A letter from A.C. Davis to Amanda Wood

The following letter is written by Augustus C. Davis, Pike Co., Ala., son of Presley Davis and Salina Ludlow. He is writing to his sister, Amanda, who married Daniel Wood. They were living in Sulphur Township, Miller Co., Arkansas. The Frank mentioned in the letter was James Franklin Davis, a brother, who settled in this area by I860.

Catalpa Pike Co. Ala July 11th, 1886

Mrs. Amanda Wood

Dear Sister I had just finished my dinner yesterday & took a seat in the front piazza when a negro neighbor came in from Linwood & handed me your letter which I was so anxious to see & hear that you were all well I was thinking that you must be sick as you had not wrote but I suppose you had not received my card your letter found us all well as common my health is no good at best the health of the country is very good at present some few weeks ago the flux was raging dreadful bad & several died in Troy Lawyer Griffin & Johnnie Ballard’s wife among them Annie’s grandfather Stewart died a few weeks ago “he was born in Cumberland Co. N C August 15th 1793 and died May 30th 1886 in the 1813 he enlisted in the state militia of N C and served his state and country faithfully until he was honorably discharged after the ratification of peace between Great Britain and the United States in 1815” the above lines is a portion of his obituary by H. B. Britt a son in law of the old man, an Englishman and a sharp shrewd writer for the papers I expect to hear of lots of sickness this fall we have had a dry spring but the summer has been the wettest I ever knew We have had rain nearly every day for six weeks heavy washing rains the streams have been very high & dangerous to cross Ala has suffered terribly this year by floods the Ala river has been 10 miles across thousands of stock was drowned cattle for a long time after water run down was seen hanging in tree tops the horns dwelling houses was swept off & a number of lives lost the convicts guards at Wetumpka came very near drowning & gave the alarm at Montgomery by firing cannons & boats were sent for them a white and a negro man was caught between two streams at Prattville & had to climb trees they stayed there so long & became so hungry that the white man tried to swim out the negro begged him to remain in the tree but he stripped himself of all but coat & started to swim for land a mile away the negro said he did not swim any distance before he sunk & drowned the steam ferry boat arrived in a few minutes after and took the negro in a cradle was seen floating down the Ala. river and a man went to it in a skiff & found a white child in it asleep it is about six months old & no owner has come for it yet the railroad bridge across the river at Montgomery washed out a number of accidents happened on the roads on a road above Montgomery an engineer run a freight train into a stream in the night& run the engine seven feet in water he & the fireman swam out the engineer carrying the signal flag in his mouth he knew that the passenger train would be on immediately & tried to strike a light but the matches in his pocket got wet so he got rocks & sticks ready & as the passenger train came dashing along the freight engineer threw rocks & sticks at the engine and the engineer stopped to see what was the matter the engineer is a very old man and was well-nigh exhausted all the bottom lands that are subject to overflow will make but little or nothing this year corn crops are very good where they have been worked sufficient cotton is looking bad and as a general thing is very grassy the oat crop was good but damaged by rain at harvest time peas are dying out fast on account of •the wet weather cane & potatoes are very good but the crops are small the seed was badly damaged by the hard freezes last winter corn is selling at 75 cts. cash 1.00 on credit bacon is 6 cts. cash to 10 cts. credit flour 6 cts. to 10 cts. our garden has been fine hail is almost destroyed crops in different places.

Hand I was very anxious to hear from you that I might also hear from Frank & your information about Schreiber is the latest with me I don’t know where any of them are they are due me a letter a long time the last I heard of Bettie she had gone to Eufaula with Searcy’s baby about the first of January Bet thinks the world of Searcy & Perkins & I believe they deserve the best wishes of us all Searcy has had Tommie’s grave nicely fixed it cost him $150 the last letter Tannie wrote me she said that Schreiber had got swindled out of all he made in Texas by the man he was doing business for & had nothing but his tools & trade left him and that he would return as soon as he could make money enough to bring him back I am sorry Ten did not go to see you when she was so near you. I am glad that Frank went to see her while she was at Greenville & wish that our family could & would visit one another often I think about wanting to be with you and Frank so much of late I was in hopes he would find a good county in Texas & that you & Dan & all the rest of the connection would move too where he settled I should have gone last winter but ray health was too bad to undertake it in the dead of winter & in such a cold country I have heard good & bad news from Texas all the year sometimes people here are in a big hurry for the time to start there & then again they are off the track and think they will stay here but one thing we all know it is hard times here all along tell Frank to write to me & let me know where he will settle if he will go to Jones county & get as many families as he can I will do the same Frank Dubose lives in this settlement and says tell Frank to find the good place where we can get school lands 4 he will corns he thinks a heap of Frank A I can say that Frank Dubose is one of Pike Co. best citizens he is indeed anxious to go to a fresh country I would like to be where I could get good well or spring water as for wood I sometimes think I would be willing to haul it 20 miles if I could have good level land to cultivate I am getting tired of hills gullies & stumps & roots & trees constantly falling in the fields if enough of us could settle on that school land we could soon start schools churches & such

Annie’s connections in Coryell are doing well for renters but think of moving to Jones Co. where land can be easily come at, I want to get to a good stock county I care nothing about cotton I want grain & stock & you know this country is fit for neither I am very well fixed here in the way of a well improved place, but the land is so poor & debts are hard to pay besides other expense.

tell Frank to enquire around for a man by the name of David Livingstone that left this settlement last winter & went to Erath Co. if he would like to see a Pike Co. man I don’t know his post office or part of the Co. he lives in he married Emily Cade of Troy Mrs. Jeff Towssy died in Gatesville Coryell Co. last summer She had too son in laws there & went to them & died shortly after John Tost moved there last winter Henry Carter Sy Black & William Roe are in Coryell Co. tell Frank if he should go in that Co. to enquire for him & Madison Carr or D. O. Lea & tell them he is my brother & I think he will be welcome among them I would be glad he would go in Coryell Co. & let me know what he thinks of it Jep Hill is at Brownsville in Brown Co. I will close hoping to receive letters from you & Frank immediately I am out of ink so excuse pencil You can send Frank as his letter also

your affectionate brother

A C Davis

I send you our pictures in group the ring & chain was not on me but painted there after taken when you write give me all the news from Billy, Johnnie & Fannie & will they move to where Frank locates you can write a long letter if you will only try so stir up & send it on you can address your letter to Catalpa Pike Co. Ala an office in this settlement if you should forget the name just send on to Linwood as heretofore.

Annie says name your boy Marcus Waldon I will send Dicy Annie’s picture next time.