Harrison County, West Virginia Biography of Hon. John James Davis ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Ann Schwirian, , March 2000 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc. Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 284 Hon. John James Davis. While the youngest of the Eastern States, West Virginia has supplied a due proportion of leaders in national affairs, and perhaps no one family has more distinction in this respect than that of Davis, one of whose representatives was the late John James Davis of Clarksburg, an eminent lawyer in that city for sixty years. Davis is one of the commonest names in Wales. There is a tradition that the ancestor of the Clarksburg family was the Prince of Powys, who fought the Saxon king of Northumberland in the bloody battles of Chester and Bangor. Among the Davises that came to America in colonial times, some settled in Maryland. Caleb Davis, grandfather of John James Davis, was born at Oldtown, Alleghany County, Maryland, March 15, 1767. He was probably a son of John Davis of Maryland, whose brother was Capt. Rezin Davis of Rawlings Continental Regiment in the Revolutionary War. Caleb Davis for many years lived at Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, and died there, April 25, 1834. His wife, Mary (Upp) Davis, was born in November, 1774, and died September 2, 1827. They were the parents of two sons, John and Rezin, and four daughters. John Davis was born at Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia, July 11, 1797, and moved to Clarksburg in 1825. He served here an apprenticeship at the saddler's trade under Col. Charles Lee, and later he and his brother, Rezin Davis, engaged in the saddle and harness business at Clarksburg. John Davis was a prominent citizen of Harrison County, held the office of sheriff, for several years was justice of the peace, and was a strong Southern sympathizer at the time of the Civil war, his second son, Rezin Caleb, being a Confederate soldier. July 12, 1825, at Clarksburg, John Davis married Eliza Arnold Steen. They reared four children: Jane Steen, John James, Rezin Caleb and Ann Eliza. Rezin Caleb Davis (now deceased) was for many years an able lawyer in practice at Louisville, Kentucky. Eliza Arnold Steen, wife of John Davis, was born June 17, 1799, and died May 10, 1866. She was a pioneer school teacher in Harrison County; Stonewall Jackson was one of her pupils. Her parents, James and Jane (Small) Steen, were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, natives of Ulster, Ireland, and came to America from there. John Davis and his wife were Presbyterians and he was a ruling elder in his church. John Davis died at Clarksburg, November 9, 1863. John James Davis, whose career is the principal subject of this article, was born at Clarksburg, May 5, 1835, spent all his life in that city and died March 19, 1916, when nearly eighty-one years of age. He possessed gift and talent that made it possible for him to utilize the benefits of a liberal education and prepare himself for a career of usefulness when still quite young. He attended the Northwestern Virginia Academy of Clarksburg, at the age of seventeen began the study of law at Lexington, Virginia, and was still in his twentieth year when he began active practice in his native city. His work as a lawyer with increasing years and experience brought him a reputation among the leaders of the State bar, and he did not give up his practice altogether even in old age, continuing his profession for sixty years. The late Mr. Davis had a historic service in the formation of the State of West Virginia. He was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature in 1861, and in the same year served as a member of the second convention at Wheeling, which provided for the organization of the new State of West Virginia. In 1870 Mr. Davis was elected a member of the West Virginia Legislature. For many years he was one of West Virginia's recognized leaders in the democratic party, was active in a number of national campaigns, and he himself was elected and served with distinction as a member of the Forty-second and Forty-third congresses. Among other positions of honor and responsibility conferred upon him, he was a member of the Board of Visitors of the West Point Military Academy, a regent of the University of West Virginia, a director of the State Insane Hospital. Mr. Davis was a Mason, and was a ruling elder in the Southern Presbyterian Church. During the early seventies he built a large and handsome brick residence in Clarksburg, and that was the home of his later years, he reared his children there, and it has been one of the social centers of the city and state. August 21, 1862, John James Davis married Miss Anna Kennedy at Baltimore, Maryland, where she was born November 24, 1841. She died at Clarksburg, April 25, 1917, nearly fifty-five years after her marriage. Her parents, William Wilson and Catherine Esdale (Martin) Kennedy, were of Scotch ancestry and both of them lived and died in Baltimore, where her father was a lumber merchant. Mrs. Davis was a college woman, and her liberal education supplemented marked qualities of heart and mind that made her a great aid to her husband and his successful career and in the training of their children. Of the children of John James Davis the oldest is Lillie, now Mrs. John A. Preston, of Lewisburg, West Virginia. Miss Emma K., who occupies the old homestead in Clarksburg, has been prominent in the social life and welfare work of that city, serving as secretary of the Red Cross during the World war and is now chairman of the Harrison County Red Cross Unit, and during the 1920 political campaign was assistant chairman of the Harrison County Democratic Committee. The third daughter, Anna, is the wife of Rev. H. G. Richardson of the Unitarian Church at Yonkers, New York. The only son is the distinguished American diplomat, John William Davis, to whose career a special sketch is dedicated.