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Mary Catherine “Katie” <I>Shuford</I> Davis

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Mary Catherine “Katie” Shuford Davis

Birth
Catawba County, North Carolina, USA
Death
15 Sep 1970 (aged 80)
Dabney, Vance County, North Carolina, USA
Burial
Henderson, Vance County, North Carolina, USA Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Biography of Mary Shuford Davis, 1890-1970

By Linda Jacobson, Librarian and Keeper of the North Carolina Collection Gallery, Wilson Special Collections Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Secretary and finance committee member, Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina; Vice President, Vance County League of Women Voters

Mary Shuford was born in Hickory, North Carolina, on May 23, 1890 to Alda Virginia Campbell and Abel Alexander Shuford, a cotton mill owner and banker. She graduated in 1910 from St. Mary's School, a college preparatory school in Raleigh. In 1915, she married Robert Green Singleton Davis of E.G. Davis and Sons, a Henderson, North Carolina, department store. The couple resided in Henderson and raised three sons: Robert, John, and Alexander. After her husband's death in 1941, Davis became acting general manager of E.G. Davis and Sons. At the time of her death on September 15, 1970, she was serving as the company's secretary.

The women's suffrage movement in North Carolina began in 1894 with the founding of the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association in Asheville. Pro-suffrage activism in the state languished until the creation in 1913 of several local equal suffrage groups formed in Morganton, Charlotte, Asheville, Hickory, and High Point. A statewide association, the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina, Inc., followed in November 1913 with 200 members.

The Raleigh News and Observer reported that Miss Mary Shuford attended the first state convention of the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association in Charlotte on November 9-10, 1914 and was elected corresponding secretary. In 1915, and listed as Mrs. R.G.S. Davis, her name appears as an attendee and member of the finance committee in the Proceedings of the Second Annual Convention of the Equal Suffrage Association of North Carolina. No convention was held in 1916, and her name does not appear in convention proceedings of 1917-1919. In 1920, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina replaced the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina. Davis served as vice president of the Vance County division of the LWVNC. She is listed as one of North Carolina's "Prominent Women's Right Pioneers" in Doris Weatherford's Women in American Politics: History and Milestones.

In addition to her work as a suffragist, Davis volunteered in local and statewide community groups and supported other causes. Her obituary highlights her involvement in the Henderson Garden Club, the North Carolina Federation of Garden Clubs, the Vance County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Church of the Holy Innocents, rolling bandages during WWI, and U.S.O. center work in WWII. She served for many years as a board member of the H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library.

Source: Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920
Biography of Mary Shuford Davis, 1890-1970

By Linda Jacobson, Librarian and Keeper of the North Carolina Collection Gallery, Wilson Special Collections Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Secretary and finance committee member, Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina; Vice President, Vance County League of Women Voters

Mary Shuford was born in Hickory, North Carolina, on May 23, 1890 to Alda Virginia Campbell and Abel Alexander Shuford, a cotton mill owner and banker. She graduated in 1910 from St. Mary's School, a college preparatory school in Raleigh. In 1915, she married Robert Green Singleton Davis of E.G. Davis and Sons, a Henderson, North Carolina, department store. The couple resided in Henderson and raised three sons: Robert, John, and Alexander. After her husband's death in 1941, Davis became acting general manager of E.G. Davis and Sons. At the time of her death on September 15, 1970, she was serving as the company's secretary.

The women's suffrage movement in North Carolina began in 1894 with the founding of the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association in Asheville. Pro-suffrage activism in the state languished until the creation in 1913 of several local equal suffrage groups formed in Morganton, Charlotte, Asheville, Hickory, and High Point. A statewide association, the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina, Inc., followed in November 1913 with 200 members.

The Raleigh News and Observer reported that Miss Mary Shuford attended the first state convention of the North Carolina Equal Suffrage Association in Charlotte on November 9-10, 1914 and was elected corresponding secretary. In 1915, and listed as Mrs. R.G.S. Davis, her name appears as an attendee and member of the finance committee in the Proceedings of the Second Annual Convention of the Equal Suffrage Association of North Carolina. No convention was held in 1916, and her name does not appear in convention proceedings of 1917-1919. In 1920, the League of Women Voters of North Carolina replaced the Equal Suffrage League of North Carolina. Davis served as vice president of the Vance County division of the LWVNC. She is listed as one of North Carolina's "Prominent Women's Right Pioneers" in Doris Weatherford's Women in American Politics: History and Milestones.

In addition to her work as a suffragist, Davis volunteered in local and statewide community groups and supported other causes. Her obituary highlights her involvement in the Henderson Garden Club, the North Carolina Federation of Garden Clubs, the Vance County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the Church of the Holy Innocents, rolling bandages during WWI, and U.S.O. center work in WWII. She served for many years as a board member of the H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library.

Source: Biographical Database of NAWSA Suffragists, 1890-1920


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  • Maintained by: RTerry
  • Originally Created by: James Hill
  • Added: Aug 28, 2008
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/29374379/mary_catherine-davis: accessed ), memorial page for Mary Catherine “Katie” Shuford Davis (23 May 1890–15 Sep 1970), Find a Grave Memorial ID 29374379, citing Elmwood Cemetery, Henderson, Vance County, North Carolina, USA; Maintained by RTerry (contributor 46537864).