Emerson B. Davis

Several years ago, Emerson was asked how he came by his remarkable longevity. He responded with the following list of simple rules by which he lived his life:



"Life's Lessons Learned, Inc."

Emerson B. Davis, "Soul" Proprietor

Over 99 Years Experience



Don't leave undone what can be done today. Tomorrow may be too late.



Children, listen to your parents. They want you to succeed.



Take care of your body. It is the only one you will have.



Refrain from liquor, tobacco, drugs, and all high stimulants. They make fools and sometimes criminals out of people.



Collect all knowledge possible. You will never have too much.



Do a good deed when possible. It will make you happier.



Be a good model, morally and physically. It will help others, especially children.



Act with manners and dignity. People will treat you with respect.



Be honest in all things you do and say. You will have more friends.



Never do anything for revenge. That is the action of the Devil.



Be frugal with your money. You will get good dividends.

Like my sister Kim, I had a young life enriched by the staid Yankee neighbor I looked forward to seeing each summer as much as my grandmother Pearl. In doing what I could (which was little) to help with mowing Pearl's hayfield, or once, on a March visit, picking the mummies from his peach trees (I was by then a young teen, and could almost keep up with him), I tried to pick up what I could of his mettle and merriment. (The same man who could swing a scythe from the crack of dawn till high noon could also appear at the door one evening, after hearing we might need some milk, with a wide grin and as many gallon milk jugs as those great hands could carry.)



In those days, I never knew much of Emerson's thinking on the world beyond the mountain. That was my fault, not his, and I am glad to have been able to return as an adult and appreciate another dimension of the man. In recent years I've seen Emerson in action in the rocky conversational waters of politics and even religion, with persons who outdistanced him in both political directions. That's not always the way to see people in the best light, but Emerson shone at those times. No matter the provocation, he held his own and articulated his thinking with grace, patience, unfaltering reason, and easy wit--even, most recently, at 99 1/2. Bringing the same Yankee fair-mindedness and acumen to the world's affairs as to Greystone Farm's, he showed in one life the true and honorable meanings of words that too many people now hurl at each other without understanding. I am grateful for the chance to see this side of Emerson Bradway Davis, though I shall miss him the more for it.

Please accept our deepest sympathies for the great loss of the Davis Family. Leo & Linda Davis

Emerson Davis was closest neighbor and friend on the mountain to my grandmother Pearl Worthington. Some of my most precious memories of my own young life were in her kitchen, peeling great bowls of the incomparable peaches from Emerson's orchards, for peach pies and shortcakes, and listening to the two of them while they drank coffee, teased and played cards. Emerson's quiet sweetness and unshaking loyalty were examples of friendship that I'll never forget. You blessed my life, Emerson. Thank you

I last saw Uncle Emerson a few years ago when we traveled to Connecticut for the funeral of my grandparents Albert Noah Davis and his wife Harriet Rice Davis. Grandpa was Emerson's half-brother. I have always felt deeply honored to have known these men. They taught by example the virtues of decency, hard work and frugality. They will continue to live through us as we carry on the traditions and values that we learned from them.

I loved hearing my grandfather (Albert Noah Davis) talk of his childhood in Connecticut. I am so glad that my family was able to attend the 100th Davis Family Reunion. Seeing the farm and all the family, and talking with Uncle Emerson was a wonderful experience. I am grateful that my sons got to meet him and see Greystone too.

Memories of stops during family trips, camped in the yard in tents or motor coaches, Davis Family reunions, finding my name on the family tree, civil war treasures, staying on the farm with my Grand Parents, Albert and Harriet Davis, to meet up later with my family in Clyde, NY, picking fruit in the orchard, strolls through the barn, learning family history and looking through picture albums, card games at the kitchen table, tractor rides around the property. Thank you Uncle Emerson.



Roy Simonson and Family

My wife and I were privileged to accompany my aunt, Deborah Champion Gilbert vonRosenvinge, to the 100th reunion of the Davis family in 1997. We will never forget the enthusiastic hospitality he offered to her -- probably the second oldest person there, after him -- and the experience of visiting his farm that summer day. We're sure that his memory will live for many years in the family. Our condolences to all those nearer at hand.



Pete and Lynn Smith

Middleway, WV

So distant, yet so important. I can only make excuses when I look back on the amount of time I've spent with my northern relatives. I see a large void in my life. I have fond memories of my late uncle Walt's farm. Hope to make it to the Davis family reunion soon.

Didn't know Mr Davis but an Aborn is in the line. Would have enjoyed discussing the past with him. Bob Aborn

Did not personally know Mr. Davis, but we share a common ancestry in the Davis line. I am sure I missed knowing a very wonderful cousin, and that I deeply regret. My sympathy to all the survivors.

I have always been proud of my Yankee heritage through the Davis line, among others, and Uncle Emerson was a link to that past. I shall miss him as an example of a work ethic not known in this day. My condolences to those close to him in the wide-spreading family tree.

As a child I can remember going to Uncle Emersons to pick peaches, he was in his 70's then and showed Betsy and I the right way to pick them. A few years later he married Jessey-Wayne and came to visit us on the lake, and then, of course,I remember the many fun Davis Reunions at Greystone Farms

Our prayers are with all who shared in the life of Emerson Davis and Greysone Farm. The Davis Reunion will sorely miss yet another elder. As decendents of Dorothy Leonard Bach we have shared in the Davis family legacy, as we followed the growth of our branch on the Davis Family Tree. We have been blessed with a rich heritage protected by Emerson, mom and those of this passing generation. We hope that there will always be Davises who will pick up the banner and carry it forward.

