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HAROLD and BESSIE LEEPER DAVIS
"Ancestors Are The People Of History"
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Harold and Bessie Davis at the Marion County fair around 1912, automobiles were a new thing and you could sit for a price and have your picture taken. Harold Davis was born and raised around Dublin, Ohio and moved with his parents to Marion in 1911. The one-room school he attended is still standing and is now a home. As a small boy he worked around steam power at a sawmill in Dublin, this led to him getting into railroading when he moved to Marion. He worked at first on the old Hocking Valley RR, then November the 11, 1918, he went to work on the Erie RR, he started out as a fireman and in those days that was a very hard job, the steam engines were still hand-fired. He saw a lot of changes thru the years and was promoted to Locomotive Engineer on January 27, 1943. He made his last run on July 7, 1963. he died on January 18, 1974. He did not finish the 7th grade, but was a very good reader, very good with numbers and knew several poems by heart. During the depression he was layed off as a fireman, but they gave him a job on the section gang and he worked for weeks at a time in upper New York State, this also was very hard work.
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The picture on the bottom was taken in 1951 on the beach at Daytona Beach, Florida, the car is a 1949 Hudson "Super Six". Bessie Leeper Davis was born on Fairview Ave. in Marion, Ohio on August 17, 1896. She never finished the 7th grade either, she also was an avid reader and loved politics, she would read the "Star" cover to cover, when TV arrived, her favorite program was "Meet the Press" which she would watch every Sunday, I am sure she knew more about current events then most teachers of that time and when everyone else was picking Dewey to beat Truman in 1948, she was sure Truman would win, he did. Harold and Bessie were life long Democrats, They had no church affilation and the only time I ever saw then in Church was to weddings, they enjoyed playing cards and when Harold was home, you knew that come Saturday night, relation would come over, bring some beer, their kids and get a game of penny-anti going. They were great parents, we were lucky! Bessie Isabelle Leeper Davis died March 19, 1962
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"Our English Roots"
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Billingsley: Billingsley is a very old English name.The Herald's Visitations of the British Museum give records of Billingsley of Kent, England, 1096, 1463, 1476 and 1504; of London, 1141, 1145, 1559 1576; of Salop, 1241, 1396 1472 and 1672. Henry Billingsley was elected Mayor of London December 31, 1596, Knighted February 6 1596/97. He died November 22, 1606 and is buried in church of St. Cathrine Coleman. There is a small town in County "Salop" Shropshire with the name of Billingsley. There are nine generations documented in the Visitation of Shropeshire, 1623 pertinent to Francis Billingsley who is the first entry in the book "The Billingsley Family in America". The book was written in 1936 by Harry Davis and traces the Billingsley family from England to Holland and then to America. Francis came to Virginia, then to Maryland, from there his descendants moved all over the United States, most of them migrated to the southern states. Brazillai moved with his parents from Maryland to Perry Township, Franklin County, Ohio.There are Billingsley roads in Perry Twp. and in Maryland, there is the town of Billingsley, Alabama, Billingsley Gap is in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, there is a painting hanging on the wall of the State Rotunda in Austin, Texas concerning the surrender of Santa Anta and in the picture is Jesse Billingsley, he is buried in the Texas State cemetery, just yards from Barbara Jordan and John Connely, William D. Billingsley was killed in the line of duty on june 20, 1913, he was killed in an airplane accident, the first naval pilot killed in the line of duty, he is buried at the National Cemetery at Annapolis, Maryland, the destroyer Billingsley was named for him.
All of these are descendants of Francis Billingsley, as we are. If you have the Billingsley name in your roots, you are almost surely descended from Francis.
