Field Notes

Researching Family History One Record at a Time

Ancestors / Davis

Robert Abraham Lincoln Davis

Also known as: Robert L. Davis, Robert Davis, Abraham Lincoln Davis

b. 22 Feb 1865 · Davis Corner(s), Sanilac County, Michigan – d. 27 Aug 1943 · rural McDonald County, Missouri

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Black-and-white photograph of an older man with a full beard and mustache, standing outdoors in a light-colored button-up shirt and dark trousers. An older-model car or truck is parked behind him.
Robert Abraham Lincoln Davis, photographed in Missouri by his daughter, Alice Josephine Davis Jackson, during a visit the year before her daughter Pauline was born — placing the photo in the late 1930s, during Robert's documented residence in McDonald County. The only known photograph of Robert. Original in the collection of Shannon's mother; scanned by Shannon from the original in her grandmother's photo album.

Vital Facts

Event Date Place Status Source
Birth 22 Feb 1865 Davis Corner(s), Sanilac County, Michigan Proven 1 Birthplace given as 'Davis Corner, Mich.'; consistent with earlier working location of Lexington, Sanilac County, Michigan. Birth date corroborated internally by the certificate's recorded age at death (78y 6m 5d, consistent with 22 Feb 1865 to 27 Aug 1943).
Death 27 Aug 1943 rural McDonald County, Missouri Proven 1 Cause of death: coronary thrombosis, with bronchial pneumonia as a contributing condition. Attended by physician 21–27 Aug 1943. Buried Lee Cemetery, 29 Aug 1943. Informant: Mary Hagerman (sister), of Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. Certificate records 20 years' residence in the McDonald County community, placing his settlement there at approximately 1923.

Family

Parents

  • Simon Peter Davis — b. 19 Jul 1824. Birthplace unresolved: 1870 and 1880 censuses give 'New York' (state only); Fold3's military record gives 'Sanilac County, Michigan,' which is almost certainly an error, since Sanilac County would not have existed as a settled birthplace in 1824; a daughter's 1923 death certificate names his birthplace as England, per an informant who does not appear to be an immediate family member. No source has been found for a New York, Cattaraugus County origin previously recorded on this page — that detail has been removed pending an actual citation. See Open Questions. Farmer and blacksmith in Sanilac County, Michigan; served Co. C, 6th Michigan Cavalry, 1862–1864. First postmaster of Davis Corners, Moore Township, Sanilac County, 1876. Relocated to Tennessee after the 1880 census; d. 18 Oct 1884, McEwen, Humphreys County, Tennessee; body returned to Croswell, Michigan for burial. Widow Mary was in Milan, Gibson County, Tennessee as of the 1890 veterans' schedule, and by 1900 was established in Cripple Creek, Colorado with at least two sons — the same town where Robert married Anna Maud Woodruff in 1895. Parents per Find a Grave (a compiled, secondary source): Solomon F. Davis and Nancy Randall Davis — not yet independently verified against a primary record. Simon and Mary had 11 children per the 1900 census (7 living at that date); most are not yet individually documented here. Simon does not yet have his own person page — when he does, this note's open threads (birthplace, the Solomon/Simon name question, and the fuller sibling set including a probable daughter Nancy M. Davis Balmer, 1847–1923) should move there. 2a,2b,2c,2d
  • Phoebe Mary Cease — Known in all lifetime documentary record — census enumerations and her own grave marker — as 'Mary Davis,' maiden name Cease (b. 3 Feb 1829, New York; d. 22 Jul 1903, Cripple Creek, Teller County, Colorado; father Elias Cease, unconfirmed). Her daughter Mary — herself named for her mother — gave her mother's maiden name as 'Phoebe Cease' as informant on Robert's 1943 death certificate. Yet on Mary's own 1950 death certificate, the informant (Mary's daughter, Rosalyn Hagerman) reverted to 'Mary Cease.' The contradiction is notable precisely because Mary Hagerman was her mother's namesake, which might be expected to make her testimony more authoritative rather than less. Both forms remain documented across two generations of direct testimony; which name Phoebe/Mary actually used in life, and why her own namesake daughter recorded a different one, remains an open question. 1,3

