French/Davis Family

Grad. Va state College
U.S.Cal.

Retierd from working for the State of California, Seniors program...
Works now as Church counsler with husband Rev. Raymond Mosesly. (1999)
currently has her own practice as a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
and serves as Chairperson of the Counseling Ministry at her Church (2002)

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THE GEORGE LEONARD & CORNELIA SMITH DAVIS FAMILY

I was filled with thanksgiving and pride when I received an E-mail from my
eldest son "Gychang" (birth name Glenn) asking me to do a write-up about
the family to up-date his family records on the computer. Often times when
my youngest son Gregory and I chat he reminds me that I should write a
book about my experiences. Well, maybe some day I'll get around to that,
but right now I'll just try to write a little family history as I recall it.

PUBLIC RECORD
In the year 1994 the Black Church Cultural Affairs Committee published
"A History of African-Americans in Middlesex County 1646-1992. The
names G. L. Davis (also known as Lynn Davis) and Cornelia Davis
appeared under several headings: The Saluda Community, subheading
Saluda Graded School (Antioch), as well as Pine Grove School and St.
Clare Walker High School. They were both educators; however, Lynn gave
up his career in teaching for farming and business. There is a very
interesting note about Lynn Davis that reflects his concern and commitment
to the field of education. "In 1925, Lynn Davis of Stormont, put a canvas
top, and long wooden benches on a model T Ford truck, and transported
students from Stormont and Saluda to Middlesex Training School. He also
picked up teachers along the way." Cornelia Smith Davis was listed among
the faculty of Middlesex Training School. After the faculty listed there are
these remarks: "What dedication they carried to their work!"

Further in the history book, under the heading Music and Entertainment
there is this information: "During the 1950's, the St.Clare Walker High
School band was organized under the direction of Mr. Lewis DeOliver.
Lynn Davis, a local businessman, joined the band with his French horn.
With this group a new era in music began." Well, that should really be of
interest to Gychang and Gregory French. Of course his granddaughter
Cynthia Wanamaker has a beautiful soprano voice even though, to my
knowledge, she doesn't play an instrument.

THE GEORGE LEONARD (LYNN) DAVIS FAMILY
George Leonard Davis, a native of Middlesex County, Virginia, the only
son of James and Mary Davis, married Cornelia Sue Smith of King William
County, Virginia in April 1924. George met Cornelia Smith at Middlesex
Training School where she was an elementary school teacher. To this
union six children were born:
Elizabeth Hyde, Azelia Mae, Mattie Rose, Mary Anna, George, Jr., and
James Reubin. Cornelia Sue Davis departed this life in November 1958.
Almost thirty years later George "Lynn" Davis departed this life in
September 1988. Their youngest daughter Mary Anna, to us our youngest
sister "Merky" joined them with the Lord right after Mothers' Day in May
1995.

When George and Cornelia first married they lived in a rented house in
what they called "the lower part of the County". Within a year, George's
mother Mary Ann Burnett who was living in Devon, Pennsylvania
convinced the young couple they should move into George's homeplace, a
two story, eight room house in Saluda. Actually it was on Oakes Road
between Saluda and Oakes Landing. It was located
on a track of eight acres of land. George, who loved farming as well as his
auto-mechanic business at Cooks Corner, welcomed the idea. There was
only one requirement in moving into the homeplace. One room in the
house had to remain free for Mary Ann (whom we, the grandchildren,
called "Nana") when she made her annual visits. Her visits always had a
twofold purpose: (1) to see her children and grandchildren, and (2) to see
how Lynn and Cornelia were taking care of the house.

Nana was quite a lovely lady. She was spiritual, compassionate, and
authoritative. As I write, it has just dawned on me, I may be very much
like her. As children, we looked forward to the packages from "Nana".
They usually came about once a quarter. She sent us toys and clothes--all
from the Thrift Shops in Pennsylvania. However, they made us feel
"rich". Sometimes, the packages were so big we could hardly get home
with them. We lived about three quarters of a mile from the Post Office.
Two of us children always walked to the Post Office in the Spring and
Summer to pick up the mail. No matter how big the box from "Nana" was,
we would always drag it home. We'd have to sit along the roadside to rest
for a few minutes, but the anticipation of what was in it was great
motivation to rest quickly and move on.

