41Piety Davis
Key Facts
Snapshot:housewife
Parents:82Thomas Davis
83Penelope Gillis
Born:1872
Georgia
Died:1925
presumably Treutlen County, Georgia
Buried:Red Bluff Missionary Baptist Church, Treutlen County, Georgia
Coordinates: N32.39191 W.82.68761

41Piety was born in Georgia1 in 18722 to parents 82Thomas A. Davis1 and 83Penelope Gillis.3 The 1880 census shows that 41Piety was the oldest of her siblings:1


1880: 41Piety's family in militia district 340 (map), Telfair County, Georgia. Full page.1

41Piety married her first husband 40Jackson Geiger in Montgomery County, Georgia on 15 August 1889.4 For more information on their time together as a married couple, see his profile since most of that information won't be repeated here.

40Jackson died unexpectedly in October 1901.5 The 1910 census shows 41Piety as a 38 year-old widow with six children.6


1910: 41Piety's family in militia district 1221 (map), Montgomery County, Georgia. Full page.6

On 17 August 1913, 41Piety married her second husband Jim Wilson.7 Despite the marriage, 41Piety continued to use the last name Geiger because everyone already knew her so well by that name.8

Jim Wilson's and Piety Davis' marriage certificate
1913: 41Piety's and Jim Wilson's marriage certificate. Full page.7

41Piety died in 1925 and is buried in Red Bluff Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery in Treutlen County, Georgia at coordinates N32.39191 W.82.68761. Even though it would've been legally mandatory for 41Piety to have a death certificate, I've been unable to find it. Below is a picture of her tombstone.2

Sources Cited:

1: 1880 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 340 (McVille), Telfair County, Georgia. Enumeration district 92, page 43, dwelling 4, family 4, Thomas A. Davis household. NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 166. Ancestry.com, accessed 2009. The same record is also available on FamilySearch: <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYJ-STJG?cc=1417683>.

2: Tombstone of Piety Gigger, section B, Red Bluff Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery, Treutlen County, Georgia at coordinates N32.39191 W.82.68761. Photograph taken by 1Bryant Knight, circa 2010.

3: “MRS. PENELOPE DAVIS,” The Montgomery Monitor (Mt. Vernon, Georgia), Thursday 21 December 1911, page 3. The obituary names "[h]er living children," including "Mrs. Piety Geiger."

4: Montgomery County, Georgia. Marriages book B (1883-1893), page 143, marriage of Jack Geiger and Piety Davis. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBZX-JC4?i=239&cc=1927197&cat=334570>, accessed 16 October 2021.

5: "J. L. Geiger Dead," The Statesboro News (Statesboro, Georgia), 18 October 1901, page 5

6: 1910 U.S. Federal Census (Population Schedule). Militia district 1221 (Lothair), Montgomery County, Georgia. Enumeration district 138, sheet 19A, dwelling , family , household. NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 201. Internet Archive, <http://archive.org/stream/13thcensus1910po201unit#page/n309/mode/1up>.

7: Montgomery County, Georgia. White marriages book 1 (1893-1916), page 526, marriage of Jim Wilson and Pietty Geiger. FamilySearch, <https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-8BZX-3H6?i=305&cc=1927197&cat=334570>, accessed 17 October 2021.

8: Interview with Retha Mae Bennett (daughter of Oscar Geiger, who was the brother of 20Joseph Preston Geiger, who was the son of 41Piety Davis), 5 November 2011