Spouses

  • Anna Maud Woodruff — m. 14 Aug 1895 , El Paso County, Colorado, at the residence of J. F. Woodruff (Proven) 4 — License issued 5 Aug 1895, Colorado Springs; ceremony performed by Wm. C. Allen, Justice of the Peace, at the Florissant-area residence of her father, John Farney Woodruff. Groom listed as Robert L. Davis of Cripple Creek; bride as Miss Maud Woodruff of Florissant. Both recorded as never previously married, not divorced. Witnesses: T. P. Golden and Mary W. Patton. Divorced 26 Jul 1920, Mineral County, Colorado (date and jurisdiction per Shannon's research; decree itself being located, not yet re-examined directly — Working Hypothesis, no source_key until decree is located). Anna Maud remarried (Charles Lane) 9 Sept 1920, 45 days later. Mineral County (county seat Creede) was the Davis/Woodruff family's home at the time, and is also where Anna Maud's mother Annie E. Chaney later settled and died in 1932. All children of this marriage are listed on Anna Maud Woodruff's page, with the exception of Charlotte Florella Lane, who is a child of Anna Maud's second marriage, to Charles Lane.
  • Cora Davis — m. unknown (Unverified) 1 — No marriage license located. Documented only by Robert's 1943 death certificate, which lists her as his wife, age 76 if living. Marriage almost certainly postdates a known visit during which Alice Josephine Davis (Robert's daughter) brought her own children to Missouri to see him; at that time he was living with his sister, unmarried. Unknown to Robert's direct descendants via Anna Maud.

Children

  • (see Anna Maud Woodruff's page for full list with Robert Davis) — All children of Robert and Anna Maud's marriage are documented on Anna Maud Woodruff's page, including son Robert Lincoln Davis, who died in the 1918 influenza pandemic one month before his 18th birthday — a death the family connected emotionally to the strain of his parents' marriage, which ended in divorce two years later.

Research Narrative

Robert Abraham Lincoln Davis is Shannon's great-grandfather, the first husband of Anna Maud Woodruff and father of Alice Josephine Davis Jackson. His life traces a quiet but eventful arc: born in Michigan in 1865, he married Anna Maud Woodruff in 1895 at her father's home near Florissant, Colorado, and the couple settled in Mineral County — the mining county seated at Creede, where their daughter Alice Josephine was born and where William Thomas Jackson, the man she would later marry, was born as well. The marriage ended there too: a divorce on 26 July 1920, a date the family has long connected to the death, two years earlier, of their teenage son Robert Lincoln Davis in the 1918 influenza pandemic. Anna Maud remarried within weeks; Robert, by contrast, left Colorado for Missouri, reportedly along with members of his own family, and appears to have settled permanently in the McDonald County area by around 1923. What happened to Robert in the more than two decades that followed is only now coming into view. His 1943 death certificate reveals a second marriage, to a woman named Cora, entirely unknown to his daughter Alice Josephine and her own descendants. No marriage record for this union has yet been found, leaving Cora herself something of a mystery — was this a quiet second chapter the Colorado side of the family simply lost track of, or something Robert kept deliberately separate from his earlier life? The certificate's informant, his sister Mary Hagerman, suggests the answer may lie with the Missouri and Arkansas branch of the Davis family, who may have known a great deal that never made its way back to Colorado. A small but telling discrepancy surfaces in the record of Robert's own mother. Every document generated during her lifetime, and her grave marker itself, name her Mary Davis, née Cease. Yet her daughter — testifying as the informant on Robert's death certificate — gave her mother's name as Phoebe. The two are recorded together here as Phoebe Mary Cease, honoring the possibility that a daughter knew her mother's true name better than the public record ever did, while leaving the question of which name she actually used in life open for further research. Family memory adds a human dimension the documents alone don't capture. Robert's granddaughter Josephine — Shannon's own grandmother — recalled that Simon Peter and Phoebe Mary were a mismatched pair: her grandmother was constantly at work, tending her garden, taking in laundry and housekeeping for others, and serving as the local mining community's midwife and triage nurse, all while raising a large family, while her grandfather's attention turned more readily to books and poetry. It was not unusual, Josephine said, for him to come home having spent his paycheck on a bag of books, telling the family that food for the soul mattered as much as food for the body.

Two further documents close part of that mystery's edges, if not its center. A Colorado marriage record confirms that Mary Hagerman — the sister who served as informant on Robert's death certificate — was Mary L. Davis before her marriage to Samuel T. Hagerman on 29 December 1897 in Cripple Creek, and the 1900 census shows the couple's household intact three years later with an infant daughter, Rosalyn. That same Rosalyn appears again fifty years later as the informant on her mother's own 1950 death certificate, closing the loop between the two records. And in a small, quietly touching detail, both siblings' final arrangements were handled by the same funeral director, E. R. Pyeatt of Sulphur Springs, Arkansas — a thread of continuity between brother and sister that neither certificate states outright, but that the paperwork itself preserves.

