Eliza Hughes Davis devoted her life to her family and her work in the Methodist Church. The daughter of Reverend George and Mrs. Abby T. Hughes of Newark, New Jersey, Hughes married Reverend Mayhew W. Davis in 1896, then moved with him from New Jersey, to Pasadena, California. The couple had a total of five children. The youngest died soon after birth and the others endured health problems in their early years. Although Mrs. Davis also suffered repeatedly for most of her adult life from illnesses that eluded clear diagnosis and treatments, she worked steadily as a homemaker and enjoyed a brief stint in the winter of 1915 as a writer for the Pasadena daily news. Following her father's death in 1900, Mrs. Abby T. Hughes joined her daughter and son-in-law in Pasadena. Mrs. Davis' siblings also followed their father in the work of the church. Mamie, her oldest sister, married a Methodist missionary to India, although she died young, while her next-youngest sister Anne worked with a church relief organization in New York City. Mrs. Davis' brother George joined the Methodist Episcopal ministry and established his own church in Corydon, Iowa, while her youngest sister, Jennie V. Hughes, enlisted in 1906 with the Women's Foreign Missionary Service in China, serving as Principal of the Knowles Bible Training School, Kiukiang, in affiliation with the Danforth Memorial Hospital.
From the description of Eliza Anne Hughes Davis papers [microform] 1895-1920. (Harvard University, Divinity School Library). WorldCat record id: 229668131
From the description of Eliza Anne Hughes Davis papers, 1895-1920. (University of Oregon Libraries). WorldCat record id: 54069344
