"Know all men by these presents, that I Antoinette Blackbourne Davis, being in sound and devising mind do hereby pen my last will and Testament and this instrument voids and annuls all former documents of this character executed by me.  I devise to my beloved children Edward Bressie Davis, Savella Antoinette Lester, and Mollie Estelle Davis, All my Real estate and other property of which I may be seized, at my death, share and share alike.  Should said Mollie Estelle, survive Savella Antoinette Lester, I devise that she inherit the said Savella Antoinette Lesters division to be holden by her until her death.  Should E. Bressie Davis and Mollie Estelle Davis die without issue, I devise their remaining property inherited from me to pass to my beloved grandchildren, Share and share alike.
      Witness my hand and seal this Dec. 5th, 1911
     Antoinette B. Davis

Witness. E. B. Davis, Estelle Davis

Proofed Feb. 24, 1914
She died in 1914 leaving the three children mentioned in the will.

Antoinette was born in 1822 in Limestone Co., AL to  Sarah Blackbourne, daughter of Clement and Mary Ann Lewis Blackbourne, and William Robert Clarke.  She married Robert Ruffin Davis, son of Tinsley Davis and Frances Bowe Ragland, in Limestone Co. in 1846. They then moved to Shelby Co. to the home of Robert's father on a large plot of land.  In 1850 when Tinsley died intestate the couple purchased the home from the estate.  They had seven children.  They remained in Shelby Co. across Tchulahoma Rd. from the Elam family for 25 years until financial problems forced them to move to Plum Point, DeSoto Co., MS in 1876.  There in the 1880 Census the whole family is living together including their unmarried daughter Frances (age 28) who teaches school and is characterized by one of her contemporaries as a "very smart woman." Also living with them are the Lesters and two of their children.

Antoinette's daughter Frances Davis married Emmett E. Elam and his six motherless children in 1882, had two children Edith and Emmett, and lost her life in 1890 attempting to bear twins in breech delivery.  (There is a strong history of multiple births in the Blackbourne family.) When I asked my grandmother Edith how her mother Frances died, she said, "Two left feet."  They were way out in the country and before the doctor could get there, her mother and the babies died.  Edith was just two, Emmett four; their half-sister Katie, then 18 and called "Amah," raised Frances's two young children.  (I think Amah was baby talk for "other mother" which is what Amah was to Edith.)

In 1885 Robert Ruffin Davis died.  The next year Savella's husband died.  "At Plum Point, Aug 5 1886, Dr. W. G. LESTER, age 39 born Shelby Co TN, grew up in British Honduras, married Miss Savella, daughter of the late Robert R. DAVIS. (DESOTO TIMES)"  Then in 1890, as already noted, Frances.

The 1890 Census is lost but we know that in 1892 her son Robert Sidney "Sid" Davis lost his young wife Emma Pearl Granberry leaving him to care for a two year old daughter Seabie.  In 1900 Antoinette (age 77) is living with Robert Sidney and Seabie.  Her two unmarried children Mollie and Bressie are also in the house.  The widowed Savella and her son William S. Lester live near but are not in the same household.  Sadly, Seabie died two years later at the age of nine.  Edith Elam Rawlings still had her cousin Seabie's picture when she died at age 95.

Sid died in 1910 after the census was taken.  Antoinette died in 1914 at the age of 92, having outlived four of her seven children.   E. Bressie, Savella Lester and Mollie E. survived her.   E. Bressie would die the next year.  Her grandchildren alive in 1914 were William Stewart Lester, Edith Elam Rawlings and Emmett E. Elam. She had three great grandchildren at the time of her death---William Stewart Lester Jr, Antoinette Louise Lester, and Clarence Emmett Rawlings.  She is buried with Robert and Frances and Seabie and some of her other grandchildren in the Tinsley Davis Cemetery in Shelby Co., TN.

She wrote in Katie Clyde Elam's autograph book around 1890.
"Beauty alone never conferred
Such a charm as religion has lent.
And the cheek of a belle never glowed
With a smile like the smile of content.
Your friend
ABD"

Katie wrote on the same page
"Dear, sweet grandma.
I long to be like you."

So although Antoinette was Katie's stepmother's mother, Katie regarded her as her grandmother.  What a beautiful tribute to a life well-lived."
Jean R. Meaney