Mother Ruby Lee Underwood Davis (December 17th, 1896 - March 9th, 1964) Father John Jasper Davis, Jr. (November 4th, 1888 - November 20th, 1948) Siblings Maudie Kelley (~1915 - March 23rd, 2002) Porter Thad Davis (June 11th, 1916 - November 26th, 1965) Edith Mae Lawson (March 13th, 1918 - September 29th, 1955) John Harold Davis (June 19th, 1920 - October 4th, 1984) Jackearl Davis (1932 - 1935) Rubye (Lila) Faye Davis (March 13th, 1935 - June 20th, 1972) Unknown Eighth Child (Died Around Birth)
Family Beginnings Father John Jasper Davis, Jr. lived his life a farmer, initially working on his family's farm in eastern Jones County. While working on the farm, he would support his family through earning a wage as a laborer in one of Laurel's numerous lumber mills. Around his early 40s, he would hold a higher role in the lumber industry, being a foreman at a wood logging business. Though registering for the Draft in 1918, he is recorded as never being a veteran, according to the 1930 census. Davis, Jr. was of medium height and build, and his eyes were dark blue, his hair black. He attended school to the sixth grade.
Mother Ruby Lee Underwood Davis grew up, being an Underwood, in Sandersville in northeast Jones County. She earned the nickname "Rivilee" (RI-vuh-lee) due to a Southern-drawl tendency to incorporate her first two names into one word. Ruby Lee stayed in school up to the eighth grade.
The two married in late 1911, Davis, Jr. at 23, Ruby Lee at 14. From then on, the couple would live in various locations throughout the tri-county area of Jones, Wayne, and Perry before finally settling in the Myrick community, within a stone's throw of the Jones-Wayne county line.
The marriage would last 37 years to the death of Davis, Jr. at the hands of leukemia, dying at Laurel General Hospital. After her husband's death, Ruby Lee would sell the family land to son John Harold, continuing to stay there, roam around to her children's homes, and live on her own, all at different times. in 1957 specifically, she lived by herself on Bay Springs Dive in Laurel. Ruby Lee would pass away at Laurel General less than two decades later.
Siblings Ruby Lee had eight children with Davis, Jr. Charles was the fifth, with two sisters and brothers before him, and two sisters and one brother after him. --- Maudie Davis was the eldest child, staying in school to the ninth grade. She married Angus McQuaig Wright (August 10th, 1898 - October 19th, 1979) on March 23rd, 1934, in Ellisville, leaving the family home to live with him. Angus worked at the Masonite Corporation in Laurel.
Angus had a troubled life. In February 1930, he was charged by the state for the crime of assault and battery with intent. In May of that year, he and his previous wife Quinnie Vinson (August 6th, 1903 - November 9th, 1970) officially divorced. Later in September of 1931, Angus was hospitalized after an altercation with a Colin Poe that resulted in Angus’s stabbing.
Though it is unclear what level of strife the Wright household contained, whatever it was seems to have led to their divorce. This is apparent as Maudie was officially documented in filing a new marriage with William David "Uncle Dave" Kelley (January 14th, 1898 - October 6th, 1977) on January 20th, 1948, in Jones County. William had married Maudie less than a year after the death of his previous wife Belvie C. (Sanderson) Kelley (April 19th, 1900 - September 19th, 1947). William and Belvie had six children together, but he and Maudie had no children.
While married to Angus, Maudie had at least one child, Nolan John "Jackie" Wright (November 25th, 1938 - March 25th, 2011). After her marriage with William, it seems that the couple lived in Waynesboro, Wayne County, for the remainder of their lives. Maudie, William, and Belvie are all buried in the Kelley-Mozingo Cemetery west of Waynesboro. --- Porter Thad Davis came second. Born in Laurel, he would lead a military career throughout his life, first seeing action in World War II, then the Korean War, and finally the Vietnam War. His usual duty was as a Mess Steward. He was 5'7"; weighed 146 pounds; and had gray eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion at the time of registering for the Draft in 1941.
He married Joyce Collins (~1919 - May 13th, 1997) of Calhoun sometime near the outbreak of World War II. Over the years, they would live wherever he was needed in the military. This included Riverside, California, during World War II as he was sent to Hawaii and Phenix City, Alabama, near Fort Benning, Georgia, during the Vietnam War. When the Vietnam War began, he was part of the famous 1st Cavalry Division, which would utilize a new tactic of airmobile transport during the war. Interviewed by The Daily Independent from Kannapolis, North Carolina, about his impending deployment to South Vietnam, he said, "I'm not quite ready, but I'm willing... A man couldn't hardly afford to run out just when things got a little rough." From this it is evident he had a solid commitment to duty and honor.
He arrived in Vietnam on August 19th, 1965, serving at the rank of Sergeant First Class. He was later promoted to Master Sergeant during the war, according to the Laurel Leader-Call.
On the day before Thanksgiving in the United States in 1965, service members celebrated in the combat zone. Porter Thad prepared to serve a large meal for the troops, but at the last second, they were called to fight. With the little time he had, he still managed to offer the troops turkey sandwiches and whatever he could tote to the aircraft. He would die the next day at the age of 49 as his family celebrated Thanksgiving back home. He would not die from the enemy, however. Prior to leaving for Vietnam, he knew he was sick from an unknown ailment affecting his stomach, but no doctor could successfully diagnose it. The stress of combat exacerbated his illness, killing him untimely.