I remember one winter, just before I went away to college, Nana sent me a
gray Persian lamb coat with hat and muff to match. My mother was truly
delighted. She told me it was an expensive outfit. Well mom had just
bought Elizabeth and Mattie green and red cloth coats with Persian lamb
collars from the basement of one of the Department Stores in Richmond.
To me they looked expensive as well as beautiful. This full length Persian
lamb outfit was warm, but to me, truly embarrassing. No one I came in
contact with had a coat set like that. Little did I realize how blessed I was.
I now recall having a similar experience with my daughter Sheilah with
either a coat or dress. Of course, it wasn't a Persian lamb coat.

VISITS AND TRIPS WITH FAMILY MEMBERS
During my childhood I can only remember making special visits to family
members. Visiting others was not high on my father's agenda. Sunday
was the only day there was any time to make visits. He believed that there
was always too much to do to just sit down and chat with someone in their
home other than Sunday.

We had no first cousins on my father's side of the family. My father had
only one sister. Her name was Mattie Cassie Davis. She married several
times, but had no
children. She was ten years older than her brother, our dad. Aunt Mattie
was always there when her brother needed her. She always had the latest
model car and other resources when he needed them. They fussed a lot at
each other, but they cared a lot for each other. When I was in college Aunt
Mattie had a stroke. She wasn't able to walk or talk. After a few weeks or
so, dad and mom brought Aunt Mattie to our home and cared for her for
four or five years until her death. There is a lot to be said about Aunt
Mattie. Although my mother was not her choice for her brother's wife,
mom understood her and they got along well. My mom had the true gift of
hospitality, and she knew how to make people feel good about themselves,
regardless of how they treated her. She could give them a little smile, and
say, "I understand."

Since we had no close relatives our age in Middlesex, we visited with our
cousins in King William County often. Of course there were distant
cousins like the Latimores, Paynes, Smiths and Washingtons that we
always saw at school or at Church. Their parents were pretty much like
ours. There were no time for visits except for Sunday. However, as we
grew older we'd see some of them at The Corner, my father's business.
What we called real visits, however, were with the Smiths where we
would also see the Pages and Lomaxs in King William. Dad used Aunt
Mattie's up to date cars when we made our trips at least twice a month to
King William. The distance was about forty miles, and it really seemed a
long ways. But we looked forward to meeting with our cousins Rozina,
Gussie, Mattie Smith, and Foster. Since Foster was much younger than his
three sisters, the four of us girls didn't know him as well as we did his
sisters.

We enjoyed playing in the large well kept yard at Grandpa Smith's house.
Our cousins called our grandparents Mama Rose and Papa. We called them
Grandma and Grandpa Smith. I never quite figured out why we did this,
but I think it was because Aunt Josie, their mother, called her mother-in-
law Mama Rose and so did they.

My fondest memories of visits with our cousins and Grandma Smith was
the good food served in the large dining room around the big table. The
table seemed to seat at least ten or twelve of us. Maybe it was only eight,
but in my mind I remember a lot of people. Unique to me about the meal
service was that Grandma Smith, perhaps with the help of Aunt Josie,
prepared all this good food and made sure that everyone ate; however, she
never sat at the table with us. I would go in the kitchen after the meal and
I would find her in the kitchen eating her meal alone. I asked my mother
why she did that. She said that she likes to eat her meal in peace. After I
grew up and began to prepare a large family meal for family guest, I began
to fully appreciate Grandma Smith's "method to her madness".

As I mentioned, my daddy's mother lived in Devon, Pennsylvania most of
her life that I knew. She owned a three story boarding house in
Pennsylvania. Daddy would take the family and Aunt Mattie to visit with
her perhaps once a year, usually in the winter. She would visit us for a
week or two in the summer. That would be the time when her room was
used. Otherwise it stayed locked year-round. The locked door provided
much curiosity for us children. We tried to peep under doors, through
windows, but to no avail.

When I was about twelve years old, on our way back from a Christmas
Holiday trip to visit Nana, I heard my father tell my mother: "Clarence
Tillman is giving up the beer-garden at The Corner and I'm gonna take it
over." My mom's remarks were "Now George?" "Now George?" were her
usual comments when daddy had these great ideas of what he was going to
do, or some venture he had already made and was just bringing it to her
attention. In this case he was going to see "Cox" as soon as he got home
and let him know that he wanted to rent the place. Mr. Cox was the
husband of the lady that I understand my aunt and grandma thought daddy
was going to marry, but he met Cornelia and things changed. However,
they were all friends and we, the children, became good friends with their
children--Nelson, Allie and Sally.

