Fearless Females: Favorite Female Ancestor

Ida Davis

March 1 — Do you have a favorite female ancestor? One you are drawn to or want to learn more about? Write down some key facts you have already learned or what you would like to learn and outline your goals and potential sources you plan to check.


While I've written about her before, my favorite female ancestor that I would like to know more about is my maternal 2nd-great grandmother, Ida DAVIS.


Ida lived a rather short, hard life - dying at age 26.  Yet before she passed, she was married twice and gave birth to two daughters, neither of whose parentage has truly been established.  One of those daughters, June, was my great-grandmother.

Ida Davis and daughter, June

So many facts about Ida are not clearly documented.  Her parents were James Austin and Mary Ellen (SWAFFORD) DAVIS, residents of Owen County, Indiana. I have Ida's birth date as July 2, 1874 Owen County, Indiana, but do not have a documented source.  If the census record in 1900 at the door of hope I found for Ida D. HANCOCK is her - it gives her birth date as May 1874 in Indiana.


Ida was first married to Samuel G. HANCOCK,  son of Joseph and Margaret (VAUGHN) HANCOCK on August 28, 1892 in Monroe County, Indiana.  A unverified letter from a correspondent states that Ida and Samuel filed for divorce in the May of 1894 in Monroe County, Indiana. They must have divorced before 1897 when Samuel remarried in Monroe County, Indiana.  Ida's second marriage was Carvie A. MORRIS on July 19, 1900 in Monroe County, Indiana.  By August 2nd of that year, Ida died of tuberculosis in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana.

Death Record of Ida D. Morris, Owen County, Indiana

The two daughters of Ida were Pansy and June.  Pansy, the oldest, was born December 11, 1894.  Her obituary states that her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Frank Fletcher.  June, my great-grandmother, was born June 11, 1898 in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana and her birth certificate lists her parents as Atkinson and Ida DAVIS.

Birth certificate of June Davis, my great grandmother

One of my research goals is to search the court records in Monroe County and Owen County, Indiana to see if there are any records that can shed light on the parentage of her daughters.


I have not been able to locate Ida in the 1880 census, when she would be around 6 years old.  Her father, James Austin DAVIS, was enumerated in Clay Township, Owen County, Indiana as a resident of the county home, listed as "insane".  Her mother, Mary Ellen (SWAFFORD) DAVIS, was enumerated in Washington Township, Owen County, Indiana, under her maiden name, living in her father's household.  No listing of Ida or her younger sister Delia have been found in the 1880 census.


I believe that I have found Ida in the 1900 census, living in the 7th Ward of Center Township, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, listed as Ida D. HANCOCK, age 26, born May 1874 Indiana, widowed, with 2 children living.  According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (p. 458), the "Door of Hope" had a purpose to provide 'wayward girls' with shelter and assistance.  There was also an earlier reference to an Ida DAVIS in the 1898 city directory of Indianapolis, living at 606 1/2 E. Wabash.


A cousin provided the pictures I have of Ida and June above, and the following photo as well.  I'm not sure if this may be from an earlier time period and might be Ida's mother instead:

Ida Davis (1874-1900) ?

Would love to solve some of these mysteries regarding my 2nd-great grandmother.


Once again, in honor of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

Tombstone Tuesday : Henry Pierce Family Plot

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Pierce family plot, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

The PIERCE family plot in the Maplewood Cemetery in Anderson, Madison County, Indiana contains the following stones: Eva PIERCE (1877-1949), Frank PIERCE (1862-1919), Simeathy PIERCE (1834-1918) and Henry E. PIERCE (1833-1901).

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Eva Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Eva PIERCE was born June 21, 1877, probably in Madison County, Indiana, the daughter of Henry Eldred and Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE.  Eva died in 1942.  Nothing further is known at this time.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Frank Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Franklin T. PIERCE was born August 21, 1861, probably in Madison County, Indiana, the son of Henry Eldred and Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE.  He died in 1919.  Nothing further is known at this time.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Simeathy Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Simeathy (SMELSOR) PIERCE was born in 1834 in Indiana, to unknown parentage.  She married Henry Eldred PIERCE on February 14, 1855.  They resided in Lafayette Township, Madison County, Indiana.  Simeathy died in 1918.

Source: Maplewood Cemetery (Anderson, Madison County, Indiana), Henry E. Pierce marker, photographed by Travis LeMaster, 23 June 2009.

Henry Eldred PIERCE was born October 10, 1833 in Piqua, Miami County, Ohio, the son of Francis S. and Rebecca (PAGE) PIERCE.  He and Simeathy raised six children in Lafayette Township, Madison County, Indiana.  Henry died in 1901.

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Henry was the older brother of my Edmund G. PIERCE, and I have much more to discover about his family.  

Tombstone Tuesday – To participate in Tombstone Tuesday simply create a post which includes an image of a gravestone of one or more ancestors and it may also include a brief description of the image or the ancestor. This is an ongoing series at GeneaBloggers.

Heritage For Sale

I put your family heritage on eBay today. I’m hoping to get top dollar.  I struggled with the idea at first, but in the end I succumbed to my capitalistic urges.  Because I would never want to have my own heritage up for sale, I thought I would warn others so they don’t suffer the same fate as your ancestors.

I bought the photos of your great-grandparents and relatives, including the little baby in the casket, at the local auction house.  You see, I truly enjoy going to auctions and estate sales.  It’s part of the same pack-rat, “collector” mentality that draws me to genealogy.  What drew me to this sale was the fact that I knew your parents, and the local memorabilia and ephemera was simply too much for me to resist.  I made an emotional purchase, taking all of the box lots containing your family photos, scrapbooks and other newspaper clippings.  I told myself that I wanted to preserve the local history – keeping it out of the hands of the flea market dealers.  But in the end, I realized that it was not my responsibility to preserve your heritage.

Oh, I struggled with the decision to sell the photos – they were the types of photos I wish I had of my own ancestors.  Most of them were even labeled!  I found myself on Ancestry.com, searching your ancestry instead of my own.  When I reached that point I knew that I needed to purge myself of these extraneous photos.

I don’t know why your family wasn’t interested in preserving these family heirlooms.  To me, knowing they exist and not having them would create a void I would yearn to fill.  Perhaps someday, one of your descendants or an extended family member will be interested in genealogy.  Maybe they’ll ask you if there are any old photos lying around.  You’ll have to be the one to break their heart and tell them that all the pictures were sold at an auction.

The genealogist in me wouldn’t let them go into the night without trying to preserve them in some manner.  I made scans of all of them and uploaded them onto the website, DeadFred.com before placing the originals for sale.  At least this way, they will be preserved in some manner.  I may even contact your cousins on Ancestry.com and email them digital scans as well.  That should keep me from feeling too guilty.

So the next time you eat at the local Cracker Barrel, and you see someone on the wall who looks familiar – it may just be your family.