When Elijah Henry Davis was born on 6 March 1810, in Pilot Mountain, Surry, North Carolina, United States, his father, Reece William Davis, was 20 and his mother, Martha Patsy Harris, was 21. He married Susannah Jane Taylor on 27 November 1826, in Dobson, Surry, North Carolina, United States. They were the parents of at least 6 sons and 8 daughters. He died on 3 July 1864, in Jefferson, Illinois, United States, at the age of 54, and was buried in Black Oak Ridge Cemetery, Webber Township, Jefferson, Illinois, United States.