Porter Thad would leave behind his wife and only son, James Davis (birth and death unknown), a teacher and school coach by this time. After 30 years of service, he had been eligible for retirement. Porter Thad is commemorated on the Vietnam slab of the Jones County War Memorial, next to the Laurel-Jones County Library, and his final resting place is the Fort Benning Main Post Cemetery, where his wife was later buried. Over the course of his military career, he received numerous medals and badges. --- Edith Mae Lawson was third to be brought into the family. She married David Phipps Lawson (November 24th, 1914 – September 11th, 1990) of Amite County, and by the 1940 census the two rented a home in Laurel. Like many of the men in the Davis family, David worked for Masonite. However, he stands out for having worked in the corporation for 41 years (he was retired by his death). In addition to working there, he also founded Lawsons Grocery and Laundramat in 1960, in Myrick. The business only closed in the last few decades as it was put out of business by a new Dollar General nearby on Highway 84.
Edith Mae would give birth to three children: Jerry Norbert Lawson (September 26th, 1938 – June 12th, 2005), Aubrey Dale Lawson (December 31st, 1940 – May 2nd, 1998), and Dorothy “Dot” Jarrel (~1943 – Living). David remarried after the death of Edith Mae to an Anne Lawson (birth and death unknown). Edith Mae died so young due to losing her fight against cancer. David passed away at the still-operating South Central Regional Medical Center (SCRMC) in Laurel and is buried without Edith Mae in his daughter Kathryne “Cookie” Mon-civais’s front yard with Anne, directly next to Lawsons Grocery. Kathryne was one of six children Anne would have with David.
Phil Dickerson, Dorothy Jarrel's son and Edith Mae's grandson, is currently the Beat 3 Supervisor for Jones County. --- Charles's youngest older sibling was John Harold Davis and was born in Richton, Perry County. He received an education up to the third year of high school. After leaving school early to support the family, he would work in the fiber board industry, specifically as a part of Unit 3 with the vats and chemicals at Masonite. As well as this, John Harold enlisted in the National Guard on November 25th, 1940, at the Laurel Army Airforce Base. Registering for the Draft in 1941, he is described as being 6'2"; 175 pounds; and having blue eyes, blonde hair, and a light complexion. When eventually drafted for World War II, he would serve in Germany and achieve the rank of Staff Sergeant, undergoing basic training in Camp Shelby. After the war, he would continue to be active in the National Guard in Ellisville for a long time.
In 1943, John Harold was stationed at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, when he met Earlene Juanita Gray (August 26th, 1925 – January 20th, 1958) of nearby Muskogee, Oklahoma. While she was a senior at Central High School in Muskogee, they secretly married in Tulsa County (two counties over to the northwest) on March 9th, 1943. However, they did not think about their marriage appearing in the newspapers. Indeed, a family member found mention of it in the Tulsa newspaper and proceeded to call Earlene’s mother. Eventually, once Earlene came home from school that day, her mother asked, “Did you get married?” Earlene simply responded, “I sure did!” and kept going on with her day.
Earlene graduated from high school, still living with her parents while John Harold continued to serve in the military. John Harold was yet in Europe when their first and only child, daughter Diana Davis (June 9th, 1945 – Living) was born in Muskogee (she phrased it “I’m an Okie from Muskogee”). It is she who calls Charles "Uncle Dub." Once John Harold came home, and when Diana was about two, the family left Oklahoma for Laurel, settling back on his parents’ farm. They would then build a shotgun house down the street for themselves.
While used to city life, Earlene adjusted to her rural home well. Using an outhouse, catching chickens, and cleaning clothes in a washpot with a scrubber did not phase her (in fact, catching chickens came much easier to Earlene than John Harold, who had lived his entire life a country boy). However, it had been known since Earlene birthed Diana that Earlene had a bad heart, a result of her having rheumatic fever as a child and never knowing it. After childbirth, the doctors told her to not have any more children, but she would die regardless because of her damaged heart when Diana was 12.
Diana would graduate George S. Gardiner High School in Laurel in about 1963. John Harold would not remarry until 1964 to Lucille Montgomery (~1923 – Living). Lucille served in the military herself during World War II, being a part of WAVES in the Navy. To this day, she still drives and is a hospital and United Blood Services volunteer. John Harold would not have any children with Lucille, but their marriage made him step-father to Frankie Lindsey (birth and death unknown).
By John Harold’s death, he was retired after working as a truck driver for Beat 3 of Jones County and had been in Jones County Community Hospital fighting a long illness. He would never move out of Jones County after coming back from Oklahoma. Diana had been married to Charles B. Cooley (? – Living) by the time of her father’s death, and an interview with her on November 18th, 2020, is what brought much of the information conveyed in this report to light, including the pictures of Charles, John Harold and Earlene, and the Davis family farmhouse (a painting by Lucille). --- Sixth to be brought into the family was Jackearl Davis. Due to her dying at such an early age, very little about her is known within the remaining family. However, it is presumed she died at the hands of Diphtheria around the age of 3. --- Continuing on to Rubye (Lila) Faye Davis, it is also currently unclear as to why she died at such an early age. What is known, however, is that she married James Edward Davis (~1930 – ?) on June 22nd, 1950, in Jones County. Rubye Faye actually quit high school to get married, and the couple stayed in Jones County until around 1964 to 1965 when they relocated to Houston, Texas. She would give birth to multiple children, some of whom are still alive, all of whom currently unknown. The oldest child would die in an 18-wheeler accident in Kentucky. --- Finally, Ruby Lee would have one more child, a boy. This eighth child would die as a baby, and next to nothing is known about him. It cannot be determined where he fit in the family; he might not have even been the eighth. His name is, of course, unknown, in addition to where he was buried.