Obituaries of Primitive Baptist Church
Members
DAVIS, ELIZABETH FOSTER
Mrs. Elizabeth Foster Davis, the oldest, and one of the most highly respected citizens of Cass County, passed over the river, March 15, 1897, at 4 o'clock p.m., at the residence of her son, George W. Davis, after an illness of some three or four weeks, from diseases incident to old age. She was first confined to her bed from what was supposed to be an accidental fal, and from then it seemed that the thread of life had worn away, until it parted without a struggle.
Grandma Davis, as she was so familiarly known in this community, was born in East Tennessee, near a place called Crab Orchard, on June 5th, 1800. In 1819 she was united in marriage, in Kentucky, to James Davis, who was born in the state of Virginia, and emigrated to Illinois in 1821, settling on a farm about three miles south of Ashland, where they remained for three years. From this place they moved to the farm now owned by George Davis, one of her sons, which place is known as the old Davis Homestead, which is located in Monroe precinct, about five miles southwest from this city (Beardstown). Her husband died in 1856. At the time of the Davis settlement in Cass County, their nearest neighbors were four miles distant, and their nearest grocery store was St. Louis, Mo. All around them was a wild, untamed wilderness, and the warwhoop of the Indians still rang out and echoed along the borders; but with that intrepid zeal which marked the character of the early settlers of Illinois, Mr. Davis and his wife erected a home, and reared a family of fourteen children, six of whom are now living, with thirty-eight grandchildren, eighty-three great-grandchildren, and six great-great grandchildren, and other relatives and many friends are left to mourn the loss of this faithful mother, friend and neighbor. She had been an earnest Christian since 1831, having joined the Primitive Baptist church, and was baptized by Elder Plasters, at that time.
Her funeral occurred at the old homestead, March 17th, at 1 o'clock p.m., Elder John L. Scott officiating, taking for his text, "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." John 10:28, 29. Elder Scott is a relative of the deceased. He preached a fitting sermon to the memory of this mother in Israel, who all along the pathway of her long life has bountifully strewn flowers of faith, hope and love. The interment was at the Davis graveyard, on the old homestead. Followed by a large concourse of relatives, neighbors and old friends, the casket containing the body was carried to its last resting place, and her grave strewn with beautiful flowers.
Thus one more of that grand community of old settlers of Cass County, who have assisted greatly in making the bright pages of its history, is gone.
- Signs of the Times, 1897, Vol. , No., p.
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