Davis Family
Independence, Washington County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Renowned educators; family of The Rev. Abner Davis, founder (1827) of Shurtleff College, Alton, Ill. A daughter, Martha (d. 1896), joined the Baylor Female College staff with her husband, Horace Clark, in 1851. Baylor in a few years drew rest of family here: Marcia (Mrs. Abner) Davis (1794-1882); George B. Davis (1828-1906) and wife, Fannie Breedlove (1833-1915); Harriett L. Davis (1832-1917) and husband, B.S. Fitzgerald (1827-1904); and Mary Russell Davis, "Little Mary" (d. 1865), who taught Indians briefly after the father died (1852), then like the others devoted her talents to Baylor.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Davis family were renowned educators whose roots ran back to the Rev. Abner Davis, founder of Shurtleff College in Illinois. Drawn to Texas by Baylor Female College, daughter Martha and her husband joined its staff in 1851, and in the following years much of the extended family followed to devote their talents to Baylor at Independence. One daughter, "Little Mary," even taught among Indians briefly before turning to the college.
Why it matters
Their story shows how a single dedicated family could shape frontier education, and how women were central to building Texas's earliest institutions of higher learning.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1840s and 1850s, Texas was a young state with very few schools beyond the most basic. Families who valued education often had to build it themselves, and religious denominations led much of that work. Baptists, among others, founded colleges intended to train ministers, teachers, and citizens for a growing society.
Baylor University was chartered by the Republic of Texas in 1845 and began here at Independence, in Washington County, then one of the more settled and prosperous parts of Texas. The college educated young women as well as young men, and its female department grew into its own institution, known as Baylor Female College.
At a time when opportunities for women in higher education were limited across the country, such schools offered both learning for young women and meaningful professional work for women teachers.
People & events
The Davis family's story begins not in Texas but in Illinois, where the Rev. Abner Davis founded Shurtleff College at Alton in 1827. Education was, in a real sense, the family trade.
In 1851 his daughter Martha and her husband, Horace Clark, came to Independence to join the staff of Baylor Female College. Their work there proved to be a magnet. After Abner Davis died in 1852, much of the rest of the family followed within a few years: his widow, Marcia; son George and his wife, Fannie; daughter Harriett and her husband, B. S. Fitzgerald; and the youngest daughter, Mary Russell Davis, known affectionately as "Little Mary."
Mary's path took one notable turn before she arrived. After her father's death she spent a short time teaching Native Americans, then, like the rest of her family, devoted her talents to Baylor. Together the Davises gave years of work to the college, making it as much a family calling as an institution.
Its place in the American story
The Davis family illustrates how higher education spread across the United States in the nineteenth century: not only through charters and buildings, but through families of teachers who carried their skills from one frontier to the next. A college founder in Illinois raised children who helped build a college in Texas.
Their story also puts women at the center. Martha, Harriett, Mary, and their mother were not footnotes to the men of the family; the marker names them as educators whose talents helped sustain one of Texas's earliest colleges. That reflects a broader national shift in which teaching became one of the most important professions open to women.
Baylor would later leave Independence, but the institutions that grew from those early years still shape Texas higher education today. The foundations laid by families like the Davises are part of that lasting legacy.
If you visit
Independence today is a quiet rural community, and that stillness is part of its appeal. It is hard to believe, standing here, that this crossroads was once a center of learning for the young state. Let that contrast guide your visit.
Look around the area for other markers and sites tied to Baylor's early years in Independence. Together they help you picture the campus life that the Davis family knew in the 1850s.
Washington County is rich in early Texas history, and Independence fits easily into a scenic drive through the rolling countryside between Brenham and the Brazos River. It is an especially rewarding stop for anyone interested in the history of education or the often-overlooked role of women in building Texas.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Abner Davis
- · Martha Davis Clark
- · Mary Russell Davis
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Dr. Horace G. Clark
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Massachusetts-born Horace G. Clark came to Texas in 1850 with his wife Martha and became principal and second president of Baylor Female College at Independence, where Martha also taught and counseled students. The couple ran a student dormitory here for two decades, and with a $1,000 gift from Dr. Asa Hoxey, Clark built a three-story main hall. Ordained a Baptist minister in 1858, he later opened Clark's Academy in Houston and eventually took Holy Orders in the Episcopal church.
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