The Davis Families of Allen County, Ohio

FRANCIS Y. DAVIS, who has a fine home and 80 acres of land in the southeast quarter of section 8, Perry township, has been a resident of this township during almost the entire period of his active business career. Mr. Davis was born in Orange County, Vermont, October 29, 1827, and is a son of Francis and Lydia (York) Davis.

The Davis family is of Scotch-Welsh origin, and the ancestral line can be traced to the birth of Sir Francis Davis, in 1590. His home was in Cardiganshire, Wales. Three of his sons, Gideon, Philip and Francis (2) crossed the ocean in search of fame and fortune, but of these only Philip and Francis (2) safely reached Halifax, Nova Scotia, Gideon having been lost at sea during the voyage. Francis Davis(2)has passed his 21st birthday at this time and with his other possessions brought a cane, which his father had presented him when he had reached his majority. This cane is still in the possession of the family, being owned by a Francis Davis, the subject of this biography. The wood of this ivory-headed cane was cut in the Grampion Hills of Scotland by the grandfather of Sir Francis Davis, in 1550. It has survived generations of its owners and typifies the solidity of the Scotch hills on which it grew, affording support to youth, feebleness and age for more than 300 years. Francis Davis (2), son of Sir Francis, remained with his brother in Halifax for about one year. There in 1749 Philip married Mary Wells; he subsequently settled in Virginia.

The above Francis Davis (2) was born in 1626 and died in 1709. He married Gertrude Emerson, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, who was born in 1629 in England and died in 1715. They settled at West Amesbury, Massachusetts, in 1652, bringing the old cane with them.

Francis Davis (3), son of Francis (2), was born in 1653 in Massachusetts and died there in 1737. In 1673 he married Mary Taylor, a daughter of Walter Taylor, of Amesbury; she was born in 1657 and died in 1733. The old cane came into the hands of this Francis and was in turn given to the next Francis.

Francis Davis (4), son of Francis (3), was born September 29, 1687, and died October 9, 1753, at Amesbury, leaving the old cane to his son, Captain Francis Davis. His wife, to whom he was married at Haverhill, Massachusetts, September 6, 1716, was born September 6, 1693 and died December 3, 1775.

Capt. Francis Davis, the fifth of the name, was born October 26, 1723 and died November 26, 1784. He was married September 3, 1745, to Elizabeth Ferran, who was born September 20, 1724, and died December 20, 1793. It was Capt. Francis Davis, who took the old cane from Amesbury to Davisville, Warren County, Vermont, a town he founded in May, 1766. In 1740 he had built a mill there which was destroyed by fire in 1746, and he built a second one. He was a Revolutionary soldier and a man of influence and wealth, and was the first representative to the General A’assembly from Warren County.

Francis Davis (6), son of Capt. Francis

Davis, was born at Amesbury, Massachusetts, May 27, 1758, and died at Barre, Vermont, October 30, 1840. He married Philena Thurber, who was born at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, August 26, 1758, and died at Barre, Vermont, December 21, 1841. These ancestors were the grandparents of the subject of this sketch. The family resided at Warren until the fall of 1794, when they removed to Barnard, Vermont, taking’ with them the old cane. There it remained until the grandfather’s death, when it came into possession of Francis Davis (7), father of its present owner, who is in the eighth generation from Sir Francis Davis.

Francis Davis (7) was born March 7, 1788, at Warren, New Hampshire, and-was six years old when he accompanied his parents to Barnard, Vermont, where he was given as good educational advantages as the times afforded. He worked at the carding and fulling business for some years. When the War of 1812 became imminent, he enlisted in a cavalry company which was ordered by the Governor to proceed from Montpelier to Plattsburgh, New York. After three days, the company reached that place and took part in the closing engagements of the battle there. He was discharged at the end of the war. After the passage of many years, he received 160 acres of land in recognition om his military services. After his marriage he lived in Orange and in Washington counties, Vermont, and owned and operated a sawmill and also dealt in tombstones. He was an expert worker in stone and samples of his work took first premium when exhibited at Montpelier.

