A Portrait and Biographical Record of Hendricks County (Chicago: A.W. Bowen & Co., 1895)--pages 959-960
Benjamin F. Davis, one of the old soldiers and respected citizens of Eel River Township, Hendricks County, Ind., was born in Montgomery County, Ky., on his father's farm, December 24, 1823, and was but six years of age when his father moved to Hendricks County, in 1828, bringing his family and settling in Eel River Township in the woods. Benjamin F. Davis married Jane, daughter of Silas Russell, of Lincoln County, Ky., and to this union was born one child—Smith R. Davis. After marriage, Mr. Davis settled on eighty acres of land in the woods in Eel River Township, one and one-half miles northwest of North Salem, and here cleared up and made a good farm. He enlisted in September, 1863, in Company F, Fifty-fourth Regiment, Indiana Volunteer Infantry, for twelve months, under Capt. William Neff and Col. Mansfield. Upon the organization of the company he was elected second lieutenant, which office he held until honorably discharged March 1, 1864, on account of disability, he being, it was believed, in the last stages of consumption, brought on by exposure. His service was in Memphis, Tennessee, Vicksburg and Arkansas. He was first taken sick with lung fever and was in a hospital boat on the Mississippi River two months, and, being completely disabled, was discharged and returned home, but for four years was unable to do any work, his constitution being shattered, and he has never fully recovered. He receives a pension of $11.25 from the government and has a farm of 116 acres, within one and one-half miles of North Salem. In politics he is a Republican. He and wife are members of the Christian Church, in which he was an elder eight years and deacon twenty years. Fraternally he is a Mason, being a member of North Salem lodge, No. 142, in which he has held the offices of treasurer and junior warden. Mr. Davis has passed nearly all his life in Eel River Township, and is well known among the citizens as an honorable man and good citizen. He is the son of Enoch and Nancy (Hart) Davis. Enoch Davis was from Virginia and a pioneer in Kentucky, and his father, John Davis, was in the Revolutionary War. Enoch was the father of eight children: Mary, Patty, Jessie, Charles M., John, William, Benjamin F. and Owen. Enoch Davis lived to be about seventy-four years of age and died in Hendricks County, Ind., in 1845. He was one of the original pioneers of this county. B.F. Davis and family are recognized as being among the most worthy of Eel River Township's residents, and Mr. Davis' long residence here and faithful services as a soldier make him doubly honored.