William Davis was born in Pennsylvania. Not having found information on his early life in the census records, we can only surmise that he was probably married before he married Mary Garner. There was a twenty year age difference and William was already 38 when they married so it is hard to say for sure. Maybe one day we will find out about this.

William’s family moved to Missouri when he was about 9. There is a story which has been passed down which must have happened at about this time. As a young boy, 10 or younger, William was out in his yard alone when a tribe of Blackfoot Indians came by and took him with them. They went to Osage country and William was a slave, doing cooking and other hard work. It’s not known how many years he was with them but out in western Oklahoma, there was an area where the grass was over head high in places. Another tribe of Indians came along and went to war with the tribe that had William. He escaped during the fight and hid for 2 or 3 days. He must have come across a family in a wagon, told them who he was and somehow returned to his parents. According to stories this kidnapping happened in Pennsylvania but, after studying the range of the Blackfoot, Missouri seems to be more likely.

The census of 1850 shows William back with his family, now living in Illinois. His family had moved there about 1847. He is shown as age 18, occupation baker. At some point in time he returned to Missouri, where he met and married Mary (Mollie). They moved to Texas about 1876, and stayed until 1888. They were in Indian Territory until at least 1891. William was a farmer.

Where did he die? All we can do is speculate. But there are some clues. William’s last child was born in 1890. His widow later married Francis Matlock, who was from Missouri. Mollie’s father, James Garner died in 1892 in Benton County, Missouri. Mollie probably still had family in the area and it is likely that William and family were there when William died. Most of this family were buried in unmarked graves and most likely he was no exception. Hopefully, more searching will uncover more of the secrets of the Davis family.