Document 2

DOCUMENT No. 2

James Davis to Son (Jesse J. Davis)
sent from: Red Shoals, N.C.
dated: 19 October, 1840
letter (privately held) -

James Davis (1753-1844) is the son of James & Margaret (Dunlap) Davis, Stokes County planters. James Davis married Elizabeth McAnnally the daughter of Jesse McAnnally and the granddaughter of one of the County's founders Capt. Charles McAnnally. James Davis owned a 2800 acre plantation in the Meadows District of Stokes County, NC. The letter which is published in the Stokes County Heritage Book, was written to Jesse Jay Davis at Glade Springs which is now Emory and Henry College in Virginia. This letter is originally transcribed by Kathleen Adkins Blackwell for the Stokes Heritage Series.

Red Shoals, N.C.(2)
Oct. 19th 1840

Dear Son (1)--

Your kind favor of the 6th instant has just bin received - which gives us Satisfaction to heare that you are well and well satisfyied with the institution. I am allso permitted to inform you that we are all enjoying a reasonable portion of health at the preasant. I have bin to the South with my waggon Since you left, and got home about two weeks ago, it was very Sickly about Cherqw (3) & Society Hill (4) which made me Some what uneasy while there for fear of catching the South Fever. I expect to make another trip to the South as soon as we are done gathering corn & sowing grain, and I want to get home in time enought to Send for you at the end of the Session. When you write again you must inform me what time the Session will be out So that I may know what time to Send for you.

You state that you have to furnish your room with a Chair, Table, Candlestick, water Bucket and washpan which is an expense that I knew not of as I was not acquanted with the rules of the Institution which makes me conclude that you did not have money enough to pay your enterance, buy your Books, & pay these other expenses named in your letter. I now send you Four Dollars which you will find Inclosed and if that is not Suffcient, you can let me know in your next letter and I will Send it when I Send for you if not before.

There has bin Some Deaths Since you left home. Russel Vawters (5) came home from the South, took the fever and did not live but a few days. Major William Cole (6) who you know has bin in a declineing State of health for some time, Died a few days ago leaving a wife and large family of Children to mourn there loss. James M. Covington (7) arived at home the day after I got home for the South. I can inform you that he is to be married next Thirsday to Miss Sary Hill (8).

Joseph B. McAnally (9) & William Flint (10) is fixing for the next Session there is allso Several others from [word scratched out] in this County that talks of going next Session.

In Conclusion I will only Say that I Still hope that you will So conduct your Self as to merit the approvation of your teachers & gain the good will of the Students which would be a Sourse of the highest Satisfaction to your loving Father-

James Davis, Jr.

to Jesse J. Davis

[envelope addressed as follows]

October 19th

to Jesse J. Davis
Glade Springs
[illegible]

Notes:

1 Son... Jesse Jay Davis (1823-1887) The fourth child of Stokes County planter James & Elizabeth (McAnally) Davis. Little family history has been remembered about Jesse Jay, the letter indicates that he attended college, though it is not clear how long he attended. Jesse returned to Stokes and became a farmer in the Meadows District. He married Arrena Catherine Null (1842-1929) the daughter of William & Mary (Tilly) Null.
2 Red Shoals, N.C. The name of the plantation and of the area on the Dan River which the Davis family's plantation was located. Red Shoals became a Post Office in 1830 and discontinued in 1866. The Post Office was re-established in 1869 and discontinued in 1920.
3 Cherqw Cheraw, SC A town on the Pee Dee River in Northeastern South Carolina near the North Carolina border. It must have been the nearest port along the Pee Dee where tobacco and goods could be shipped to Charleston.
4 Society Hill Society Hill, SC A town in Darlington County, South Carolina in the Northeaster part of the state, near the North Carolina border. Stoke County people probably used this port on the Pee Dee River as a point to ship tobacco and goods to Charleston.
5 Russl Vawters In the 1850 Census of Stoke County, Vawters are found in the household of Samuel Fulton and Wyatt Vaughn, these are the children of Bradford & Catherine (Redman) Vawter. Russel is probably kin to this Vawter family.
6 Major William Cole Probably the father of William W. Cole a Stokes County physician who is the only Cole listed on the 1850 Census. Some of these Coles intermarried with the Fulton family and emigrated to Grayson County, Texas.
7 James M. Covington James Madison Covington (1809-1888) Also known as, Matt , is the son of William & Jane (Davis) Covington, Stokes County planters. Jane is James Davis' sister; therefore, Matt is Jesse's first cousin. The WPA Guide to NC, mentions his home near Walnut Cove, as well as the fact that he was one of the largest plug tobacco manufactureres in the County. The Covington house was built by his father William about 1821 and still stand, restored on the Old Power Dam Road.
8 Miss Sary Hill Sarah G. Hill (10 Jan 1816 - 29 Jul 1880) Daughter of Joel & Mildred (Golding) Hill, Stokes County planters. Her brother Isaac married Samuel Fulton's daughter, Mary Fulton. Samuel Fulton married her sister Martha M. Hill. She is buried in the Covington family graveyard behind the old Covington house.
9 Joseph B. McAnally (1822-1852) The son of Charles & Sarah (Banner) McAnally. Charles is James Davis' brother-in-law, and Sarah is his wife's first cousin. The 1850 Census records Joseph as a neighbor to William Buck Davis, James' brother. Joseph married Elizabeth J. Clayton in 1847. It appears that Joseph was in business with William Flynt and later with Col. James M. Covington. In 1852, Joseph's brother, Charles W. McAnally filed suit against his brother's estate and against Covington.
10 William Flint William Flynt (24 May 1824 - 12 May 1876) William married the illegitamate daughter of Margaret (Davis) Carter, Minerva Davis. Minerva became the heir to her bachelor uncle's (William Davis) large estate. The 1850 Census shows William Flynt living on William Davis' plantation and a neighbor to Joseph McAnally. Flint and Joseph McAnally seem to have been business partners.

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