COL. REUBEN A. DAVIS, chairman of the county court of Morgan County, is the grandson of John M. DAVIS, one of the first settlers of the county. The latter came from Louisa County, Va., and located in Morgan County about one mile from Melhon’s Ford on Emory River, where he lived for several years. He then removed to Little Emory, where he died about 1853. He had a family of three daughters and five sons, of whom JOSEPH S., the father of our subject, was the eldest. He was born in Virginia about the year 1800, and as a boy came with his father’s family to Tennessee. In 1823 he married Amanda, a daughter of CHARLES WILLIAMS, who came to Tennessee from Appomattox, Va., about 1814. They had five children, Melinda, (Mrs. Abner F. Staples), John M., Charles G., Susannah, (Mrs. Lemuel Summer), and Reuben A. The last named was born on April 12, 1833, in Roane County, near the Little Emory Iron Works. When he was only six months old his mother died, and at the age of twelve he was left an orphan. He then went to work for his uncle, at $4 per month, and continued to work for him until he reached the age of eighteen. At this time he engaged in the stock business, buying cattle in Morgan and surrounding counties, and driving them to Virginia. In August, 1863, he entered the Eleventh Regiment of Tennessee (Federal) Cavalry as lieutenant-colonel, and continued in that position until just before the consolidation of the the Eleventh and Ninth Regiments. On February 22, 1864, while leading his regiment in an engagement at Weirman’s Mill, Virginia against the brigade of Gen. Jones, he received two minie-balls in his body, both of which he still carries. He was captured by the enemy and held a prisoner for a time, but finally made his escape. In 1865 he purchased the farm where he now resides, consisting of 1,000 acres, of which 300 are in cultivation. In May 1855, Col. Davis was married to Lucinda Summer, a native of the county, and a daughter of William and Clarissa (Staples) Summer. Ten children have been born to them, nine of whom are now living. They are, Virginia (Mrs. John Williams), John M., Milly A., Amanda, David K.T., William H., Charles II., Albert C., and Clarissa. Col. Davis has filled the office of county surveyer for one term, and is now serving his third term of chairman as the county court. He has been a member of the Masonic Fraternity for twenty-one years and in politics is a Democrat.
Source: History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.