ELNATHAN G. DAVIS, farmer and trader in live-stock, was born in Bedford County, Tenn., on the farm where he is now living, December 29, 1825. His father, Elnathan Davis, was born in South Carolina in 1795, and in 1817 was married to Rebecca (Sivley) Davis, who was born in Tennessee in 1797. Of this union there were eight children reared to maturity. The father died August 12, 1856 in Bedford County, Tenn., and the mother November 6, 1885.
Our subject received a practical education in the common schools, and has followed farming as his chief occupation. He has been married twice, the first time February 20, 1851, to Miss Mary E. Wilson, of Marshall County, Tenn. The fruits of this union were two children: John W. and Cleopatra. January 13, 1870, he took for his second wife Miss Jeffie E. Norton, daughter of H. W. Norton. To this union was born one child, Eugene G. Our subject, form physical disability, was exempt from the army, but the Davis family was represented by other members. Mr. Davis is an old-line Democrat, and a member of the I. O. O. F. He has 300 acres of as fine fine land as the county affords, all well cultivated, and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.