Even though I met Emerson once,he truley touched my heart.I enjoyed so much to listen to his stories.But the best was the enjoyment in his eyes as we came back from our walk,I'll never forget the glow in his eyes as he ate a simple peach...

Emerson Davis was my great uncle. My father, Myron Emerson Strong is the son of Ethel Davis Strong, Emerson's half sister. I feel a great loss of my grandmother's brother. Looking at him and listening to him felt like I was near Grandma Strong. They shared several traits.



Our families have been fortunate to have Emerson in our lives for so long. We shared the benefit of his memories, humor and home. Greystone will never be the same without him. His face, immortalized by a painting shown on the cover of Yankee Magazine will forever be how I remember him.



My condolences to all the friends and family of Emerson Bradway Davis.

Sharon Strong

With 66 years of warm and loving memories we send deep sympathy to Cousin Emerson's family.

Emerson B Davis

he was my grandfather and a very specal man i wish that i could have spent more than my 18 years getting to know him better. he will be missed but will live on in my heart as in the hearts of my family.

An era in my Davis family history has drawn to a close. We shall miss Uncle Emerson.

Our condolences to his family.

Caroline L. (DAVIS) Simonson

We only met Emerson a few years ago, but we will miss him greatly. We loved to hear his stories at the Davis Reunion. Our Condolences to his family.

In 1719, Cornelius Davis, 2nd, came to Stafford from Rowley, Massachusetts to settle on land that had been deeded to his father for services rendered in King Philip's War. Cornelius' descendants flourished on those lands, which became known locally as the Davis District. They built homes there, raised families there, and became prosperous farmers and businessmen. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the number of Davises in and around Stafford had dwindled. By the end of the century, there remained but a single Davis on the mountain. That was Emerson Bradway Davis.



As the Davis farms fell idle and the Davis lands were sold to other families, life on Greystone Farm went on much like it had for over a hundred years. Emerson followed in the tradition of his father Myron, his grandfather Noah, and his great grandfather Daniel. For many years, Emerson's life revolved around his orchards and his farm. While the other Davises gave up the agrarian way of life, Emerson never sold out. He was an anachronism, a living reminder of how life once was in the Davis District. For me, Emerson Bradway Davis was the symbol of my family's rural Connecticut roots and a living link to a past that I had only heard and read about.



It wasn't just that he continued to farm the lands and tend the orchards as his ancestors had done that made Emerson unique. More than anything else, he retained that tough, no-nonsense Yankee character that you knew had been a part of the Davis family for centuries. As a youngster, my dad would, on occasion, work for Emerson, and he remembered long days under the strict supervision of a tough taskmaster. And I’m sure that dad wasn’t over compensated for his hard work. Emerson always had a reputation for being fair and honest, but very frugal. If Emerson paid you a dollar for a job you had done, you were very much aware that you had earned that dollar.



Emerson himself was no stranger to hard work. It wasn’t unusual to find Emerson out in the fields or up in a tree, even when he was in his 80s. I remember a visit to the farm in the early 1980s. Jessey told us we’d find him out in the orchard, and sure enough we did, at the top of a fifteen foot ladder. Dad called up, “Emerson, we caught you working!” He looked down with a funny expression on his face and said to my dad, “Merritt Davis, I thought you was dead!” Dad assured him he was not, but we both quickly realized that Emerson had mistaken my dad for my grandfather who had also been named Merritt.



Emerson’s longevity was indeed remarkable. Not only did he know and remember my grandfather, but he knew my great grandfather (they were second cousins) and even my great great grandfather, Merritt Adorno Davis who fought in the Civil War. It never ceased to amaze me that I could sit down with Emerson and listen to him reminisce about his recollections of a Union Army veteran who fought the Rebels in Virginia in 1863.



Year after year, we could count on finding Emerson at work on the farm. He was, it seemed, as indestructible as was the old stone barn at Greystone. Doug Brega’s painting “Emerson and the Greystone” conveyed this message quite eloquently. The wizened Yankee farmer and the immovable stone building, each seemed to symbolize the other, but, which was more durable? Those who knew him probably would have told you that they’d expect Emerson to outlast the barn. But, until the last decade of his life, Emerson never seemed to believe that he was destined for so many years on this earth. I remember him saying over thirty-five years ago that his time might be close at hand. “I’ve got a bad ticker, you know,” he explained that day as he tapped on his chest. As the years passed, he seemed to slowly accept the fact that he might outlive his friends and family. “I’m planning to live to 105,” he told me as recently as last summer. And, he nearly did.



I know that for many years, life on the farm was lonely for Emerson Davis. He was indeed fortunate to have met and married Jessey Wayne late in life. Although they spent less than 13 years together, she captured his heart. I recall several years ago Emerson telling me how much he missed Jessey. For me, hearing the emotion in the voice and seeing a tear in the eye of that stoic Yankee farmer, made me realize how love can change a person’s life. I’d like to think that Emerson and Jessey are taking some time right now to get reacquainted.



The passing of Emerson Davis brings to a close a long chapter in the history of the Stafford Davis family. Although none bearing the Davis name now remain on the land originally settled by Cornelius, the Davis Association will continue to keep the family history alive among the many descendants of Cornelius scattered around the world. Emerson Bradway Davis now becomes a part of that rich heritage. He will be missed, but never forgotten.