The Davis family.
Photographs, land patents and family trees of the Davis family, arranged by generation, from the oldest to the youngest. Undated pictures keep their place in the family; dates and names are as recorded. 2 photographs · 1 land patent · 2 newspaper clippings · 2 family trees.
The homesteading generation
The men and women who took up land in the valley. From the accounts of Edward Henry Davis & Esther Rebecca Arbon.
View photograph ↗Edward and Esther Arbon Davis
Identified by file name.
From: Edward Henry Davis & Esther Rebecca Arbon ↗The second generation
Children of the homesteaders. From the accounts of Eddie Arbon Davis & Rosa May Mathews.
View photograph ↗Eddie and May Davis with daughters
Identified by file name.
From: Eddie Arbon Davis & Rosa May Mathews ↗Land patents
Federal patents to the family’s land, from the General Land Office records, in date order.
View photograph ↗Desert Land Act patent to Edward H. Davis, 1907
Federal land patent signed May 20, 1907 (BLM serial IDIDAA 005259). Shown: the top of the first page.
Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (public domain)In the old papers
Clippings of newspaper articles that name the family, in the order they were printed. Each opens the story retold from it. All the clippings ↗
View photograph ↗At the Davis store, the housework takes a back seat
Esther Davis kept house, kept chickens and kept the counter of the general store she and Ed Davis ran at Arbon, a valley landmark until 1931.
From: At the Davis store, the housework takes a back seat ↗
View photograph ↗Arbon Valley sets a day to poison its squirrels
In the spring of 1920 Arbon Valley’s farmers chose a day to spread strychnine bait against the ground squirrels eating their wheat, part of a Power County campaign that ran for years and cost Ed Davis four of his best horses.
From: Arbon Valley sets a day to poison its squirrels ↗Family trees
The family-tree charts drawn for the family histories, oldest generation first.
View photograph ↗Family diagram from Edward Henry Davis & Esther Rebecca Arbon
Names and further details have not been identified in the original caption.
From: Edward Henry Davis & Esther Rebecca Arbon ↗
View photograph ↗Family diagram from Eddie Arbon Davis & Rosa May Mathews
Names and further details have not been identified in the original caption.
From: Eddie Arbon Davis & Rosa May Mathews ↗Help put names to these pictures.
Many of these photographs still need names, places and dates. If you know who is in one, open it and choose “Help identify this photograph”. If your family keeps photographs of the valley, the archive would love to see them.