In the autumn of 1834, with his wife and four children, the oldest being nine years and the youngest, five months, he started Westward to find a new home. The wagon was filled with bedding and articles of wearing apparel. After a pleasant driving journey of six weeks, a pause was made at the town of Keene, Coschocton County, Ohio. Here Mr. Davis found a few settlers from New England and, tired of traveling, decided to stop a least over the winter. In the spring, on March 21, 1835, he purchased 100 acres of land for which he paid $200. Three acres had been cleared, a small orchard had been set out and a log cabin built. Later he cleared about 40 acres of this land and entered into farming and stock-raising, also cutting and selling many tombstones from a.quarry situated on the property. He built the first sawmill ever erected here, which was run by the waters of the Buckloo, a small stream which meandered through his farm. In 1842 Mr. Davis leased the farm and moved to the town of Keene where he engaged in the tombstone and monument business but soon tired of village life and returned to the farm. In 1843 he purchased another loo-acre tract, but in 1846 he sold out and again made preparations to move westward. On April 6, 1846, with his wife, two sons and the youngest daughter, a grandson and a young neighbor who was starting West with some household goods, Mr. Davis started his prairie schooner, drawn by oxen, in the direction of the setting sun. The horses which 12 years previously had assisted to move the family from Vermont to Ohio, were again made use of, being hitched to a farm cart and a flock of sheep and a herd of cattle were also taken along. On the eighth night of the journey the family camped in a vacated cabin which they found near the center of a seven by 20 mile forest, which then stood in its native state in Hardin County, Ohio. Here the hoots of the owls and the howls of the wolves made the night hideous. On the ninth day of the journey the family reached a point four miles east of Lima, in Perry township, Allen County, Ohio. Here Mr. Davis decided to locate, buying an 80- acre farm on which he lived and carried on farming and stock-raising. In 1863 he sold his farm and in 1864 moved to Defiance County, Ohio, where he purchased a farm of 120 acres on which he continued farming and stock-raising operations, assisted by his adopted grandson, Lucius, who lived with him until his death, which took place March 31, 1875. In politics he was a Whig and later a Republican. In his dealings with his fellowmen, he was honest and upright and his religion consisted more in good works than in profession. In 1850 he and his wife made an ex- OF ALLEN tended visit to relatives in Vermont and upon his return he brought with him the old family cane.

On October 21, 1813, in Randolph, Orange County, Vermont, he married Lydia York, a ‘daughter of Gershom York, and they had 11 children. Mrs. Davis died March 1, 1863. In the course of time he married Mrs. Elizabeth Gilbert, a widow, who also preceded him to the grave. Of the 11 children, those who reached maturity were: Roxanna P., deceased, who was the wife of Ira Fox; Francis Y; George E.; and Fannie, deceased, who was the wife of John Bond.

Francis Y. Davis, our immediate subject, was 19 years old when he accompanied his father to Perry township, and he assisted in the clearing of the home farm. In 1852 he bought 40 acres in section 3, which is now known as the William Robert’s farm, which he cleared and converted from timberland to fields of unusual fertility and productiveness. In 1863 he settled upon 80 acres in section 16 on which he lived and made extensive improvements until 1882, when he located upon a quarter-section in section 19, a part of which still remains in the family. He reclaimed a part of this farm from the forest and converted it into a productive farm and made his home there until 1894, when he purchased 40 acres of his present farm in section 8, to which he subsequently added 40 more acres. Mr. Davis here erected a fine residence and has made other substantial improvements until now it is an example of one of the best rural homes in Perry township. In addition to being fertile, his farms have been noted for the presence of oil; he had had a number of producing oil-wells and the three located on his present farm have brought him handsome returns.

