The tombstone featured this Tuesday is of my 3rd great grandmother, Eliza Ruth Gibson (Harris).   My wife and I visited her grave 2/09, on a road trip through northern Texas.  Eliza Ruth was born in 1839 in Washington County, Arkansas to Samuel and Jane Harris (Smith).   Her family moved to Cherokee County, Texas between 1844 and 1850.  She later married my 3rd great grandfather, Berrien Wylie Gibson, on 6/24/1858 in Tyler, Smith County, Texas.   They resided in Smith County, Texas until Berrien Wylie’s death in 1888.  She was later committed to the North Texas Hospital for the Insane (now the Terrell State Hospital) in Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas.  Eliza Ruth was a patient there from approx. 1900, until her death on 10/21/1920. 

Eliza Ruth Gibson Death Certificate

Her death certificate lists the cause of death as “Arteriosclerosis”, with “Insanity” as a contributing factor.  Due to privacy laws, I have been unable to obtain any of her patient information from the hospital or the state of Texas. 

She was buried in Wildwood Cemetery, located on the hospital grounds, in a numbered grave.  Through the generosity of donors and volunteers, the Wildwood Cemetery Association has placed a “dignified and permanent headstone inscribed with the name and dates of birth and death” on many of the graves, including Eliza Ruth’s.  Please click here to read more about the hospital, Wildwood Cemetery and the “Numbers to Names” campaign.

Brian Davis – James Michael Davis – James Nead Davis – Marjorie Leaine Davis (Kirkpatrick) – Burla Eugene Kirkpatrick (Gibson) – Eliza Ruth Gibson (Harris)

James Nead Davis Military Record

My paternal grandfather, James Nead Davis, served with the United States Marine Corps from 6/6/1946 – 4/29/1947.  His date of entry into the service occurred one day after the declaration of German defeat was signed by the four allies on 6/5/1946.

“Papa” graduated from Robstown High School in Robstown, Texas 5/1946 and worked as a service station attendant before his enlistment.  His U.S. Marine Corps Report of Separation (see above) listed Math as his course of greatest interest.  What I find interesting is that his name and signature are  “James Neal Davis” on the report.

James Nead Davis Graduation Portrait

Currently, I don’t have any pictures of James in uniform.  His high school graduation portrait (see above) was taken shortly before his enlistment in the Marines.

Brian Davis – James Michael Davis – James Nead Davis