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A note written by Cora Lee Boughan states: Emma Wood Boughan was born April the 2 1874.

1880 U.S. Census, Essex County, Virginia
Tappahannock District, Enumeration District 17, sheet 133A
Dwelling 330, Household 330
Boughan, Thomas, white, male, 31, married, farmer, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
Boughan, Mary E., white, female, 31, wife, married, keeping house, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
Boughan, Charles R., white, male, 8, son, at home, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
Boughan, Emma W., white, female, 6, daughter, at home, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
Boughan, Mary, white, female, 4, daughter, at home, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia
Boughan, Betty J., white, female, 2, daughter, at home, born in Virginia, both parents born in Virginia

Joseph Davis married Emma W. Boughan on 30 October 1892 in Essex County, Virginia. He was 20, single (not widowed), born in Essex County and living in Essex County. She was 18, single (not widowed), born in Essex County and living in Essex County. Parents were Saml. Davis and Frances C. Dunn, and Thos. W. Boughan and Mary Taylor. Joseph was a farmer. Alexander Fleet performed the ceremony. [Essex County, Virginia, Marriage Register 1, page 109, line 38.]

A deed was made on 18 March 1895 between F. C. Davis, R. S. Davis, Joseph Davis and Emma Davis his wife, Cora Davis, C. Celia Davis and C. P. Taylor of the first part, and John Waller Jones of the second part, all of Essex County. The parties of the first part for $250 sell 35 acres in the Rappahannock District bounded on the north by Richard Bayton, on the west by R. C. Brizendine, on the south by the estate of Samuel Davis and on the east by the road leading to Wright and Brizendine’s grist mill. Signed F. C. Davis, R. S. Davis, Joseph Davis, Emma Davis, Cora Davis, C. Celia Davis, and C. P. Taylor. Recorded 5 January 1899. [Essex County, Virginia, Deed Book 59, pages 274-275.]

1900 U.S. Census, Essex County, Virginia:
Rappahannock District, household 357
Davis, Joseph, b. Apr 1873, m. 6 years, farmer, owns, mortgaged, farm schedule 314
Davis, Emma W., b. Apr 1874, m. 6 years, 3 children, all of whom survive
Davis, Grayson, b. Jul 1893
Davis, Liliin [sic] B., b. Jun 1895
Davis, Joseph H., b. Sep 1898
Davis, Francis C., mother of Joseph Davis, b. Dec 1841, widowed, had 7 children, 5 of whom survive
Everyone but the children could read and write.

She died in the childbirth of her sixth child, who was buried with her. We do not know if the child had a name. The child was probably stillborn, since on an delay birth certificate for Emma’s son Joseph Harold Davis in 1941 it lists 4 children as living, 1 as dead (probably Lillian), and 1 stillborn. Her birth and death dates are provided on a memorial card. She lived 30 years, 6 months, 4 days. Aunt Cora (Cora Lee Boughan) said that the night before Emma died she was “very jolly.” My grandmother was told that she had died from eating bad oysters.

Conversation between Thomas Darian Moore and Pearl Irene Davis Kopp, 31 August 1991:
TM: Do you remember her?
PD: No, I was only two when, uh…
TM: She died in…
PD: when she died.
TM: In 1904 or so, then?
PD: She died in 19--well, my father was married 1904 again, I think, 5, maybe.
TM: Uh huh.
PD: Yeah, I think he was married again in 1904. And I was born in 1902.
TM: Yeah.
PD: So, uh, I had to be, you know, so she must have died 1904. Then he was married 1905.