Anna L. Bristol and Charles F. Davis were married on November 29, 1884 in Algernon, Custer County, Nebraska by Judge John S. Benjamin. After the wedding, they moved to Ansley, Nebraska where Charles was a farmer. Their six children were born in Ansley between the years of 1885 and 1898. By 1910, the family had moved across the country to the Key Peninsula in Pierce County, Washington. They established a farm in near Elgin and lived there for the remainder of their lives. Charles passed on Sept 22, 1936 and Anna passed on December 31, 1937.
My mother, Irene, was born in 1932 to their son Ernest and Nora Waller. Although she was very young when she visited her grandparents, she clearly remembers her grandmother’s turkeys, the pea patch, and a huge apple orchard. The family was loud and boisterous. Her father was especially close to his sister, Margaret. She grew up hearing stories about outrageous pranks they would dreamed up to torment each other and their siblings.
Anna and Charles’ children were: Katherine L. (Kate or Katie) 1885-1964, Chauncey Weston 1887-1948, Ethel Caribel 1889-1955, Frederick Rupert (Fred) 1891-1953, Margaret F. (1894-1982), and my grandfather, Ernest Nathaniel (1898-1965). Their children remained in the general Tacoma area. Fred and Katie did not marry, the rest of the siblings married and raised families.
Katie was born with (in today’s terminology)) a learning disability. Charlie and Anna would care for her at home for most of her life. It appears that she could not care for herself. She is remembered as being sweet natured. Sometime between 1930 and 1935, she was committed to the Western Washington State Hospital in Steilacoom, Pierce County, Washington. It was originally built as a hospital for the insane. In 1915, the word insane was removed from it’s name. It remained a hospital treating those diagnosed with (or possibly in Katie’s case, a perceived) mental condition requiring institutionalization and treatment. Lobotomies were commonly performed at WWSH. My mother remembers her father, Ernest, telling her that Katie had a lobotomy. Katie would live the remainder of her life at the hospital.
Charles Frederick Davis
Parents: Chauncey W. Davis (1813 – 1883) and Charity Sparks (1815 – 1894)
Birthdate: May 29, 1857
Birthplace: Jackson, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania
Spouse: Anna L. Bristol
Marriage date and place: November 29, 1884 Algernon, Custer County, Nebraska
Occupation: farmer
Death: September 22, 1936
Place: Elgin, Pierce County, Washington
Anna L. Bristol
Parents: Horace W. Bristol (1825 – 1874) and Anna French (1828 – 1858)
Birthdate: October 1852
Birthplace: New York state (exact location not known)
Spouse: Charles Frederick Davis
Marriage date and place: November 29, 1884 Algernon, Custer County, Nebraska
Occupation: housewife
Death: December 31, 1937
Place: Elgin, Pierce County, Washington