The family's migration to Missouri was more circuitous than first remembered. In 1930, Robert was not with his son Frank — Frank's own family was still settled in Creede, Colorado, living just a few doors from William and Alice Jackson — while Robert himself was thirteen hundred miles away in Bisbee, Arizona, staying with his sister Rosamond "Rose" Davis Brown and her husband Thomas. By 1940, both branches — Robert and Frank's family alike — had regrouped in McDonald County, Missouri, with Robert enumerated as a grandfather in Frank's household. Which of them arrived first, and whether one followed the other or they converged independently, isn't yet known.

Timeline

  1. 22 Feb 1865 Born, Davis Corner(s), Sanilac County, Michigan. 1
  2. 5 Aug 1895 Marriage license issued, El Paso County, Colorado. 4
  3. 14 Aug 1895 Marries Anna Maud Woodruff at the residence of her father, John Farney Woodruff, Florissant area, El Paso County, Colorado. 4
  4. 26 Jul 1920 Divorces Anna Maud Woodruff, Mineral County, Colorado. Per Shannon's research; decree being located
  5. after 1930 Relocates to Missouri, reportedly along with a number of his Davis relatives. Family account; not yet independently documented by census or directory record
  6. ca. 1923 Settles in the McDonald County, Missouri community where he would remain for the rest of his life (per 20-year residency recorded on his death certificate). 1
  7. 1 Apr 1930 Enumerated as brother-in-law in the Bisbee, Cochise County, Arizona household of his sister, Rosamond "Rose" Davis Brown, and her husband, Thomas A. Brown. 5
  8. unknown Marries a woman named Cora; no marriage license located, and the union is unknown to his descendants via Anna Maud. 1
  9. 1 Apr 1940 Enumerated as grandfather in the household of his son, Frank J. Davis, Elk River Township, McDonald County, Missouri — confirming that at least one of his children followed him to Missouri after the 1920 divorce. 6
  10. 27 Aug 1943 Dies, rural McDonald County, Missouri, of coronary thrombosis with bronchial pneumonia. Informant on the death certificate is his sister, Mary Hagerman, of Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. 1
  11. 29 Aug 1943 Buried, Lee Cemetery. 1

Open Research Questions

  1. Can the actual Mineral County divorce decree (Robert Davis v. Anna Maud Davis, 26 Jul 1920) be located and its details confirmed? high

    Jurisdiction (Mineral County, Colorado) and date are established by Shannon's prior research; the document itself is being located.

  2. Who was Cora, and when did Robert marry her? high

    No marriage license located. The only documentary trace is the 1943 death certificate. Worth searching Missouri marriage records for McDonald County and surrounding counties, ca. 1923–1943.

  3. What was Phoebe Mary Cease actually called in life — was 'Phoebe' a name she used personally, or only her birth-registered name, with 'Mary' the name she went by socially? medium

    All lifetime documentation (census, grave marker) gives 'Mary.' Only her daughter's death-certificate testimony gives 'Phoebe.'

  4. Was Simon Peter Davis's birth name actually 'Solomon Peter Davis,' with 'Simon' a lifelong variant/nickname — or did an informant confuse him with his own father? medium

    His daughter Nancy's 1923 death certificate names her father as 'Solomon [P.] Davis,' not Simon. Two competing explanations, not yet distinguished: (1) his actual given name was Solomon, with 'Simon' used informally throughout his documented adult life (headstone, census, military records, postmaster appointment all say 'Simon P.'/'Simon Peter'); or (2) the informant, Mrs. A. J. McDonald — not an immediate family member — conflated him with his own father, whom Find a Grave's compiled record names as Solomon F. Davis. The same document is also the source for a third, separate open question: Simon's birthplace, which it gives as England, conflicting with the New York given by the 1870/1880 censuses.

  5. Where was Simon Peter Davis actually born? medium

    Three conflicting claims: 1870/1880 censuses say New York (state only, no county); Fold3's military record says Sanilac County, Michigan (likely an error); a daughter's 1923 death certificate says England, per a non-family informant. A previously recorded 'Cattaraugus County, New York' claim has been removed — no source for it has been located.

  6. In what order did Robert and his son Frank's family arrive in McDonald County, Missouri, and did one follow the other? medium

    In 1930, Robert was in Bisbee, Arizona with his sister Rosamond Brown's family, while Frank's own family was still in Creede, Mineral County, Colorado. By 1940, both were in the same household in McDonald County, Missouri. The original family account (Robert left Creede for Missouri, and the family followed) is only partly right — Robert's actual path went through Arizona, not directly to Missouri, and Frank's family made a separate move from Colorado. Sequence and reasons for both moves are undocumented.

