The Davis family papers pertain to the family and descendants of Joshua Davis (1786-1847) who settled in Carroll County (later Heard County), Georgia. The bulk of the papers pertain to Owen Cook Davis (1899-1991?).

Joshua Davis (1786-1847) was born in Virginia, moved to Wilkes County, Georgia, with his parents William and Agnes Lanier Davis, after his father received 900 acres of land there for his services in the Revolutionary War. He married Martha "Patsy" Trammell (1792-1872) in Wilkes County in 1811. By 1828-1830, he had built a log cabin in District 12 of Carroll County, near Hillabahatchee Creek, which later became part of Heard County, when it was formed in 1830. Prior to the construction of a courthouse, Davis' home was officially designated as the meeting site for the county's Superior and Inferior courts and county elections. The couple had eight children.

Lewis Franklin Davis (1817-1857) was the third child of Joshua and Patsy Davis. In 1841, he married Elizabeth Ann Pittman (1822-1888) and they farmed at the current site of the house at 3232 Frolona Road.

Their son, Lewis Franklin Davis, Jr., known as "Dock," (1849-1938) was married in 1877 to Ettie Sophronia Cook (1855-1937). The couple had four children: (1) Lena Emily Davis (1882-1967) who married Cicero Elisha Ridley (1881-1934); (2) Lewis Franklin Davis, III (1884-1898) died at 14-years-old from an accidental gun-inflicted wound. (3) Hope Hull Davis (1886-1983) attended Bowdon College for five years, graduating in 1909. There he met Pauline Jeter (1889-1963); the couple married on December 25, 1910. Hope taught school at Simpson Elementary School in 1910 and 1913; they both taught at Ridgeway in 1911, Campground in 1912 and Simpson in 1914; and Pauline taught at Walnut Hill in 1913. When World War I broke out in 1914, and cotton brought a better price, Hope left the teaching profession to grow the crop and also operate, until 1916, the store his father established on the farm. Hope and Pauline moved to Atlanta around 1917 where their child, Elizabeth Ann, was born. The couple spent most of their married life living on 10th Street in Atlanta. Hope retired from the U.S. Post Office in Atlanta in 1956. He worked as an insurance agent on the side for almost 50 years, retiring in 1969 at the age of 83 as the oldest active agent in Atlanta. (4) Owen Cook Davis, Sr. (1899-1991?) married Pallie Louise Heard (1903-1972) on April 14, 1926. She was the daughter of Henry Rufus Heard and Rebecca Jane Cosper Heard and was the third of fourteen children. Initially, the couple set up housekeeping with his parents in their home. Pallie taught school in Heard County at Ephesus in the 1920's and at Simpson during World War II. While at Simpson, she drove a school bus route. The couple had four children. They were a farm family, raising corn and cotton and cultivating large vegetable gardens.

Owen and Pallie Davis had four children: Bernard Clyde Davis; Owen Cook Davis, Jr.; Rebecca Jane Davis (Lawley); and Dock Heard Davis. The children worked beside their parents and tenant families on the farm. Everybody chopped and picked cotton. After World War II, most row crops were discontinued for pastures and raising cattle. Pallie Davis enjoyed growing flowers. She liked music and intermittently taught piano. Pallie was the family disciplinarian and saw that everyone attended Sunday School and Church at Salem Methodist Church, where she is buried. One family story relates a visit that Pallie made to the famous fortune teller, Miss Mayhayley Lancaster (1875-1955), when she lost her wedding ring outdoors. Lancaster said, "Go see [unknown name]," which ended up to be the name of one of Pallie's chickens. She went to check the hen and found her gold ring.

Bernard Clyde Davis (1927-1989), attended Simpson Elementary School and graduated from Franklin High School (Class of 1944). He served in the U.S. Navy from 1944-1945 on the submarine, U.S.S. Blueback. Bernard attended Gordon Military College, West Georgia College, and graduated, in 1955, from Georgia Teachers College (later Georgia Southern). He taught school and coached throughout the 1950s before working several jobs in the private sector and found coal mining to be the most satisfying. Bernard married Jacqueline Baker in 1954 (May 22) and the couple had two children. In 1979, Bernard married Greta Yates and they had three children. Bernard contracted lung cancer in 1983 and died on November 24, 1989.

Owen Cook Davis, Jr. (1931-2018) graduated from Centralhatchee High School (Class of 1948) and attended Berry College. He graduated with a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and (also graduated?) from the Air War College. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, and was awarded his pilot wings in 1953. Owen served in Korea and Vietnam, flying 137 combat missions over both North and South Vietnam and was awarded two Silver Stars for gallantry in action. He retired from the U.S. Air Force with the rank of Colonel in 1975. Owen was known to buzz his home and other places in the county during the 1950s and 1960s in his fighter jet. Post military, he returned home to the family farm where he raised Black Angus cattle; in 2008, he was named Heard County Cattleman of the year. Owen was preceded in death by first wife, Phyllis, and survived by his second wife, Bobbie, and his six children and two stepchildren.

Rebecca Jane Davis Lawley (1935-2019) graduated from Heard County High School (Class of 1953), where she was a member of the basketball team. She earned a degree in nursing from the Georgia Baptist School of Nursing, and met her husband, Joseph Rhodes Lawley, during her last year of studies. She worked as a registered nurse for many years, serving in several hospitals around the country. After settling down with Joe in the Atlanta area, where they raised their two daughters, she worked as a private duty subcontractor for Piedmont Hospital, retiring in 1997. The couple returned to Heard County where Rebecca was instrumental in founding the Heard County Historical Society and also in getting the Davis-Ridley Farm District (incorporating her old home place) added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Dock Heard Davis (1940-2015), graduated from Heard County High School (Class of 1958) and over the following two decades, attended the University of Louisville, served in the U.S. Navy, completed law school at Emory University, and established a law practice in Atlanta. He married Janie Linkes and the couple had four children.