Mercer Davenport
Lifespan: 1879 - 1928
Birth: 10 Nov 1879 in Athens, Georgia
Occupation: Farm Laborer, Planing Mill Laborer, Fireman, Transfer Man
Marriage: Professor "Fess" Strickland
Children: Jacob Davenport, Cordelia Davenport, John Wiley Davenport, Norris Davenport, Thomas Edward Davenport Sr., Mary Davenport, Margaret Davenport, Samuel Benjamin Davenport, Ardia “Missy” Davenport, Luther Joseph Davenport, Theodore Joseph Davenport Sr., Betty Jean Davenport, Louise Marie Davenport
Parents: Jacob Davenport, Mother: Amanda Goolsby & Father: Jacob Davenport, Amanda Goolsby
Death: 15 Mar 1928 in Chicago, Illinois
Burial: Unknown
Chapter 1: Born of Reconstruction (1870–1890)
Mercer Davenport entered the world around 1870, in the slow dawn of Reconstruction, when freedom for Black families had arrived in name—but not yet in safety. He was born to Amanda Wilkerson and Jacob Davenport in Marshall County, Mississippi, a rural landscape still haunted by the memory of slavery, yet stirring with the fragile promise of something better.