The ALGenWeb Archives Project - Lamar County - Photos of William & Hester Davis

William M. "Buck" DAVIS was married to Hester Jane NOEand they are listed on the 1870 Sanford County, Alabama, census as living near Detroit. Hester was the daughter of Thomas R. (b. November 13, 1806 TN) and Mary (b. abt 1804 TN) NOE, of Sulligent, Lamar County, Alabama. Both of her parents and a doctor who was visiting were murdered in their home on December 1, 1867. Thomas R. and Mary NOE are buried in the Pine Springs Cemetery north of Sulligent.

On July 8, 1861, Buck DAVIS joined Company G, 16th Regiment Alabama Infantry, which was raised in Marion County, and served until the end of the Civil War.

In about 1873, they moved with their children from Lamar (Sanford) County to Poteau, LeFlore County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory. The story of this move was told by their daughter, Montie DAVIS PAGE, in an Indian Pioneer Papers interview, given in 1937, online at:

http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgenweb/pioneer/ohs/pagemontiesd.html

There were only two other white families were in the area when Buck and Hester settled in the square where the Kansas City Southern Railway crosses the Frisco east of Poteau (from "The Proud Heritage of LeFlore County" by Henry L. Peck). Buck DAVIS built the first ferry boat on the Poteau River and he and a Sam McKISSACK had the first blacksmith shop in Poteau.

Several other families followed Buck and Hester from Lamar County to LeFlore County, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory, two of which were Buck's younger sister and husband, Ophelia DAVIS and John Calloway Monroe MAXEY, and Hester's sister and husband, Dezina NOE and Robert Wilson TURMAN.

On December 19, 1900, Buck DAVIS was shot and fatally wounded about three miles from Poteau on Tarby Prairie while riding his horse. Before he died, Buck identified Dave Mason, a man he had warned to stay away from his fifteen year old daughter, as the one who shot him.

Buck and Hester were the parents of eleven children: Garret Wilson, Mary Ida, Montie Sella, and Lona Della, all born in what is now Lamar County; and William Claybourn and Grace (her twin died at birth) born in Indian Territory. The other children died as infants or when very young.

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William M. "Buck" DAVIS (b. Sept., 1841; d. Dec., 1900) Date of picture - unknown (copy made from tintype)	Hester Jane NOE DAVIS (b. abt 1845; d. abt 1891) Date of picture -- unknown (copy made from tintype)