Daily News Journal, Susan Harber, May 17, 2015
Alfred and John Davis were brothers of local hero Sam Davis of Smyrna and forged their own lives within history.
Charles Lewis Davis of Virginia wed first wife, Margaret Saunders, who died at age 36. Her children included Mary, Alfred, William, and John.
In 1841, Charles wed Jane Simmons, who was the only child of Edmund and Elizabeth Simmons of Mecklenburg, Virginia. Her father died a young man in 1824 with no will.
This tombstone marks the burial site of Alfred J. Davis, brother of Sam Davis. (Photo: Submitted)
Elizabeth, in financial need, then moved to Rutherford County bringing Jane, her only child, in 1823 at 1-year-old. Jane was 18 when she married Charles and bore Sam, Margaret, Oscar, Andromedia, Everard, Lizzie, Fannie, Charles, and Hickman.
The Davis family initially lived in a log home on Almaville Road near present-day Interstate 24 in Stewartsboro. In 1847, Charles purchased a large farm for a growing family on property now designated as the Sam Davis Home.
There were 13 children living in the house, along with the grandmother (Elizabeth Collier Simmons)’ and living quarters were full to the brim. The first child was born in 1825 with a 30-year span from youngest to oldest. Everard died at age 1 and was the only child who did not reach adulthood.
John Davis, born in 1839, was three years older than Sam, his half-brother, and they were very close-knit. John was merely 1 year old when his mother Margaret died.
John and Sam had much in common and knew how to work and play hard on 800 acres of discovery. As children, their lives were intertwined into chores and schooling, and they thrived every day.
Like Sam, John was a soldier on the first order. Along with Capt. Henry Shaw, John hand-selected 20 Coleman Scouts in a spy operation; and he recruited Sam to join this elite circle, as historical happenings began in succession.
John and Alfred Douglas were the first two scouts sent on a mission. John was directed by Gen. Cheatham and Gen Hardee to spy on the enemy in Nashville; and the generals later stated he succeeded beyond expectation.
During the war, John met fellow phenomenal spy Mary Kate Patterson of La Vergne at a gathering in her parents’ home, and a romance ensued during turbulent times.
Her father, Hugh Patterson, a well-respected physician, supplied medicine to the Confederate Army. The Patterson family home was an underground headquarters for the Coleman Scouts. Both Sam and John Davis were active participants in missions under command of Gen. Braxton Bragg and closely tied to the Patterson directives.
John was wounded once in the Civil War. He also contracted a severe bout of typhoid fever and was granted an honorable discharge. While recuperating at home, he received word Sam had died, and he was devastated.
On Feb. 25, 1864, Mary Kate and John Davis were married.
After the war, H.G. Shaw, leader of the Coleman Scouts, persuaded Charles and John Davis to purchase a steamboat named David White for $50,000.
On Feb. 17, 1867, the boat blew up in a tragic accident on the Mississippi River near Memphis, and many lives were lost, including Shaw and John Davis.
John was only 28 years old with a full life ahead. Mary Kate referred to him as her “precious husband” and sojourned on in despair.
While John was self-confident and full of enthusiasm for life, his brother Alfred Davis lived a full 83 years but never found contentment. Alfred (1830-1913) was 33 years old when his half-brother Sam died at age 21.
Alfred was 9 when his mother perished. Within a year, Charles married his stepmother Jane Simmons, who would bear nine children in the home.
Alfred continued to live with his family as an adult teaching his younger brothers how to hunt and farm the land. After Everett died of illness in 1851, Alfred remained in the home as caretaker.
Alfred married Nancy Edwards on Oct, 14, 1858, in Rutherford County. He operated a nearby farm, and the couple had three children: Sallie, Emma, and Ruth.
He suffered through three successive deaths beginning with his brothers Sam (1863), John (1867) and wife Nancy, who died before 1900. Alfred moved on to marry Ruth Ellen Cordell, who bore a daughter, Queen Victoria.
At the time of marriage in 1899, Alfred was 69 years old and Ruth was 18. Alfred was a profitable farmer and owned $3,500 of real estate by 1870. Yet he did not trust banks and hid money on his property.
In 1904, Ruth Cordell’s sister, Lena, was murdered in Dallas, Texas, by her husband, Samuel, who then killed himself. Alfred and Ruth took in their children Clyde (11) and Bertha (12). With no note or reason, Alfred took his life on Dec. 28, 1913.
A ledger in the Sam Davis Home contains an itemized account of auctioned goods from Alfred Davis’ estate after his death and is dated Jan. 1914.
By 1930, the home was deeded to the Sam Davis Memorial Association, and Alfred’s sister, Andromedia, led early tours of the home and property.
Alfred is buried at Evergreen in Murfreesboro, and his second wife, Ruth Cordell Glymp, is buried at Mapleview in Smyrna.
Along with Sam, John and Alfred were casualties of loss resulting from long-lasting effects of a war that should have never occurred. These men began life with great zeal and joy only to die in conflicting and tragic circumstances.