Mary Hayes Davis

Born around 1884, she was an American writer, editor, and publisher whose best-known book is Chinese Fables and Folk Stories (1908), created with Reverend Chow Leung while she was living in Chicago. The collection was presented as an early English gathering of Chinese tales and remains the work most closely associated with her name.

Her career was broader than literature alone. After moving to southwest Florida in the 1920s, she became a prominent local newspaper owner and publisher, connected with The Hendry County News, and also operated movie theaters in towns including LaBelle, Clewiston, and Moore Haven.

Mary Hayes Davis died on May 18, 1948. She is remembered as a lively, entrepreneurial figure whose work linked journalism, local business, and the sharing of traditional stories across cultures.