San Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWARD DAVIS.
EDWARD DAVIS, deceased July
28, 1866, was born in Ohio, in 1834, a son of Nathan and Susan (Griggs) Davis.
The father, accompanied by his two oldest sons, came to California about 1849.
The mother with Edward and the other members of her family followed about 1851.
Arriving at man’s estate in California,
Mr. Edward Davis was quick to appreciate the value of land, and in 1858 he
became owner of 320 acres of bottom land on the Calaveras, about three miles
above Linden. In 1863 he purchased fifty acres more. In January, 1859, he was
married in this township to Miss Martha A. Freeman, born in Illinois, in 1839,
daughter of Dr. Hugh K. and Susannah (Brooks) Freeman. The Freeman family came
to California in 1857. The mother, born in Kentucky in 1818, daughter of Samuel
Brooks, died in this township in 1864. Dr. Freeman, born in Missouri, in 1816,
died in Linden, in 1889. His father, Richard, who was a son of Amos, was a
native of South Carolina, accompanied the family to this State, in 1857, and
died in Rio Vista, Solano County, California, in 1865, aged eighty. His wife,
Mary (Patterson) Freeman, a native of North Carolina, was over sixty at her
death in 1855.
Mr. and Mrs. Edward Davis are the parents
of four children, viz: Maria, born April 12, 1860, died November 29, 1879;
Alice, born November 2, 1861, now the wife of Wilson R. Ellis, editor of the Woodland
Mail, has one boy, Ralph Freeman, born in 1885.
Albert N. Davis, the oldest son, born
October 4, 1862, was educated in Linden and worked on his father’s ranch.
November 1, 1884, he became the junior partner of the firm of Green &
Davis, of Linden. They carried on the business of general merchants with fair
success until January 17, 1889, when they sold out, and Albert Davis returned
to farming. With a partner he purchased 200 acres of bottom land, adjoining the
estate left by his father, in which he is a joint owner with his two brothers.
Edgar Lee Davis, the second son, born
March 9, 1865, was educated in Linden and brought up to farming exclusively. He
owns an undivided third of his father’s ranch of 370 acres. He was married,
October 20, 1887, to Miss Laura Middlekauff, born in Ogle County, Illinois, a
daughter of Hiram Edward and Elizabeth (Roher) Middlekauff, both natives of
Maryland and now residents of Linden. They came to California in 1879.
Grandfather Jacob Middlekauff was ninety-two, and Grandmother Elizabeth
(Poffenberger) Middlekauff was eighty-four at death. Mr. and Mrs. E. Davis are
the parents of one child, Myrtle May, born August 24, 1888.
Edward Freeman Davis, third son of Mr. and
Mrs. Edward Davis, was born February 16, 1867, and educated at Linden, works on
the paternal estate of which he is joint owner with his two brothers.
Mrs. Martha A. Wootten. In 1869 Mrs. M. A.
Davis was married to John Bivins Wootten, a shoemaker of Linden. Mr. Wootten
was born in Delaware in 1822, a son of William and Nancy (Bivins) Wootten. His
ancestry is believed to have been American for several generations. John B.
Wootten, the son of William, the son of Elijah, the son of John, the son of
Peter, the son of Jacob, the son of Edward, who came from England in the year
of 1632 and settled in the colony of Lord Delaware. John B. Wootten came to
California in 1864. After his marriage he gave attention to farming and came to
his death by a kick from a horse. He died September 24, 1887, leaving two
children, viz: Joseph Bivins, born April 15, 1870, and Frank Bivins, born
January 17, 1872. After Edward Davis’ death Mrs. Wootten bought fourteen acres
in Linden, on which she has erected a pretty house for herself and children.
She also owns ninety acres of the Davis ranch.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 288-289. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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