Sam, Sylvia Davis’s first child, was born in Clarke County, Alabama, in approximately 1859 – before slavery legally ended in the United States. It is a family belief, that Samuel’s father is Alexander William (Billie) Matheson, who was the owner of one of the largest slaveholding plantations in Alabama.

Samuel went on to marry Elizabeth Scott in 1882 and they had the following children: Virginia, Arlean, Zenobia, Walter (Rivers), Alexander (Jack), Lucille, Aldonia, William (Bill), Louvicou (Mack), Henry (Clay), McKinley, Joseph, Solomon and Benjamin (Bennie).

At approximately 76 years of age, Samuel died on March 4, 1936 in Mobile, Alabama.

Source:
Joan Madison James
Daughter of Bennie Madison (Matherson)