Census: 1880 North Loup, Valley Co., Nebraska: age 28

Eliza L. (Babcock) Davis 1851-1914
Categories: North Loup SDB Church Constituent Member, 1872, North Loup, Nebraska, Nortonville, Kansas, The Sabbath Recorder Obituary
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 77, No 2, p 63, July 13, 1914.
Eliza L. Babcock Davis was born to John Smalley Babcock and Sarah F. Randolph Babcock, at Jackson Center, Shelby Co. Ohio, December 25, 1851.
She was the second of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters. Only four of this family still survive.: Joel B. Babcock of Humboldt, Neb., Mrs. Adassa F. Maxson of College View, Neb., Ai A. Babcock of North Loup, Neb., and Colfax S. Babcock of Nortonville, Kan.
When five years of age the deceased moved with her father's family to Long Branch, Richardson Co., Neb., where she lived till womanhood, and where, on June 10, 1871, she was married to Thomas C. Davis. Seven sons and three daughters were born to them. The six children living are Bert C. Davis of Elmira, N. Y., Uri Pearl Davis of Fort McCoy, Fla., Mrs. Effie Sholtz, Mrs. Lola B. Maxson, Iva May, and Ruby B. Davis of Nortonville. There are seven grandchildren.
When twelve years of age, the deceased made a public profession of religion, under the labors of Eld. Thomas E. Babcock, and became a member of the Long Branch Seventh Day Baptist Church. In the spring of 1872 she and her husband moved to North Loup, Neb., where she became one of the charter members of that church. It is also worthy of note that she and one other woman were the first white women to go into that valley.
In 1885 the family returned from North Loup to Humboldt, where they lived for three or four years, when they moved to Des Moines, Iowa. There they lived till 1899, when they came to Nortonville, Kan., where they have since made their home, and where in the fall of 1899 they united with this church.
The deceased was quiet and rather retiring in her religious life, but always ready and anxious to take her place in the Lord's work. She had been in poor health for some months from a complication of troubles, and as a result she steadily failed till the evening of June 18 when she peacefully fell asleep in Jesus, being 62 years, 5 months and 24 days old.
While grief must come as a result of this separation, yet the dear ones mourn not as those who are without hope. M. B. K.

Census: 1880 North Loup, Valley Co., Nebraska: age 30, farmer

Thomas Clayton Davis 1850-1932
Categories: North Loup SDB Church Constituent Member, 1872, Nortonville, Kansas, The Sabbath Recorder Obituary, Welton, Iowa
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 112, No 24, p 766, June 13, 1932.
Thomas Clayton Davis was born in Sullivan County, Ind., February 9, 1850, and died at the home of his daughter, Iva, in Oneida, N. Y., April 24, 1932.
At the age of eleven years he went with his parents to Welton, Clinton County, Iowa, and during the winter following made a profession of religion and was baptized by Rev. Chas A. Burdick, and united with the Seventh Day Baptist Church at Welton. In the spring of 1871, he went to Humboldt, Neb., where he was married to Eliza L. Babcock, and taught school the following winter, about two miles east of the town of Humboldt.
The next April he and his wife went with a company of Sabbath keepers to seek a home in a new country. They settled in the valley of the North Loup, uniting with a colony of Seventh Day Baptists, which had been organized in Wisconsin by Rev. Oscar Babcock. Here they made their first home, taking out a "filing" on one hundred sixty acres of government land in Greely County, about five miles southeast of the present town of North Loup in Valley County.
Their "dugout" was the first habitation to be occupied in that vicinity. He taught school winters in various parts of the state, returning to the homestead in the spring. He was one of the first county commissioners of Greely County.
They were both constituent members of the Seventh Day Baptist Church of North Loup. In 1884, they removed to Humboldt, and from thence to the city of Des Moines, Iowa, where they resided twelve years. In 1899, they moved to Nortonville, Kan., where they bought a small fruit farm, four and one-half miles northeast of the town. Their church membership was transferred from North Loup to Nortonville. He was for many years a superintendent of construction for the American Warming and Ventilation Company, of Chicago and Kansas City, working throughout the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. On account of school and church privileges, they bought a residence in the town of Nortonville, selling the farm shortly afterward.
After the death of his wife on June 18, 1914, he continued to travel for the heating company, but from their office in Elmira, N. Y. While traveling throughout the eastern part of the United States he made his home with his children, spending the winters in Florida with his son Pearl. With failing health and declining years he retired from active work in the fall of 1924.
He had spent much time and had a very complete Davis genealogy, which he had hoped to publish but never felt able to do so.
His membership was transferred from Nortonville to the Seventh Day Baptist Church at Verona during his latter years, where he was faithful till the end.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Eliza L., and a son and two daughters: Orlie Bliss, Mrs. Effie Irene Sholtz, and Ruby Blen.
He is survived by two sons and two daughters - Bert C. of Elmira, N. Y.; Mrs. Lola Belle Maxson of Stuart, Fla.; Uri Pearl of Mayo, Fla.; and Mrs. Iva May Davis of Oneida, N. Y.; by four sisters - Mrs. L. H. Babcock, Gentry, Ark.; Mrs. Susan Terry, Topeka, Kan.; Mrs. Mary Evans, Battle Creek, Mich.; Mrs. William Henry, Nortonville, Kan.; eleven grandchildren, twelve great grandchildren, and many other relatives and friends.
The funeral service, conducted by pastor H. L. Polan of Brookfield, was held in the home of his daughter at Oneida, where he was tenderly cared for during his last illness, and the body was shipped to Nortonville, Kan., for burial. H. L. P.