True to daddy's word when we got back home, the next day daddy made a
deal with Mr. Cox and Lynn Davis became the new owner of "The Beer
Garden at Cooks Corner". In the minds of us children a beer-garden would
be a beautiful green garden with bottles, glasses or maybe even cags of
beer sitting around in a circle. We had no true picture of what it was until
three or four months later when we moved from our home in Saluda to
Cooks Corner. The thoughts of that crowded place where we lived for
maybe a year or two are easy to let go. However, the beer-garden was
across the highway from my father's automobile garage. His plan was to
turn the garage into a beer-garden and build a house around it. It was a
slow process, but it eventually happened. After the beer-garden and house,
he bought an adjoining acre or so of land and built a gas station. Lynn
Davis was in business. All six of us were born at the homeplace in
Saluda, but we were raised at The Corner.

Church, School and College
George and Cornelia held high value for the spiritual and educational
development of their children. When we moved to Cooks Corner my
mother continued to teach for several years. The children who were in
elementary school went to school with her. The high school was in sight
of The Corner, so those of us who were in the 7th grade up walked to St.
Clare Walker High School. Before it was known as St.Clare Walker High
School, it was called the Middlesex County Training School. For several
years when I was in High School, my mother was president of the Parents
Teachers Association. This was after she had stopped teaching and worked
full time at The Corner (dad's businesses, the beer-garden and gas station).

We all belonged to Antioch Baptist Church on Oakes Road (right up the
road from our homesite). When I was around seven, I remember "leading
my three sisters to Christ", that's how my mother often referred to it. We
had been talking about it, but we had to get up the nerve to get up when
Reverend Gayles extended the invitation. We four girls always sat on front
seat. When I got up Elizabeth followed, so did Mattie and Merky. Merky
was about four years old and I remember my mother questioning whether
she knew what she was doing. Nevertheless, she did not stop her. My
mom made our baptismal robes and white dresses for the occasion. Mom
always made our dresses for Children's Day and Easter until we became
adolescents. Then I began to make my own until I went away to College.

All six of us graduated from what later was called St.Clare Walker High
School. Elizabeth went off to college at Virginia State College, now called
Virginia State University. So did Azelia, Mattie and George. Merky went
to Shaw University and Jimmy went to Hampton Institute, now known as
Hampton University. Mom and dad impressed upon us that the mind
should not be wasted. God has given each of us gifts and talents that are
to be used to build up His kingdom here on earth. When we talked about
going to college, there were only two colleges that were considered until
Mary Anna was ready to go to college. They were Virginia State College
where George "Lynn" Davis' Alma Mata, and Hampton Institute which was
Cornelia's Alma Mata. When Merky was ready to go to college my Aunt
Azelia must have told mom about Shaw University where Cousin McCreary
was teaching.

George and Cornelia enjoyed their children and their children valued and
adored them. They were both strict disciplinarians, but we enjoyed many
mealtimes together. After we grew-up and married we always tried to be
home around the holidays and/or for a few days in the summer. When we
came home daddy canceled all his business engagements and took delight in
showing us around on the sixty acres in Long-go field, the homeplace in
Saluda and Cooks Corner--the beer-garden and the service-station. When
we were young adults and our cousins from King William--the Pages and
the Smiths and their friends, would come to visit The Corner, he'd close up
the beer-garden to customers and turn the "joint" over to us. The music
and drinks (sodas) were on him. Daddy would just sit and see us all dance
and have a good time. That made him very happy.

Daddy placed great value in "having his boys". George and Jimmy came
late in the family and he used to have Elizabeth and me doing work that
would have been for the boys--feeding the horse, putting the cow out for
grazing, driving the tractor, even plowing. We didn't do too well with the
plowing. When the boys got old enough they took care of those things and
we four girls were truly delighted. Then along came his grandchildren. It
was like he just pushed the girls aside and placed great pride in the fact that
he had grandsons. I really feel that he felt his children had served him well
by giving him grandchildren, and especially grandsons!

...Azelia Mae Davis-Mosesly ...June,1999