Unless otherwise stated, the main source of these notes come from: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 31. |
The Davis House:
1851- Built by Ebenezer Nelms Davis. The plantation was named "Strawberry Plains" by his second wife Martha Greenlee Davis (McAlexander, 29).
1863- The house was burned in retaliation for Martha Davis killing a Union soldier.
1867- The family went into deeper debt restoring their house so they could live in it again. The restoration was described as:
“All windows and most doors were replaced, but neither the front nor back porticos were rebuilt. The hall was left with bare brick walls, along one of which ran a crude set of steps to the second floor. Only the two rooms to the east of the hall on both floors were plastered and finished. The front room on the east became the parlor, furnished with a carpet, a hanging lamp, and the furniture saved from the fire. This patched-together structure would house the Davises for another hundred years” (McAlexander, 76).
1875- The Davis family bought back 640 acres from the Finleys.
1927- John Presley Davis sold the rest of Strawberry Plains to the Finleys. Martha Moseley was allowed a lifetime tenancy and a small portion of land to rent. She stayed in the house and it was said that "In the 1960's, the parlor presented merely a much worn version of the way it had looked in 1867" (McAlexander, 111).
1964- Martha Moseley moved out of the Davis House and into town.
1971- Restoration on the Davis House was started by Margaret and John Shackelford.
1998- Given over to Strawberry Plains Audubon Center.
The Residents and Long-Term Guests of the Davis House:
Eben Nelms Davis (1802-1881).
Martha Trimble Greenlee Davis (1823-1906) she taught some of the slaves how to read.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 30. |
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 103. |
Children of Eben and Martha (three died in infancy which are not listed). Most of them lived at the Davis House with their spouses and children:
- Eben Nelms Davis, Jr. (1847-1935) fell in love with a slave named Susan during the Civil War. He ended up walking with a limp after surviving a train crash between two passenger cars in 1885.
- John Presley Davis (1851-1927) liked to say "he and the house were the same age" and ran the plantation until the 1920's (McAlexander, 30).
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 90. |
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 105. |
3. Mary Elizabeth Davis (1853-1919) she married Charles Moseley and had one child (Martha).
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 104. |
4. Ann Winifred Davis (1856-1935) married Presley Stanback and had eleven children.
5. Augusta Virginia Davis (1859-1935) married three times but only had one child (Demps
Brittenum) by her first marriage. The first two were no good charmers with her second
husband caused the Davis family to mortgage almost everything they owned. Her third
marriage was a happy and fortunate success.
Others that lived in the Davis House:
1894-1964 - Martha V. Moseley (1894-1986) she was the last descendant of the Davis family to live at Strawberry Plains. She turned down at least one marriage proposal so she could stay living here with her uncle John Presley Davis.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 112. |
1920 - 1957- Euclid Woodfin McAlexander helped John Davis with the plantation. He lived with Martha Moseley until he died. It is said he had unrequited love for Martha.
1970's - 1980's - Margaret Finley Shackelford and her husband Dr. John Shackelford lived in the Davis House.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 127. |
Her sister Ruth Finely probably frequented the Davis House.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 127. |
Until her death in 1998 - Margaret Finley Shackelford lived here.
Workers at the Davis House:
There was a governess hired to teach Eben Davis' children and the children in the surrounding neighborhood. Her name and where she lived during this time are unknown. This governess did teach at a school house built on the premises. In 1861, Eliza Jane Stephenson rode three times a week to learn piano from the Davis' governess on their rosewood piano in the front parlor.
Slaves that had access to the Davis house:
House cook: Aunt Sarah.
Head nurse (in charge of the Davis' children): Aunt Margaret Lee.
House servant (married to Aunt Margaret Lee): Frank Lee.
Carriage driver: Edmund.
Two slaves that may have had regular access to the house were:
Susan Stephenson who had a loving relationship with Eben Davis, Jr.
Zeek Stephenson (son of Eben Davis, Jr. and Susan Stephenson) who later became a sharecropper at Strawberry Plains. He married Martha Jane Bates "Pinky" in 1884. Zeek lost his arm in the Davis cotton gin. He was described to be "'short, bowleg white man' and his wife as 'a tall, skinny, jet-black woman.'" (McAlexander 113). We have no picture of Zeek but here is a picture of his son Henry:
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| Son of Zeek Stephenson and Martha "Pinky" Bates (Grandson to Eben Davis, Jr. and Susan Stephenson). Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 114. |
Slaves, not named, who had access to the house were musicians, house servants, housekeeper, house maid, laundress, blacksmith, carpenter, carriage driver, gardener, and male servant in charge of general duties in the house (butler?).
Workers for Martha Moseley:
House Cook: Ruth Harris (wife of "Buck" Harris)
Sharecroppers and renters to Martha Moseley:
Henry "Buck" Harris
Felix Oliver. Felix lived in the tenant house by Davis House. Felix's house was the gathering place for blues musicians during the 1930's. Felix Oliver (guitar) would play with King Mallory (fiddle and guitar) and Jim Shipp (guitar). Neighbors would dance through the night while these three played. Felix married Mary Holloway and had three sons. He was a deacon and noted singer at Strawberry Church.
Employee to Martha Moseley:
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 115. |
Murders:
1863- Martha Davis shot and killed a Union Soldier in the smoke house (not the Davis house) a Union officer came and said she was in the right. Unfortunately, a few months later the Davis family was punished by Union soldiers. They came and burned the house until "only the charred walls were left standing" (McAlexander, 70).
1870's - Susan Stephenson and her unborn child were killed. Zeek's descendants say that her "husband" (black man she was married off to in 1867) beat her to death because he was jealous of her continual and loving relationship with Eben Davis, Jr.
Side Note:
There were two log cabins built. One was built for Eben (Ebenezer) Nelms Davis' first wife and the other for his parents.
His first wife and parents never lived at the Davis House.
1838- Eben's first wife (Susan) died 2 weeks after birthing their son (David). David died five months later.
1842- Eben Davis' mother died.
1845- When Eben Davis was off to marry his second wife he received news that his father had died at Strawberry Plains.
After the Davis House was built, the main cabin was most likely used as a plantation office by the plantation overseers.
1860- One overseer hired was Flippin. Flippin was told by Davis to "treat the slaves as humanely and kind as their conduct will allow."
There are many other log slave cabins and servant houses at Strawberry Plains.
1860's - the Davis family owned 114 slaves.
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Pages 92-93. |
Family Cemeteries Located at Strawberry Plains:
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. |
Genealogical Charts:
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| Cite: McAlexander, Hubert H. Strawberry Plains Audubon Center. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2008. Print. Page 28. |
Photos of the House with Descriptions:
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| Cite: Knecht, Phillip. "Holly Springs: Davis House (1851)." Hill Country History. 07 Apr. 2016. Web. 04 Jan. 2017. https://hillcountryhistory.org/2016/04/08/holly-springs-davis-house-1851/ |
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Cite: Smith, Chesley Thorne. Strawberry Plains. 1930’s. Photograph. Chesley Thorne Smith Collection, Mississippi. Images of America Marshall County From the Collection of Chesley Thorne Smith. Dover, New Hampshire: Arcadia Publishing, 1998. 53. Print.
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