Mr. Davis has a military record which should give him a very pardonable measure of pride. When the Civil War broke out and he recognized the fact that he was needed at the front, he put aside his previous ambitions and enlisted in the service of his country. His first enlistment was in September, 1861, in Company D, 54th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf. He was discharged in August, 1862, on account of disability, having been injured by the exploding of a shell at the battle of Pittsburg Landing. On September 22, 1864, Mr. Davis reenlisted, becoming a member of Company A, 180th Reg., Ohio Vol. Inf., and continued in the service until the close of the war, his last battle being at Kingston, North Carolina. He was honorably discharged in July, 1865, and returned to his home in Perry township.

During a part of his time in early manhood he engaged in teaching school and he worked also at brick-making, but since he was 30 years of age he has devoted his attention exclusively to agricultural pursuits, with some attention given to the production of oil, as mentioned above, having had an interest in some 20 wells. Mr. Davis owns 120 acres of fine land in Allen County.

On May 5, 1852, Mr. Davis was married to Sarah Coats, a daughter of Rufus and Nancy (Dawson) Coats.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

FRANCIS Y. DAVIS, farmer P. O. Lima, was born in Orange County, Vt., October 29, 1827, a son of Francis and Lydia (York) Davis, who moved from Coshocton County, Ohio, and settled in Perry Township, this county in 1845, where they cleared and improved a farm. Our subject’s father was twice married, and by his first wife, nee Lydia York, he had eleven children, four of whom grew to manhood and womanhood: Roxana (deceased), Francis Y., George E. and Fanny (deceased); his second wife was Elizabeth Gilbert, of Logan County, Ohio. Francis Davis served in the war of 1812, was at Plattsburg, and after an honorable discharge, received 160 acres of 'land from Congress for his services as a soldier. He lived in Perry Township, this county, up to 1863, when he removed to Defiance County, Ohio, and there resided until his death; he died in March, 1875, at the age of eighty-seven years and twenty-four days. Our subject was reared in Coshocton County, Ohio, from six years of age. He was educated in the common schools, and early in life taught school during the winters. After he became of age he followed brick-making as an occupation, two years. He then bought a farm on Section 3 in Perry Township, this county, which he cleared and improved, and where he resided up to 1864, when he removed to Section 16, on an eighty acre tract, part of which he also cleared and improved. In 1882 he located on the farm of 160 acres he now occupies on Section 19. same (Perry) Township. Mr. Davis was married May 5, 1852, to Sarah, daughter of Rufus and Nancy (Dawson) Coats, who settled in Wayne Township (then Allen County), in 1836, and removed to Perry Township in 1842. By this union there were nine children: Lydia, wife of Jefferson Shade, Ira E., Albert E., William F., Clara B., Charles, L., Harmon C., Daniel E., and an infant daughter (deceased). Mrs. Davis’ parents reared a family of nine children, of whom three besides herself are now living: Aurilla, wife of Henry Parker; Lucinda, wife of B. L. Underwood; and Albert — (two brothers were in the late war. of the Rebellion; Albert, who was a colonel in the regular army several years, served his country two terms of five years each, a part of which was in the late war, and Rufus E., who died in Andersonville prison). The father of Mrs. Davis was twice married, his second wife being Mrs. Rosella Jacobs, by whom he had four children, of whom two are now living: Martha Jane, wife of William Perrill and Rosetta, wife of Fred Cribley. Two half brothers of Mrs. Davis, Daniel and Charles W. Coats, were in the late war. The former was a captain in the Union Army during the war, and later moved to Arkansas and became editor of the Madison Arkansas Free Press. He was a member of the convention to form a constitution for that State, and was the Republican nominee for Congress in the Republican district in which he resided at the time of his death in 1869; the latter died of disease contracted in the army. Our subject was also in the late war, having enlisted in September, 1861, in Company D, Fiftyfourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was in the battle of Shiloh, where he was paralyzed by the explosion of a shell, and was discharged on that account in July, 1862. He re-enlisted in September, 1864, in Company A, One Hundred and Eightieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was in the battle of Kingston, N. C., and several skirmishes, and was honorably discharged in July, 1865. Mr. Davis is a leading farmer of Perry Township. In politics he is a Republican.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected.