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Sharon, Carol, Brandon, Zelma, Pete
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Rick and Dana Entz
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Billingsley, Alabama
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Francis Billingsley was born in County Salop "Shropshire" England in 1620, he moved to Holland with his parents, they then moved to Virginia where he married Ann ???? in 1647. In 1650 he was given a land grant of 200 acres in Maryland on the west side of Chesapeake Bay know as "Selby Clifts". In 1663 he applied for another property, which was granted, it was known as "Corne Hill" (I would like to check this out someday as I know there is a restored old home called "Cornehill" in Maryland that is open for tours.) They were of the Quaker faith, in November 1683 Francis was appointed one of the commissioners for Calvert County, Maryland. He died in 1684, his wife Ann died in 1668. They had 6 children.
John Billingsley, son of Francis and Ann was born in 1647, he married his 1st cousin, Sarah Ann Billingsley, the daughter of William Billingsley, his uncle. They had 8 children. John worked on a sailing vessel owned by his in-laws and when William died, he took over the business, they lived in Calvert County, Maryland. John died having been lost at sea in 1693 . Sarah Ann died in 1712-13.
William Billingsley, son of John and Sarah was born in Calvert County, Maryland in October 1670, he married prior to 1691 Clearanna Bowles, born in Maryland in 1672. They had 5 children. He owned 3 properties, one of 100 acres called the Addition another of 136 acres known as Billingsley's Swamp and another 150 acres called Friendship Rectified. He died July 1716.
Samuel Billingsley son of William and Clearanna was born January 1696 in Calvert County, Maryland. He married prior to 1740 Mary Wilmouth. They had 5 children, they moved to St Mary's County, Maryland. Samuel died in 1751 and Mary had died prior to him. When Samuel died, Walter was 8 years old.
Walter Billingsley son of Samuel and Mary was born April 1744 in St Mary's County, Maryland, he married Ruth Clarke, February 13, 1772. They had 5 children, they moved to Hartford County, Maryland. He served as a private in John Love's Company, Hartford County Militia. Walter died March 6, 1805
Samuel Billingsley son of Walter and Ruth was born August 20, 1784 in Hartford County, Maryland. He moved to Baltimore County, Maryland, where he married June 19, 1805, Ann Maria Cathrine Hook, she was born October 4, 1786. Samuel and Ann moved their family in 1817 to Pennsylvania, then to Franklin County, Ohio, Perry Township where they bought a farm on Sawmill Road. If you extended Billingsley Road to the West across Sawmill, that would have been the drive into their farm. The farm ran from there north on the west side of Sawmill. They had 12 children. Samuel died January 28, 1863, Ann Marie died August 8, 1875, they are buried in the cemetery at Powell, Ohio. (Samuel and Ann are listed in the Pioneer Families of Franklin County and this gives their descendants the right to join the Franklin County Pioneers Club, if interested call them)
Barzillai Billingsley son of Samuel and Ann Maria was born January 29, 1812 in Baltimore County, Maryland, he married prior to 1842 Anna Jane Randall. They had 8 children. He was a shoemaker in Dublin, Ohio and for a while served as Justice of the Peace, Barzillai and Ann are buried in the Dublin cemetery, close to the front.
Sarah Billingsley, daughter of Barzillai and Ann Maria Billingsley was born in 1842, in Dublin, Ohio. She married Christian Federick Betz, and moved to Delaware, Ohio. Christian was a Civil War Veteran with the 46th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, he was given a medical discharge. Sarah died in the spring of 1876, from childbirth. The baby died in the fall and Christian died one month after the baby. Francis Marie Betz, their daughter, became an orphan at the age of 4. They had 2 older boys.
Francis Marie Betz, daughter of Sarah Billingsley and Christian Federick Betz, gave birth in 1894 to Harold out of wedlock. When Harold was about 2 years old, she married Elmer Davis and gave Harold the name of Davis, she had 3 other children. Francis was orphaned at the age of 4 and raised by Barzillai and Ann Billingsley, on Sawmill Road in Perry Township, Ohio.She died March 27, 1952 and is buried at the Marion, Ohio cemetery.
"HAROLD DAVIS MARRIED BESSIE ISABELLE LEEPER''
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