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= Overview = Beulah Persons Davis was a white woman from Durham, NC, with unknown birth and death dates. The Federal Writers' Project had Davis interviewed in 1939 and she was possibly in her middle ages then. The file on her is titled "Free Advice" on account of her occupation as a 'fortune teller' who did not charge for her advice. She had previously been a farmer, and then lived off of voluntary payments from people who sought her services. Davis was a generous, church-going woman.

Early Life
Davis grew up on a derry farm in an unknown location, very likely being rural North Carolina. Davis learned to work at a very young age, doing whatever she was physically able to help with. She started attending a very small school at the age of five, in a village, as she described it. She hunted for small animals with friends for fun, but was an especially wild child. Once, "being lonesome and blue," she set a forest on fire, and didn't tell anyone she had done it until eighteen years later. While in school she met a boy she hated at first, but came around to being with. She ended up marrying him "to keep from feeling disgraced."

Adult Life
Once married, Davis was a farmer with her husband. Later they built a house and general store by a highway, which Davis would look after while her husband farmed. Together they had two children, one boy and one girl. At a certain point, her husband's behavior started deteriorating, and he became unfaithful and abusive. When her husband raped their daughter Davis took the children and left him. Though she did not press charges, she quickly divorced him and had the sympathy of the judge. Although the exact timeline is unknown, this probably took place during the Great Depression, and we know that after the divorce Davis and her children had lived in poverty. By the time the interview took place in 1939, Davis and her children were able to live without worry of hunger but still struggled to pay rent.

Occupation
After Davis left her husband, it is unclear how she established herself as a 'fortune teller.' Davis just recalled that people began asking her for advice and soon enough were giving her money for it. In this informal occupation, Davis regularly interacted with church-goers and friends, and was also invited to higher-class parties for 'entertainment,' which exposed her to different social strata in society. Davis was often paid with fresh clothes or necessities. Though she never charged any money for her service, Davis never recounted a time of ever being taken advantage of.

Thing one
[placeholder] Davis was a white woman from Durham, NC, presumably living in her middle ages when interviewed in 1939. She was a very humble women: a fortune teller without license, but one who “doesn’t charge a penny” for her advice. She describes herself as “the radical to convention.” Her profession allowed her to visit with wealthy people sometimes and she describes having a variety of friends – many of whom she knew from regularly going to church.

Thing Two
[placeholder] Davis was a white woman from Durham, NC, presumably living in her middle ages when interviewed in 1939. She was a very humble women: a fortune teller without license, but one who “doesn’t charge a penny” for her advice. She describes herself as “the radical to convention.” Her profession allowed her to visit with wealthy people sometimes and she describes having a variety of friends – many of whom she knew from regularly going to church.