Our Arklhoma Heritage: Boone County cemetery is the final stop for 1880's circuit riding preacher

In the quiet Davis Cemetery near Everton in Boone County, a weathered gravestone marks the resting place of Rev. Thomas Bentley Davis (1840–1912), a man whose life intertwined faith, family, and frontier strength of character.

Born on September 18, 1840, in Tennessee, and laid to rest on January 27, 1912, in Boone County, Davis lived through a historically significant era, surviving the Civil War, raising nine children, and preaching to scattered Ozark communities.

Thomas was born to William A. Milligan Davis (1807–1856) and Permelia Ann Turney Davis (1815–1904) in Tennessee’s frontier heartland.

By 1850, the Davises had joined the westward migration, settling in Marion County, Arkansas, in what would become Prairie Township, Boone County, by 1869.

Young Thomas, listed as a 10-year-old in the 1850 census alongside siblings Nancy R. Davis Potts (1842–1922) and Rev. William Allen Davis (1850–1915), grew up learning the rhythms of farm life—tilling soil, herding livestock, and weathering the isolation of a region where Osage trails still crisscrossed the land.

The Civil War upended this world. At 21 when the conflict erupted, Thomasserved as a Confederate soldier or militiaman, earning the “Veteran” title on his memorial, though specific enlistment records remain elusive.

Boone County, a patchwork of divided loyalties, endured guerrilla raids and economic collapse, hardening Thomas for the challenges ahead. In 1858, at 18, he had married Hopestill Southern “Hoppie” Young (1843–1928) in Carroll County.

Hoppie, a Marion County native, became his lifelong partner, raising nine children: Martha Ann (1863), William Milligan (1866), Louisa Jane (1869), Bettie Caroline (1871), John W. (1874), Isaac H. (1876), Joseph Clinton (1878), Thomas (1880), and Dora Irene (1882), all born in Boone County’s Everton area.

By 1870, Thomas, then 29, was farming in Prairie Township, as recorded in census data, with Hoppie managing a growing household. The 1880 census offers a vivid snapshot: Thomas, 39, and Hoppie, 38, oversaw a bustling farm where their children, from 16-year-old Martha to infant “Babe,” pitched in alongside hired hand Lawrence Jones.

Amid these labors, Thomas embraced his calling as a reverend, serving Baptist or Methodist congregations typical of Boone County’s “Bible Belt” communities. Specific records of his church are scarce--rural ministers often left no formal trace--but local histories suggest he was a circuit rider, preaching in schoolhouses, brush arbors, or small chapels like those near White Church Cemetery or Valley Springs Methodist Church.

Everton’s proximity to Clear Creek, a site for baptisms, and the Boone County Baptist Association’s influence point to Thomas ministering to farmers and pioneers, offering solace in a post-war world.

Through the 1890s and into 1910, Thomas remained a fixture in Prairie Township, balancing sermons with harvests. His brother William’s parallel path as a reverend hints at a family steeped in faith, rooted in Baptist or Methodist traditions.

Thomas’s ministry, focused on redemption and community, resonated in a county rebuilding from war’s scars.

He died at 71 in 1912, buried in the Davis Cemetery alongside kin, with Hoppie joining him in 1928.

Their plot, holding about 41 memorials, stands as a testament to their pioneer roots near Marshall Creek Road.

Rev. Thomas Bentley Davis’s life was one of quiet heroism--a veteran, farmer, and preacher who tilled both soil and souls. Without grand obituaries or church ledgers, his legacy endures in Boone County’s prairies, where his descendants and the land he loved keep his memory alive.