I was related to other one S Davis somewhere in this here universe. (that is another story for later).

The second journey was after I moved to Dallas.

Again there was a knock on the door. This time it was a young lady in a white hat cocked to the side, and standing next to her was a nice looking gentleman.

The young lady said, Are you Vicky?
Yessssss, that’s me as I looked at them out of the side of one eye.  Rolling around in my  mind I was thinking, what in the heck do they want with me?

The young lady said, I’m your cousin. I’m Erma Jewell and our fathers are brothers. My father is John Pierce Daviss, and this is my husband Richard Lewis.

Erma Jewell and I got to be quite close after that.
I would drive down to Conroe Texas and visit Uncle John, Aunt Harriett along with Cousin Erma.

I learned that Erma Jewell and Richard called each other Buddy. I thought that was the cutest thing.

On one visit I drove down, trailed her to Navasota and Piedmont where they were having a Homecoming Celebration at Little Flock Baptist Church.
It was then I met  my aunts Jessie (Miss), Elena and Jimmie, Uncles Spencer, Harry, Owens and Uncle Zeke. 

I also did a double take when I saw my aunt/cousin Romona Burks Daviss, whom I had not seen in years when I lived in Los Angeles.

She was visiting her sister Cammie. My mom, grandfather, and the rest of my siblings went over to cousin Cammie's for dinner. 

At the time I had no idea that she was married to my uncle Harry. I just knew we were cousins on the Burks side.

I wanted to know more about my family.

I was too late to meet a grandmother or grandfather on that side.
I am told though that I had been here on numerous occasions as a baby, that Aunt Jimmie had kept me quite often, and my brother Theodore even lived there and went to a school by the name of Carver in Navasota. 

What got me was Aunt Elena; When I walked over to meet and tell her who I was, she already knew. She told me that she had thought about me every day for 26 years...26 years! Why, that was exactly how old I was.  

So here I am: Who for the life of me am I

Who were these people that I spring from? Where did they live, what did they do for a living. 

They had to be strong people

They prayed for their children, they farmed the land, they taught their children in school and they helped bring life into the neighbor women who were about to give birth. 

Louis Cooper registered to vote in 1867.  He was the husband of Mary White He had to be a strong man to even register and so close to the end of slavery.

I am Louis Cooper

On the 1880 census Mary White Cooper who was the grandmother of James Penn Daviss, was a widow. Her husband Louis passed away and left her to work for shares in order to eat and feed the rest of the children.

I found her not only on the population census but on the Agricultural census as well where it shows how many cows and mules she had and the crops she grew. Talk about a strong woman.

 I am Mary White Cooper

Louis and Mary's Children  Sallie, Lydia, Jerry, Cherry, Anna, Roxie and Eliza all grew up to have children of their own. 
They are the Zephyrs, Williams, Scott's, Nelms, Minors, Boggess, Parhams, Mathis, and numerous others who all stem from those roots. 

I am Louis and Mary's Children

Living a couple houses up was one of her daughters Sallie.  Sally was married to Ed Kinney at the time and the census shows that James and Leah were the step-children. Sally later married James Conway.

I am Sally White Cooper Conway and James Conway

James, Sallie’s son grew up and married Betty Owen daughter of Thornton and Francis Bradley Owen . They had 8 children. 5 girls and 3 boys. 

James Penn became a teacher and a preacher, and after his wife Betty Owen passed away he married Gertrude Sims Pierce.
Together they combined their children, along with Gertrude bringing Elo and Jimmie Pierce into the marriage.
James Penn and Gertrude had seven children together.  6 boys and 1 girl. 

I am each and every one of those 17 children of  the Owen and Sims Women

I am James Penn Daviss and Gertrude Sims Pierce Daviss.

I am the thoughts that filtered through their minds concerning God, Family and Education. 

Just like that old time favorite licorice candy called Good and Plenty filled to the top of the box

I am one of the children who grace this Room of Ancestors A Plenty, with twigs, limbs, and leaves. Whose visions, strength come from the Room of Ancestors A Plenty of hatched roofs, trunks, branches and roots prior to merging into one. 

Like that little wooden church in the country called little Flock Baptist Church or the old homestead of each of our fore-parents. 

Where the Rooms of Ancestors A Plenty in Georgia, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, California, Wisconsin and Michigan our blood runs deep.

It flows from one to another like the limbs on that Baobab Tree in Africa.

 I am each and every one of you: For that I am eternally grateful and I Thank God.