Wheeling Daily News
Mrs. R. H. Davis
News Received Here of Death of Rebecca Harding Davis.
Deceased Authoress Was a Former Resident of This City.
Locale of Some of Her Stories in Wheeling and Vicinity.
September 30, 1910
There is much local interest in a telegram from New York that death had claimed Mrs. Rebecca Harding Davis, the authoress. Mrs. Davis at one time lived in Wheeling, and the scene of some of her books is this city.
Mrs. Davis was the mother of Richard Harding Davis and Charles Belmont Davis, who are also authors of considerable note. She was the daughter of Richard and Rachel Wilson Davis [sic], and was born at Washington, Pa., 80 years ago. The family lived for some time in Wheeling, and some of the older residents of the city will remember them and Rebecca Harding, as she was then known. She was about twenty years of age when they lived in Wheeling, but they later returned to Washington, Pa. Her husband was L. Clarke Davis, who died in 1904.
Mrs. Davis' first work of note was "Life in the Iron Mills," which possesses considerable local interest. One of her novels, "Kent Hampden," has the scene located in Wheeling in the earlier days of the city, when it was practically on the frontier. Not long ago she published a series of memoirs on life in her younger days, describing the old National road and spots along it, and the halcyon days of the river. Among her other works are "Margaret Howth," "Waiting for the Verdict," "Dallas Galbraith," A Law Unto Herself," "Kitty's Choice," "John Andross," "Silhouttes [sic] of American Life," "Natasqua," "Dr. Warwick's Daughter," and "Bits of Gossip."
Mrs. Davis died at her home at Mt. Kisco, West Chester county, New York.