Sarah E. Davis (1843-1936)

DAVIS

Posted By: Debra Scott Hierlmeier (email)
Date: 11/11/2008 at 18:11:01

SARAH E. DAVIS 1843-1936
PHOTO AVAILABLE
Avoca’ Oldest Citizen Died
Came to Avoca in 1872. Active in Church and Community Social Work
On Easter morning Sarah E. Davis, 93, was called from her long earthly sojourn to join her many loved ones whom she survived.

Sarah Elizabeth Chamberlin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 25, 1843. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John P. Chamberlin, who had formerly lived in Danielson, Connecticut, returned to that city when Sarah was two years old. She grew to womanhood in the state where her ancestors had lived for nearly 150 years. Following her attendance at local schools she attended Wheaton Seminary, Norton, Massachusetts.

Nov 3, 1868, Sarah Chamberlin and Joseph W. Davis were married in the old eastern town where they had grown up and two years later, they came as early settlers to Iowa, locating in Harlan. In 1872, the Davises moved to Avoca which has since been the family home. Mr. Davis established a bank in Avoca and became a prosperous business man. He passed away March 20, 1906.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two sons, Edwin W. and Joseph Walter both of Avoca, who have been associated with their mother in the Citizens’ Savings Bank since the death of their father.

Until the past few years when the infirmities of age necessitated morequiet for her, Mrs. Davis was an active figure in the church and social life of Avoca, and one of the first to welcome newcomers to the social life of the town. She has been particularly active in the life of the Congregational Church with which she united by letter from the Harlan Congregational church. She was one of seven members who founded the Congregational Church at Harlan during her short residence there.

Mrs. Davis was of a cheerful disposition and allowed few things to upset her equilibrium and cause her worry. We like to think of this trait as contributing greatly to her longevity. For little more than a year she has been confined to her home, and perhaps the greatest blow of her infirmity was when she was forced to give up her daily walks and become a wheel chair addict. Her experience appreciative of the conveniences of today, and she often regaled her friends with accounts of early day happenings.

Funeral services were held at the family home where Mrs. Davis had lived for fifty years, more than half of her long and peaceful life, at two o’clock Thursday afternoon. Rev C.E. Cushman of Iowa Falls, pastor of the Avoca Congregational church thirty-five years ago came to conduct the last rites.
“She hath come to her grave in a full age, like a shock of corn cometh in its season.”

From the Scrapbooks of Bessie Gross Gustafsen
Source: Avoca Journal Herald