January 5th Birthday Boys

     Today is my son Gregory's 6th birthday (no pics of Greg for his protection).  It is also Greg's great-great grandfather's birthday.

                                                            

     Samuel George Davis, my maternal grandmother's father was born in Ohio on this day in 1885.  He was the oldest of three children for Daniel and Flora and their only son.
     In mid January of 1899, young Samuel was an inmate at the Boys Industrial School, a reform school in Lancaster, Ohio.  He was admitted for incorrigibility and truancy.  The school records described my great-grandfather as having a pleasant, bright face who didn't drink or smoke.  Was it his home life that caused his mischief?  His parents were deaf and his father liked to indulge according to the school record which described Daniel as intemperate.  Maybe there wasn't much discipline at home?  Samuel was released from the reform school on August 9, 1900.
     By 1910, Samuel was living in Brooklyn, NY with his parents and younger sister.  On the 12th of September in 1918, Samuel filled out the draft registration card for World War I.  He is described as medium height and build with gray eyes and brown hair.  It doesn't state his complexion but that is listed as fair on the school records.  I love how some of the records I've found for ancestors have physical descriptions.  Samuel's draft registration card also states that he has a "loss of thumb and first finger on left hand".   interesting...
     The 1920 U.S. Census shows Samuel with his wife and two children (my maternal grandmother and her younger brother) still living in Brooklyn but not for much longer.  The 1922 city directory for Poughkeepsie shows Saml. G. Davis living on South Cherry Street which was the home of his parents.
     Poughkeepsie, New York in Dutchess County is where my great-grandfather spent the rest of his life.  He died on July 15, 1947 and is buried in the Poughkeepsie Rural Cemetery.
                                                               


Happy Birthday in Heaven to Samuel George Davis.

Happy 6th Birthday to my beautiful little boy Gregory.  ♥