Davis Family Papers, 1815-1983 | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

Scope and Contents:

This collection contains documents from several generations of the Davis family. It includes land grants, deeds, promissory notes, and a nearly complete set of tax receipts from 1849 to 1942. It also includes numerous photographs of family and friends, especially from the mid-twentieth century. Represented in the collection are William Davis (1822-1908), John William Davis (1858-1942), William Thomas Davis (1887-1964), Aria Davis Baker (1903-1990), Golda Davis Goekler (1910-1991) and (William) Ray Baker (1904-1988), among many others.

Biographical/Historical Context:

William J. Davis (1822-1908) was born in Kentucky and moved to Clark County, Illinois, in the 1850s. The Davis family lived and farmed in Anderson Township for several decades.

Acquisition Source: Hazel Baker Lee of Johnson City, Tennessee, who graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a Master's in Library and Information Science, donated the collection to the Library in 2013.