Eleonora K. DelVasto was born in Italy, circa 1875, to an Italian father and a German mother. They emigrated to the U.S. circa 1877.
In 1885, at the age of 11, she was taken into foster care by Thomas C. and Ann (Lawton) Sharp through the Orphan Train. Thomas Sharp had been a judge and newspaper publisher of the Warsaw New Era and, later, the Carthage Gazette. By 1885, he had turned over the paper to his son, W.O. Sharp, but remained active as a journalist and leader in political circles. He was stricken with paralysis in 1891, and passed away three years later on 9 April, 1894.
In 1950, his son published a lengthy testimonial to his father, stating in part:
His life was gentle and the elements so mixed up in him that nature might stand up and say, this was a man. His hand and purse were ever open to the needy and his heart a great temple in which daily thronged myriads of tender thoughts and kindly emotions. His generosity prevented him from ever becoming a rich man and he only sought to accumulate a competency, which he succeeded in doing. — Carthage Gazette
Eleonora apparently thrived under the care of her foster parents and eventually took to using Sharp as her informal surname. The announcement of her marriage to Harry Davis in 1895 warmly notes:
The bride was one of our most estimable young ladies, of pleasing manners and disposition and whose qualities of heart and mind drew about her a large circle of friends and companions, whose friendship, love, and best wishes follow her to her new home. ….The groom…is a young man of good habits, sound business qualifications, and is every way worthy of the prize he has drawn in the matrimonial lottery. — Carthage Gazette
Harry Davis was a manager of the Columbus, a widely known dry goods store in Chicago. By 1910, Eleonora and Harry Davis were living in St. Louis, where he worked as a solicitor for a publishing house. In 1920, when they were in their fifties, he was working in advertising sales. Eleonora passed away on February 8, 1946; she was survived by her husband.
The Davis’ had two children, Cherrile A. (1897) and Harold E. (1901). Cherrille married Max Jones and lived the remainder of her life in St. Louis, Missouri. Max was a prosperous salesman. They had a daughter, Maxine Lucille (February 4, 1926 – 1995 in Missouri). Maxine was married to Parker H. Nichols (1923-1987) and they had two children.
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