The John H. Pickens Davis House
Richmond, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built by son of Kinchen Davis, who escaped death by drawing a white bean in famous ordeal of Texans in 1842 Mexican conflict. As a "Jaybird" leader, builder J. H. Davis (1851-1927), prevented lynchings in Jaybird-Woodpecker War of the 1880s. He was owner of much land and livestock. This house, built about 1880, is of cypress and white pine, with many fine details unusual in its era. It was given in 1947 to Polly Ryon Memorial Hospital, named for Davis' mother-in-law. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This finely detailed cypress-and-pine home was built around 1880 by J. H. Davis, whose family carried a dramatic Texas legacy: his father had survived the deadly "black bean" lottery drawn by Texan prisoners in the 1842 conflict with Mexico. Davis himself became a leader of the "Jaybird" faction in Fort Bend County's Jaybird-Woodpecker War of the 1880s, a bitter and bloody struggle over local political power in the years after Reconstruction, during which he acted to prevent lynchings. The house later became a gift to a hospital named for his mother-in-law.
Why it matters
The home is a tangible link to the violent contest over race and political control that convulsed the post-Reconstruction South, a chapter that reshaped Black political participation across the region.
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Related people
- · John H. Pickens Davis
- · Kinchen Davis
Related events
- · Jaybird-Woodpecker War
Themes & tags
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