Cicero W. Davis House 1908

NATIONAL REGISTER of Historic Places: 208 Walnut Street - L-shaped house with wrap-around one-story porch and side and back additions, wood-shingling in front gables. Davis was a ship captain and employee of the Swansboro Land and Lumber Company. NR

Cicero W. Davis was born September 25, 1850, the son of Benjamin Perry Davis and Rhoda Willis of Straits, Carteret County, North Carolina.

Cicero married Virginia C. Moore about 1875. In the 1880 census, Davis was a 30-year-old sailor, living in Swansboro with "Jennie," her siblings and her parents, Nicolas S. and Rosa Moore.

The 1900 census noted Davis as captain of a schooner, with wife "Jennie," four children (William 22, Benjamin 20, Etta 17, Rosalie 9) and father-in-law Nicolas Moore.

In 1910 Cicero and "Jennie" were in Swansboro with two children, Benjamin 30 and Rosalie 19. Davis was noted on the census as a "mill hand - saw mill."

By 1920, 71-year-old Davis was still at work--a "laborer - saw mill." Cicero W. Davis died August 27, 1924 and was buried in Ward Cemetery in Swansboro.

Interestingly, Cicero Davis' roots can be traced by to William Davis (1672-1756) and Mary Wicker Davis who inherited Davis Island in 1743. William Davis' great-great grandfather sailed into Jamestown about 1607.