On Friday, June 29, 1945, the Pocatello Tribune printed a short obituary of Edward Henry Davis, who had died in a Pocatello hospital the evening before, aged 72. He was the Ed Davis who, with his wife Esther, had kept the general store at Arbon near their ranch from at least 1914 until 1931. An earlier post follows that store through the American Falls Press. This one follows the family in the later papers, through Ed's death and, twenty-six years later, the death of his son Orval, who was born at Arbon and ranched there most of his life.
The store as a signpost
Two years before the Davises gave up the store, it was still a landmark. On April 15, 1929, the Tribune carried a notice of a public auction of sixteen work horses, "4 to 8 years—1300 to 1600 lbs.", to be sold on Wednesday, April 17, "at the JIM PAYNE RANCH (1-2 Mile East Ed Davis' Store) ARBON." The notice gave its reason: "The Payne Brothers have purchased a MODEL 30 'CATERPILLAR' TRACTOR and are therefore disposing of their horses." Jim Payne was very probably Ed's son-in-law. Ed's daughter Sarah was Mrs. James Payne, and in November 1915 the Press had reported that Mr. and Mrs. Jim Payne's new baby girl was the first grandchild of E. H. Davis.
Ed Davis's life
The 1945 obituary gives the outline of his life. His parents were David P. and Elizabeth Griffith Davis, and he was born at Samaria, Idaho, on April 4, 1873. On September 25, 1892, Esther Arbon, a daughter of George Arbon, became his wife. The obituary places the wedding at Samaria, and the family history on this site places it at Pleasantview, a few miles to the north. By the obituary's reckoning he had been at Arbon for about fifty years, farming and running livestock, and the family history dates the couple's settling to 1894. It also recalled that he had once presided over the Arbon ward as its bishop. The family history on this site dates his term as bishop to 1914–16.
The obituary put his move to Bannock County about twenty years before his death, and named Pocatello and Tyhee, north of the city, as the places he had lived since. That would put the move at about 1925, which is earlier than the other records suggest. The Press of January 3, 1924, reported the first known winter they spent in town:
Mr. Ed. Davis and his wife went to Pocatello, Idaho, Friday evening, and are going to stay for the winter and coming back next summer.
But the 1929 auction notice still called the store Ed Davis's. Esther's obituary in 1954 says the couple kept it until 1931, and the research for this site finds them living at Tyhee by 1935. The papers read for this post do not say when the ranch at Arbon stopped being their home.
They kept ties to the valley. On December 31, 1940, the Tribune described a recent meeting at the Pauline schoolhouse, where farmers set out to bring Rural Electrification Administration power to Arbon Valley and Crystal, and it named those who had signed on. The list included E. H. Davis, very probably Ed himself, along with his sons Eddie, Ernest and Orval and James L. Payne.
In 1945 four of Ed and Esther's six children still lived at Arbon: Edward A. (Eddie, who had married May Mathews in 1917), Sarah (Mrs. James Payne), Ernest and Orval. George lived in Los Angeles and Elizabeth (Mrs. J. H. Hopkins) at Rock Springs, Wyoming. Ed's sister, listed as Mrs. Joseph N. Arbon of Pocatello, was the wife of Esther's brother Joe, so the Davis and Arbon families were joined twice over. When Joe and Lizzie Arbon held an open house at their new Pocatello home for their golden wedding in November 1948, Mrs. Eddie Davis and Mrs. Orval Davis were among the women who served the cake and punch.
The funeral was set for the LDS First Ward chapel in Pocatello. The site's family history says Ed was buried in Mountain View Cemetery there. Esther died on April 5, 1954, and was buried beside him.
Orval Davis
Orval Clarence Davis, the fourth of the six children, was born at Arbon on April 25, 1902. He and Delora Thomas were wed in Pocatello on March 22, 1930; her father, Joseph T. Thomas, had kept the general store at Pauline in 1920, according to the research for this site. Arbon became the couple's home, and they ran cattle there and dry-farmed. A Pocatello house bought in 1946 gave them a place in town for the winters from then on. His memberships included the Portneuf Grange and the Farm Bureau, and the obituary names rodeos and hunting as his pastimes.
An illness ended his life at Bannock Memorial Hospital on Monday, April 26, 1971, one day after he turned sixty-nine. Bishop Dave Lusk of the Arbon Ward was to conduct the funeral on Thursday, April 29, in the 22nd Ward chapel in Pocatello, to be followed by burial in Mountain View Cemetery. He left his wife, his son Norman and three grandchildren, along with two brothers, Ernest in Reno and Dr. George A. Davis in Los Angeles, and two sisters, Sarah Payne and Elizabeth Hopkins, who both lived in Pocatello. Eddie was not named, and the papers read for this post do not mention his death. The family history on this site says Norm Davis, Orval's only child, ran the family farm until the early 2000s.
On this site: the Davis family, the Arbon family and the Arbon area.
The story as reported
Pocatello Tribune, June 29, 1945, page 5. The original article is under copyright; this is our own report of what it said.
The paper reported the death of Edward Henry Davis, aged 72, which came in a Pocatello hospital on the evening of Thursday, June 28, 1945. He had spent half a century at Arbon and had once been bishop of its Latter-day Saint ward.
He was a Samaria, Idaho, native whose parents were David P. and Elizabeth Griffith Davis; his birthday was April 4, 1873. The wedding to Esther Arbon took place at Samaria on September 25, 1892. Crops and livestock had been his living since he took up life at Arbon roughly fifty years earlier. For about two decades before his death, Pocatello and nearby Tyhee, both in Bannock County, had been where he lived. The paper also mentioned his involvement in church work and in the life of the community.
Six children and his wife, Esther Arbon Davis, were left behind. Four of the children were at Arbon: the sons Edward A., Ernest R. and Orval C. Davis and the daughter Mrs. James Payne. Of the other two, George A. Davis made his home in Los Angeles and Mrs. J. H. Hopkins in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The family also counted 11 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. His brothers Owen T. and David G. Davis were Ogden residents, and his sister, Mrs. Joseph N. Arbon, lived in Pocatello.
Monday at 2 p.m. was the time set for the service, to be led by Bishop George J. Davis in the First Ward LDS chapel, and the Hall mortuary was handling the arrangements.
Sources
- Pocatello Tribune, June 29, 1945, page 5
- Idaho State Journal, April 27, 1971, page 2
- Idaho State Journal, April 28, 1971, page 2
- Pocatello Tribune, April 15, 1929, page 6
- Pocatello Tribune, December 31, 1940, page 8
- Pocatello Tribune, November 25, 1948, page 3
- American Falls Press, January 3, 1924, page 2
- American Falls Press, November 11, 1915, page 5
- Deseret News, April 6, 1954, page 32