Dave Family History

Our family story goes back as far as Moses and Maria Dave who were living in Polk County Georgia in the city of Van Wert in 1870. Very little is known about Moses and Maria, but, it‘s believed that both were former slaves who settled in Polk County. Moses was likely born in Virginia around 1815 and Marie was born in Georgia around 1820. While we do not know when they died, we know they are both on the 1870 and 1880 census living in Van Wert, which is about 16 miles from Cedartown, Georgia. Since we can not find them on the 1900 census (there is no 1890 census for most of Georgia.), we believe they both died sometime between 1880 and 1900. Moses was a property owner who farmed his land (valued at $250.00 on the 1870 census) with the help of his wife and 9 children.

By 1900, many of Moses and Maria’s children had moved to other cities in Polk County Georgia, including Cedartown, where we find Marion and Maherlia Dave living on the 1900 census. Other cities in the area where children of Moses and Maria move included Fish Creek, Rockmart, Aragon and Rome. All of these cities are between 5 and 20 miles of each other.

Within the city of Cedartown is an area called Collard Valley, which got its name from the road of the same name that runs through the area. Collard Valley is a section of Cedartown where many Daves lived in the early 1900’s. In fact, many Dave family members are buried in the Collard Valley Cemetery, located off Collard Valley Road near the Collard Valley Baptist Church. Surnames such as Frederick, Whatley (Watley), Chisolm, Thurmond, Milsap, Mumford, Martin, Foster, Jefferson, Spratling, and Patton are some of the names that have evolved from the Dave lineage.

After 1900, some Dave family members started to sell their property in Polk County and move out of Georgia. It appears that Moses and Maria’s son William was one of the first to leave, taking his family to Arkansas. Other states where Dave family members moved between 1900-1920, included Tennessee and Ohio. Over the years, Dave descendants have moved to nearly every state in the United States. As a result, many family members lost touch with one another.

The first informal reunion was in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1988. In 1992 there was an informal gathering of Dave family members held in Columbus, Ohio at the home of Madge Smith Jones. This was followed in 1993 with the first nationwide Dave Family Reunion held in Knoxville, Tennessee. Since 1993, the Dave Family Reunion has been held every two years in the following cities: Columbus, Louisville, Washington D.C., San Diego, Tampa, Knoxville, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Baltimore, Scottsdale, Columbus, Knoxville (Gatlinburg), and the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia).

2015 Web Site: davefamilyreunion.com

THE BLACK FAMILY REUNION PLEDGE

BECAUSE we have forgotten our ancestors, our children no longer give us honor.

BECAUSE we have lost the path our ancestors cleared, kneeling in perilous undergrowth, our children cannot find their way.

BECAUSE we have banished the God of our ancestors, our children cannot pray.

BECAUSE the old wails of our ancestors have faded beyond our hearing, our children cannot hear us crying.

BECAUSE we have abandoned our wisdom of mothering and fathering, our befuddled children give birth to children they neither want nor understand.

BECAUSE we have forgotten how to love, the adversary is within our gates, and holds us up to the mirror of the world shouting, "Regard the loveless“

Therefore, we pledge to bind ourselves to one another,

to embrace our lowliest,

to keep company with our loneliest,

to educate our illiterate,

to feed our starving,

to clothe our ragged,

to do all good things,

Knowing that we are more than keepers of our brothers and sisters. We ARE our brothers and sisters.

IN HONOR of those who toiled and implored God with golden tongues, and in gratitude to the same God who brought us out of hopeless desolation,

We make this pledge.

Dr. Maya Angelou