Anne Turberville Beale and Joseph Hoomes Davis
Joseph Hoomes Davis first married Martha F. Beale and had one son, Robert Beale Davis (1835 – 1864) who was killed at the Battle of Peebles Farm near Petersburg, Virginia during the Civil War. Martha never recovered from childbirth, leaving Davis, a Methodist circuit minister, with an infant child. Davis turned to his wife’s sister, Anne T. Beale, for help, which she provided soon coming to love the boy as her own. Indeed, as time progressed it is evident through the many tender letters exchanged between the traveling minister and Anne Beale that a romance was growing. They wed in Baltimore on 10 May, 1838, and she joined him as he accepted a post in New Bern, North Carolina. They had the following children:
- Wilbur Fisk Davis (1839 – 1912)
- John Williams Corbin Davis (1841 – 1913)
- Olin Lee Turberville Davis (1844 – 1922)
- Martha Anne “Nannie” Davis (1846 – 1932)
Continuing to follow this to my father, we choose Wilbur Fisk Davis. Wilbur was educated at University of Virginia, and soon found himself drawn into the Civil War. As he had a lameness that made him unfit for service in the infantry or cavalry, he was allowed to enlist in an artillery battery. He finished the war, rising to the position of Sergeant Major of the battery and being captured in the last year of the war. He was interned briefly in a prison camp, but was paroled when it was obvious the war was ending soon. He then followed in his father’s footsteps, joining the Methodist ministry. He married Ella Virginia Sampson of Albemarle County, daughter of Stephen F. Sampson, on 30 August 1866. They had the following children:
- Annie Campbell Davis (1868 – 1931)
- Sallie Lee Davis (1870 – 1949)
- Roberta Beale Davis (1872 – 1955)
- Ella Virginia Davis (1875 – 1978)
- Joseph Steven Sampson Davis (1877 – 1968)
- Mary Hoomes Davis (1879 – 1954)
Mary Hoomes Davis was my grandmother. She was also active in Methodist teachings and joined the Rosebud Missionary Society in providing Christian education to many foreign countries. She was posted as a teacher in a school in Monterrey, Mexico. While there, she met a dashing young man and fellow Rosebud from North Dakota and Canada named Frederick Nassau Whittaker. Following a courtship that encompassed Monterrey, Mexico and Westmoreland County, Virginia, the couple wed at the Beale home, Cabinford on 6 June 1912. Mary’s cousin the Rev. George William Beale officiated. They had the following children:
- Arthur Davis Whittaker (1913 – 1997) – My father
- Frederick Nassau Whittaker, Jr. (1916 – 2000)
- Charlotte Whittaker (1918 – 1921)
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