Ray Davis was born to Lemuel Lanier Davis (age 50) and Lou (age 39) who had three sons and lived on a prosperous farm on the edge of Lucedale Mississippi. Lemuel worked in the timber industry before moving to Lucedale. As the farm developed he continued to work for the mills by grading logs before they were floated down the river to Pascagoula. His mother was from a very large family and was Lemuel’s second wife. Lemuel’s first wife had died and not long after his daughter died of a snake bite.
Ray’s grandparents provide interesting stories as his grandfather James Jefferson Davis was a farmer and fought in the Live Oak Rifles of the Confederate Army. James is buried next to Ray’s grandmother in Lucedale but not much is known about James – at this time.
Ray’s grandparents on his mother’s side, the Havards, had a very different lifestyle than the Davis’. Grandpa Pete made whiskey before prohibition, during, and after prohibition. Ray said his father Lemuel would not let the kids stay with Grandpa Pete because he did not like them exposed to that lifestyle. Ray did spend the night there once and after dark, he heard men outside loading a truck.
A fifth child, a little girl named Mary, arrive when Ray was 2 and the farmhouse must have been very busy with five kids, the animals, and farm hands.
Stories Ray told about his father indicated they lived a nice lifestyle with a windmill to pump the water, a large smokehouse, at least four horses (Lem did not like mules), and an extensive garden that even included asparagus. The schoolhouse was on their property just down the road. The photo here of the Primary class of 1926 was likely not taken at that schoolhouse as it was not brick.
But, times were destined to turn difficult as Lemuel developed severe headaches. He went to doctors looking for a cure and even to soak in the mineral springs at Hot Springs Arkansas.