Madison B. Davis

As printed in 1904

MADISON BARTLETT DAVIS.

Madison Bartlett Davis, for thirty years a member of the Sioux City bar, his practice confined in later years to the federal courts, is a native of New Hampshire, his birth having occurred in Canaan, on the 12th of November, 1838. His parents were Enoch and Susan (Tucker) Davis and the father followed the occupation of farming, which had been the pursuit of his ancestors through several generations.

Madison B. Davis supplemented his early educational privileges by pursuing a course in the higher English branches in Salisbury, New Hampshire, in 1856. He had been reared to the occupation of farming, early became an able assistant in the work of the farm and continued to aid in the cultivation of the fields until 1861. On the 26th of August of that year, in response to his country's call for aid, he joined the First New England Cavalry and was mustered into the UJnited States service on the 17th of December, following. The name of the regiment was afterward changed to the First Regiment, Rhode Island Cavalry, March 31, 1862, and became the First New Hampshire Cavalry January 5, 1864. On the 4th of July, of that year, Mr. Davis re-enlisted, his first term of service having expired. He was taken prisoner June 16, 1863, and paroled on the lath of July following, and exchanged July 14, 1863. He was again taken prisoner November 12,

1864, paroled January 5, 1865, and exchanged March 13, 1865. He took part in a number of the most important and hotly contested engagements of the war and was honorably discharged from the service May 16, 1865, as orderly sergeant.

After his return from the war Mr. Davis removed with his family from Salisbury, New Hampshire, to Denmark, Iowa, where he worked on a farm for two years. On the expiration of that period he began reading law in the office of Hon. J. M. Casey, of Fort Madison, Iowa, in 1868, and thus pursued his studies for three years, after which he was admitted to the bar in Lee county, Iowa, in December, 1871. He was admitted to the supreme court of the state, Mai'ch 18, 1875, and to the supreme court of the United States, April 10, 1894. He removed to Sioux City, June 14, 1874, and has since been a representative of the legal fraternity, occupying a prominent position among those whose talents have added to the fame of the legal history of northwestern Iowa. In recent years he has confined his attention to practice in the federal courts and has a distinctively representative clientage. The important character of his professional duties has called forth his latent talents and developed his powers and his strong intellectual force and keen analytical powers have made him one of the able practitioners at the federal bar in Iowa.

Mr. Davis was married September 6, 1857, tk> Miss Rhoda Pingree Dunlap, of Danhury, New Hampshire. She was a daughter of David 0. Dunlap, who died when she was nine months old, a granddaughter of Hon. Stephen Pingree, of Salisbury, New Hampshire, a niece of Colonel S. E. Pingree, of Hartford, Vermont, former governor of that state, and a relative of the Pingree family, prominent in both Vermont and Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Davis had one daughter and two sons: Nellie Roxanna, who was born August 17, 1858, and died December 25, 1891; "William Madison, who

&-tk* was born November 26, 1860, and died Augusl 16, 1864; and William Edgar, who was born Augusl 27, L867. He was married to Hellen Egan, June 9, 1891. Their children are Willie Pingree, bora August 7, 1892, and Marion Evelyn, born December 22, 1895.

Mr. Davis became a member of the Odd Fellows society December 28, 1868, and has held several important official positions in the subordinate lodge and the grand lodge, being a representative to the latter. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, becoming a charter member of General Hancock Post, Xo. 22, and was department commander of Iowa in 1000. He belongs to no religions organization but attends the Baptist church. He is one to whom his fellow men instietively pay deference, because lie has gained social and professional prominence without ostentation or self-laudation, and because his course has ever been in harmony with high business ideals and lias been a factor in promoting more advanced ethical relations in various departments of activity which constitute the life of the vast majority.

As printed in Past and present of Sioux City and Woodbury County, Iowa (1904). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.