Joseph S. Davis

As printed in 1902

JOSEPH S. DAVIS.

By the death of this honorable and upright citizen the community sustained an irreparable loss and was deprived of the presence of one whom it had come to look-upon as a benefactor and friend. Death often removes from our midst those whom we can ill afford to spare, whose lives have been all that is exemplary of the true and thereby really great citizen. Such a one was Mr. Davis, whose whole career, business, political and social, served as a model to the young and an inspiration to the aged. He honored the city which honored him with many positions of public trust. His labors proved of great benefit to the public and by his usefulness he created a memory whose perpetuation does not depend upon brick and stone, but upon the spontaneous and freewill offering of a great and enlightened people.

Mr. Davis was born in Pickaway county, Ohio, November 21, 1812, a son of Henry and Avis Davis. His father was a native of Cornish, New Hampshire, and was married in Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, to Avis Townsend, who was born in that place. Subsequently they removed to Ohio, locating in Ross county in 1808, while in 181 1 they went to Pickaway county and in 18 15 took up their above in HillsboTO, Highland county, where the parents of our subject spent their remaining days. The father was a merchant of Chillicothe, and through the conduct of his commercial pursuits provided for his family. He had four sons: Dr. Edwin Davis, of New York city, now deceased; Rev. Werter Rennick Davis, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, who spent most of his life in Baldwin City, Kansas, where he was president of the Baldwin University; Dr. William Davis, of Peru, Ohio; and the subject of this review, who was the second in order of birth. All were students in Gambier College, in Knox county, were Episcopalians, with the exception of one, in religious faith and all have now passed away.

Joseph Slocumi Davis, whose name introduces this review, spent his youth in his parents' home and in early life assisted his father in the store. His preliminary education, acquired in the common schools, was supplemented by a preparatory course in Gambier, Ohio, where he began his studies in 1829. He afterward entered Kenyon College, in which he was graduated in the class of 1835, and then, having determined to make the practice of law his life work, he began reading in the law office of Benjamin S. Brown, of Mount Vernon. In 1836-37 he was a student in the Cincinnati Law School and in the latter year was admitted to the bar. He began practice in connection with Hon. Columbus Delano, but owing to a severe illness was obliged to retire after some years O'f practice. An analytical mind, strong reasoning powers and keen intellectuality made him a powerful lawyer at the Knox county bar. He became identified with journalistic interests in 1848, being the first editor of the Line Whig, which paper advocated the election of General Zachary Taylor as president. In 1850 he was appointed deputy United States marshal and took the census of Knox county, while in 1849, 1850, 1851, 1866, 1868, 1870 and 1871 he was elected mayor of Mount Vernon. It is certainly an indication of his ability and the confidence reposed in him that he was several times recalled to the office after retirement therefrom. Hisi administration was ever practical and progressive. He supported all measures which he believed would prove of public benefit which were not of an extravagant nature and was always found on the side of reform and improvement. His labors proved very helpful and acceptable to the city and well did he deserve the honor of being seven times called tobe the chief executive of his city. He was twice elected probate judge of Knox county, his last term expiring in 1861. In 1864 he was appointed by President Lincoln a paymaster in the army and for a quarter of a century he was a member of the school board of Mount Vernon, acting as its president for nine years. The cause of education found in him a warm friend and he did all in his power to raise the standard of intellectual attainment in the city. In 1869 the directors of the Cleveland, Mount Vernon & Delaware Railroad Company elected him secretary and he held that position for quite a number of years.

Mr. Davis was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Moore, of Connellsville, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Dr. Robert Moore, who came to Ohio at an early day, but afterward returned to Connellsville, following the failure of the Owlcreek Bank. There he soon died. His family later again came to Ohio and here his daughter became the wife of Joseph S. Davis. By the marriage were born four children: Henry, who served in the Union army during the Civil war as captain of Company H, Twentieth Ohio Regiment, afterward located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He was a very prominent Mason and died January 1, 1901, at the age of sixty-four years. Mary Davis died in 1886. RoUin H. Davis, the second son, learned the jewelry business with William

Brown of Mount Vernon and afterward located in Warren, Pennsylvania, where he conducted a jewelry store until his death. The daughter, Anna Davis, is now the widow of John W. Hall, late of Columbus, Ohio, in which city he owned and edited the Industrial Union. They had two sons, Rollin Davis and Joseph John, who are now in business in Mount Vernon. Their mother, Mrs. John W. Hall, is now living in this city in her father's old homestead.

The death of Joseph H. Davis occurred in Mount Vernon in December, 1884, when he was seventy-two years of age and his wife passed away May 3, 1879. They ranked among the most prominent citizens of Mount Vernon. Mr. Davis was a man of firm convictions and was prompt and conscientious in the discharge of public and private trusts. His was a sturdy American character and a stalwart patriotism and he had the strongest attachment for our free institutions and was ever willing to make any personal sacrifice for their preservation. He was of stern integrity and honesty of purpose and despised all unworthy or questionable means to secure success in any undertaking or for any purpose or to promote his own advancement in any direction, whether political or otherwise. Not even the tongue of calumny ever uttered a word to the contrary nor did the malevolence of detraction dare to assail his good name.

As printed in The Biographical record of Knox County, Ohio : to which is added an elaborate compendium of national biography (1902). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.