Friday's Photo: Eliza Catherine Wimberly Davis - From the Files of Marguerite Cook Clark

Maggie Martin Cook and Alice Mae Davis Regan

This photograph of Eliza Catherine Wimberly Davis was identified by Maggie Martin Cook as Eliza Davis on the back. Maggie’s handwriting was later identified by her granddaughter.

Eliza Catherine Wimberly was born 20 July 1856 in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, the daughter of William Wimberly and Mary Angelina Pittman Wimberly. She was the fifth child of William and Mary, and the fourteenth child of William. Eliza died 29 February 1928 in Bienville Parish and was buried in Wimberly Cemetery, where her grave is marked.

On 23 April 1874, Eliza married Henry Jefferson Davis, son of William Martin Davis and Emily Smith or Smythe Davis. Henry was born on 22 June 1852 in Bienville Parish and died there on 20 December 1884. He is also buried in Wimberly Cemetery.

Eliza and Henry had five children: Mary Louella, Emily Alberta, Willie Jane, Henry “Bud” Martin, and Alice Mae. According to the Wimberly book, as shared by Chester Regan Cummings, great-grandson of Eliza, Henry died of pneumonia just six months after Alice Mae’s birth. Eliza was left to raise five children without their father.

Although Eliza was not a descendant of any of my
Bienville Parish ancestors, two of her daughters
 married into my family. H. J. Giddens was a
descendant of my third-great-grandfather’s brother,
Jacob Giddens. J. B. Regan was a descendant of my
second-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Regan Bryan.

The same account describes Eliza as a determined and courageous mother who kept her family strong and secure. She maintained her home and raised her children until her son, Henry Martin Davis, married. Eliza then lived with Henry and his wife, Jeffer McGraw, until her death.

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Diana

© 2026

Eliza Davis, photograph, no date; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas, on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

Maggie Martin Cook and Alice Mae Davis Regan, photograph, no date; digital image, from the privately held photo collection of Marguerite Cook Clark (1913-1989), Waynesville, North Carolina, 2021. Photos were accessed and scanned at the home of Marguerite Cook Clark's daughter in Alpine, Texas on April 28, 2014, September 14, 2014, and November 9 to 11, 2016. Used with permission. 

The Times, March 3, 1928, Page 22. via Newspapers.com  (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-eliza-c-wimberly-davis-obit/196748333/: accessed May 2, 2026), clip page for Eliza C. Wimberly Davis - obituary by user dewquinn

Vera Meeks Wimberly, Wimberly Family History, Ancestors, Relatives, and Descendants of William Wimberly, Pioneer from Georgia to Louisiana 1837, print (Houston Texas: D. Anderson, 1979), pages 587-630.