Daniel Davis was born in Middletown, Dauphin county, Pennsylvania in 1814. He would later move to Somerset, Pennsylvania and die there in 1892. I know that his father’s name was John; he was born about 1770 and died after 1830. I know that Daniel had two brothers and two sisters, but I don’t know their names.
I did some searching last night to see if I could find any information on newspaperarchives.com. When Daniel didn’t work I tried some of the names of his children to see what would turn up. Although Ross Davis was deceased in 1932, his wife was still living and had not remarried. I found an article on Ross and Julia’s daughter Lilly Davis Williams. Lilly, her husband and daughter Ethel were in a car accident in 1932.
Daily News Standard, August 6, 1932
Somerset Trip Ends in Crash
Local Motor Party Escape Accident With Bruises.
A day of anticipated pleasure ended in disaster for a party of well known Uniontown folk last Sunday as their car skidded from the highway, after a tire had blown out and turned turtle twice.
The car, a Hupmobile sedan, was being driven by S.E. Williams, prominent Uniontown plumber, and with him was Mrs. Williams, their daughter, Miss Ethel and Mrs. Nannie Laing Hagans who were en-route home from Somerset where they had visited for the day with William Begley, commissioner of Somerset county and members of his family.
The accident occurred about two miles from Somerset and although the car was completely demolished the occupants did not suffer serious injury and were able to return to Somerset where they remained overnight at the home of Mrs. Williams’ mother, Mrs. Ross Davis.
Both Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hagans are suffering from severe body bruises and shock and under advisement of attending physicians are taking things very quietly until shattered nerves are quieted. Although slightly injured Mr. Williams and his daughter, passengers in the front seat, escaped painful bruises and have over-come the effects of the accident more quickly than Mrs. Williams and Mrs. Hagans who were se severely shaken up.
Fred Williams, brother of Ellis Williams, sent his car to Somerset last Monday morning in order to transport the Uniontowners to their respective homes in this city.
I read the first sentence twice. I had never heard of “turned turtle” and can only assume that it meant that they had rolled the car over twice. The next thing that claimed my attention was the name of the car – Hupmobile. I looked closely to be sure that I had spelled it correctly and then went to Wikipedia for answers. Sure enough it was spelled correctly. Hupmobiles were manufactured from 1909 until 1940, made by the Hupp Motor Company of Detroit, Michigan. I scrolled down the page and spotted a 1932 4-Door Sedan. Immediately visions of the great Gatsby started dancing through my head.
The search on Ross did turn up information on his daughter Lilly’s family. Previously I had only her husband’s initials of S. E. I would find out that his name was Samuel Ellis and that he and Lilly had 5 children. Their daughter Sara Etta would marry Raymond Carey in 1937 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania from another article. Once I knew that they had daughters, Sara and Ethel I located then in Uniontown in the 1920 and 1930 Census and in Fairchance, Pa., in 1910.