Lezli Davis’ affinity for genealogy has served her – and the Roberts Settlement – well. Davis’ gift for connecting the historical dots has given her several discoveries over the years as she persistently works to put names from documents to faces in photographs – some dating back to the 1800s.
Lezli Davis Finds Joy in Historical Discovery and Family
While Davis’ actions are genealogical her passion is familial. Along with her brother, Bryan Glover, Davis is a descendant of Elijah and Keziah Roberts who were among the first settlers of Roberts Settlement. Then, there’s her lineage from the Winburns who farmed at Roberts Settlement in the earlier years. Rounding out this trifecta of connection is Davis’ relation to Moody and Amanda Gilliam whose children married into the Roberts Settlement after relocating from Virginia to nearby Boone County.
Davis is, of course, proud of her ancestry; she’s also grateful for it. Her role of family historian for Roberts Settlement has been eased with the forethought of her predecessors. “I value the fact that some of my ancestors passed to us information which has been helpful in untangling ‘where do you come from?’ … I value the fact that they had enough foresight to save information to say [something] about their lineage and then pass it forward to us.”
Davis notes that there’s a lot of information that can be found online. But images and family trees found on the internet tend to provide answers; without the documents and photographs she’s amassed she wouldn’t have questions to ask. One ancestor left “photo book after photo book.” She reflects, “You bring their story alive when you have these images of them.”
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This phenomenon of matching a name to a face might only happen once or twice a year and it is exhilarating when it occurs. “When I identify a new person it’s like ‘oh, my!’,” Davis exclaims. Part of her process involves lining up photos chronologically and seeing who she can already identify. Then, she will visit an ancestry website and see if she can find a similar picture or other pictures of the same person. It’s slow work, but extremely rewarding.
Davis recounts the story of her mother’s adopted cousin (now deceased). She had run away as a teenager, never to be seen by her family again. Through Davis’ methodical sleuthing, however, she discovered the daughter of her mother’s cousin, and the two women have recently been in touch. “She’s coming to the reunion this year for the first time. I’ll get to meet her,” Davis says with excitement. “That’s like a full circle moment: You thought someone had disappeared and then you get this information that tells you otherwise.”
Despite doing genealogical work for years, Davis says she’s “hit with surprises all the time.” She says that there may have been a proclivity to not document the harder things her ancestors have endured, and she’ll occasionally uncover their struggles. But this also educates Davis about how strong her people were. “There are so many things that amaze me about their resilience and the tenacity that our ancestors had.”
Davis also talks about delightful surprises that she’s shocked aren’t more common knowledge among her family members. Davis recounts researching a cousin that she didn’t have a lot of information about. What she discovered is that he was one of the founders of Kappa Alpha Psi at IU. He had graduated from Union High Academy (now Union Bible College) in Westfield, and went on to become highly educated. Discoveries like this are a wonderful reward for Davis and all of the living descendants of Roberts Settlement.
Looking forward? Davis has some goals that she’d love to accomplish. She mentions that there were several other settlements in relatively close proximity that had a lot of Roberts family members in them. But, the connection of the Roberts Settlement to other settlements isn’t always established – yet. Specifically, Davis mentions the Lost Creek settlement in Terre Haute, IN which was home to many with the Roberts surname. “I hope one day we can link these Roberts families.” Similarly, she’d like to connect her ancestry to Africa and to Europe. Davis has her eyes set forward. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Lezli Davis is a Noblesville, Indiana native, Indiana University alumna, and proud descendant of Roberts Settlement. Now living near Asheville, North Carolina, she enjoys genealogy research and helping others discover connections to their family history.