Repository Targets

  • Mineral County, Colorado — District/County Court (Creede) — Divorce decree, Robert Davis v. Anna Maud Davis, 26 Jul 1920 [Location believed known; decree itself being located]
  • El Paso County, Colorado — Clerk and Recorder — Marriage license and certificate (obtained) [Obtained]
  • Missouri Department of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics — Death certificate (obtained); marriage record search for 'Cora' surname unknown [Death certificate obtained; Cora marriage search not yet conducted]
  • McDonald County, Missouri / Sulphur Springs, Arkansas area — Census records, city directories, for Robert Davis and Mary Hagerman ca. 1920–1943 [Not yet searched]

References

  • 1. ↩ “Missouri, Death Certificates, 1910–1962,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 July 2026), Robert L. Davis, 1943, State File No. 28708; citing Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Jefferson City, Missouri.
  • 2a. ↩ Simon P. Davis headstone, Croswell Cemetery, Croswell, Sanilac County, Michigan, reading "Simon P. Davis, late of Co. C, 6th Mich. Cav., born July 19, 1824, died Oct. 18, 1884, Resting"; photographed by Don & Wendy McCallum, in Find A Grave, memorial 56982096 (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56982096 : accessed 20 Jul 2026).
  • 2b. ↩ Fold3, “Simon P Davis” (https://www.fold3.com/memorial/662025774/simon-p-davis-civil-war-stories : accessed 20 Jul 2026), Michigan 6th Volunteer Cavalry, Company C, private, enlisted 5 Sep/11 Oct 1862, discharged (transferred) 15 Jan 1864, death 18 Oct 1884, McEwen, Humphreys County, Tennessee, burial Croswell Cemetery, Croswell, Sanilac County, Michigan.
  • 2c. ↩ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56982096 : accessed 20 Jul 2026), memorial 56982096, Simon Peter Davis (19 Jul 1824–18 Oct 1884), Croswell Cemetery, Croswell, Sanilac County, Michigan, Section Old C; maintained by Miss BeeHaven, originally created by Shelley Hulsizer.
  • 2d. ↩ “Urban — Sanilac County,” The Minden City Herald (Minden City, Michigan), 11 March 2004, p. 6, col. 2, par. 4; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Jul 2026). States that the rural post office in Moore Township was first named Davis Corners for Simon P. Davis, who became its first postmaster 18 February 1876; renamed Urban 26 December 1883, operated until 30 June 1906.
  • 3. ↩ “Missouri, Death Certificates, 1910–1962,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 July 2026), Mary D. Hagerman, 1950, State File No. 20870; citing Missouri Office of the Secretary of State, Jefferson City, Missouri.
  • 4. ↩ “Colorado, U.S., Select County Marriages, 1863-2018,” database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 20 Jul 2026), Robert L. Davis and Maud Woodruff, Marriage License and Certificate No. 19, license issued 5 August 1895, El Paso County, Colorado; ceremony performed 14 August 1895 at the residence of J. F. Woodruff, Florissant, El Paso County, by Wm. C. Allen, Justice of the Peace; witnesses T. P. Golden and Mary W. Patton; image 378 of 837; citing El Paso County Recorder's Office, El Paso County Marriages, 1862-2018.
  • 5. ↩ 1930 U.S. census, Cochise County, Arizona, Bisbee, Precinct 2, Enumeration District 2-6, sheet 6B, dwelling 69, family 108, Thomas A. Brown household; enumerated 8 Apr 1930 by Mrs. A. M. Bass; database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Jul 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication T626. Robert [A.] Davis, brother-in-law, age 62 [sic; inconsistent with birth year 1865 established elsewhere], divorced, b. Michigan, occupation carpenter (building); father's and mother's birthplaces given as Ohio and Ohio, which do not match any other source for Simon Peter Davis or Phoebe Mary Cease and appear to be informant error — Rosamond's own entry on the same line above gives an identical (and equally unsupported) 'Ohio/Ohio' for their parents, suggesting a single uninformed informant rather than two independent conflicts.
  • 6. ↩ 1940 U.S. census, McDonald County, Missouri, Elk River Township, Enumeration District 60-9, sheet 9B, household of Frank J. Davis; enumerated 19 Apr 1940 by Leonard Alexander. Robert L. Davis, grandfather, age 75, divorced, b. Michigan, residing on Pack Road; household also includes Frank J. Davis (son, 43), Caroline E. Davis (daughter-in-law, 34), Lee R. (grandson, 14), Maud P. (granddaughter, 12), and Nancy A. (granddaughter, 10); database with images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Jul 2026); citing NARA microfilm publication T627.