Martha Eudoxie Davis Raburn

Martha Eudoxie Davis Raburn, standing right in the photograph, was the daughter of Jesse Davis and Elvira Amanda McGee .  Born on July 5, 1854 in Gwinnett County, Georgia, she moved with her family while still a toddler to St. Clair County, Alabama around 1858.  By 1870, the Davis family were in Itawamba County where they are found enumerated in the census for that year.  Eudoxie's mother and two of her sisters died in Alabama, and her father remarried, to a widow by the name of Mary Johnson Caldwell before moving his family to the Providence Church area on the Mississippi-Alabama state line.

Eudoxie and my great-great grandfather, James William Anderson Davis, were siblings.

In 1873, Eudoxie married William Greenberry Raburn, a Civil War veteran who enlisted and served in the 41st Mississippi Regiment in Itawamba County.  The youngest of their ten children, Susie, is pictured with Eudoxie in the photograph to the left.  Susie was born just days after the death of her father, who died November 9, 1894.  Her full name was William Suzannie Raburn.

During Greenberry's stint in the Civil War, he was captured by Union soldiers and sent to Colorado as part of the Union Army after signing a Loyalty Oath.  During the cold winter, as the troops were marching in harsh conditions, Greenberry's feet became frostbitten and had to be amputated.   He returned to Itawamba County following the war and even served as tax assessor before dying in 1894.  Following his death, Eudoxie received a widow's pension from the federal government for Greenberry's service during the War.

Eudoxie Davis Raburn purchased the house now known as Bonds House, home to Itawamba County Historical Society in Mantachie, from the Sims family in the early 1900s.   The house was built around 1892 by Mantachie merchant  and mayor, James Andrew Bonds.  When Eudoxie died in 1920, the house was later sold by her heirs.

The following account was published in a 1931 newspaper - quite interesting!  I wonder what happened to the seedling that came up from the cockle burr?

Fulton News Beacon
July 16, 1931

Waited 37 Years

Some of our readers will no doubt remember Mr. Green Raburn, who served this county one term as tax assessor.  He had no feet on account of getting them frozen off during the Civil War.  He wore specially prepared shoes and appeared to be a very low man.

Rev. Sumpter Raburn, his son, recently found a cockle burr in a crevice of his father's shoe which had been there for 37 years, and which he planted and it came up and is producing after its kind, after lying dormant that long.