ROBERT E. DAVIS, general merchant, and ex-mayor of West Cairo, was born November 10, 1852, on Paddy’s Run, Butler County, Ohio; son of David D. and Elizabeth (Evans) Davis. David D. Davis, born in 1821, in Wales, immigrated to America in 1842, settling in Butler County, Ohio, where he married Elizabeth Evans, a native of that county and daughter of John and Sarah (Nicholas) Evans, the former a native of Wales, the latter a native of America, and sister of Squire Nicholas, of Gomer, Ohio. The subject of this sketch received a common-school education in this county, remaining on the farm until sixteen years of age, after which he received three months’ schooling. At seventeen years of age he engaged as clerk in the dry goods store of J. H. Dague, of Lima, where he remained for a time, when he was employed in the store of J. C. Thompson, remaining until the spring of 1878, when he came to West Cairo, and engaged in merchandising in partnership with John B. Morris, until early in the year 1882. In June of that year he formed a partnership with N. M. Johnson, with whom he continued until January 1, 1884, since which time he has carried on the business himself. Mr. Davis was married December 14, 1875, to Esther Neff, a native of Lima, this county, and daughter of John G. and Catharine (Faurot) Neff. By this marriage he has two children: Elsie May, and Donald. Our subject was a member of the town council for a term; was chosen to fill the office of mayor, made vacant by the resignation of David Hartzog, and at the expiration of that term, he was elected to the office, which term expired April 1, 1885. He was also president of the township school board, and assistant chairman of township committee. In politics he is a Republican.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

CHARLES S. DAVIS, of the firm of Weger & Davis, manufacturers of all kinds of hoops, states, headings and lumber, Delphos, was born in Oakville, Canada, November 10, 1844. At the age of fifteen he went to New York State, where he remained for several years. In 1869 he came to Delphos and engaged in his present business, and has since been actively connected with it here. He was married, in 1869, to Miss Mary Jane, daughter of G. W. Hall of this place. They have one son and two daughters: Jessie Belle, George Ray and Grace Rebecea. Mr. Davis is an active Mason and Odd Fellow and has held official positions in both societies here. He is also a member of the J. W. F. Hook and Ladder Company.

As printed in the source². Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

GEORGE L. DAVIS, who has been a resident of Lima since the spring of 1899, is interested in oil production and also owns some valuable property in the city, as well as in Auglaize County. He was born in May, 1851, near Auburn, the county seat of Cayuga County, New York, and remained there until his 17th year, when he entered the oil field of Pennsylvania. In a short time he was taking contracts for drilling oil-wells, and met with great success in the several States in which he operated. In 1873 he extended his operations to Ecuador, South America, where, for about two years, he was engaged in drilling deep wells to furnish the inhabitants with a much needed supply of water. About 1893 he began operations as an independent oil producer, and has since been thus engaged.

In 1899 Mr. Davis moved to Lima and invested largely in real estate. Besides his handsome home on Spring street, he owns the Hotel Manhattan property in the heart of the city. It is the intention of Mr. Davis to remodel this building during the next few months, add a number of rooms to meet the growing demands worthy of the large patronage it now enjoys. Mr. Davis owns a fine farm of 227 acres in Auglaize County, Ohio, which is devoted to stock-raising and has gained him a good reputation as a breeder of fine roadsters and draft horses. He also raises large numbers of cattle, hogs and sheep, and conducts his farming along profitable lines.

Mr. Davis was married, in 1877, to Mary Tuller, of Irving, New York. They have two sons — George L., Jr., who resides in Indiana, and Carl L., of Lima. Mr. Davis is a prominent Mason, being a member of Lima Council No. 20, R. & S. M., and Shawnee Commandery, No. 14, K. T., of Lima; Ohio Sovereign Consistory, S. P. R. S., of Cincinnati; and Antioch Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Dayton.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.