USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 43
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DAVIDSON.
development of this region. He was the inventor of an improved "hoister" for ores, on which he obtained three different patents, and of which thousands are now in use in the district, the miners having received the free benefit of his inventions. He was also the inventor of what is known as the "Carthage pump clack," and the "Carthage pumps, hoisters and clacks," are widely known in mining circles. In 1874 he engaged in mining operations with W. A. Daugherty and John C. Webb, becoming general super- intendent of the Center Creek and Webb City mines. In company with W. A. Daugherty, he purchased the original Carterville tract of land, and also the "Ealer," "Cornfield," and other lands, all of which have since be- come rich mining camps. In all of his busi- ness operations he has been remarkably successful, and his success has been the re- sult of his own effort, as he began life for himself without help of any sort. A strong and self-reliant man himself, he is firm in the belief that sober, frugal and diligent young men have as good opportunities for the acquisition of honors and wealth to-day. as at any time in the past, and he thinks this is especially true in Missouri, where, to use his own language, "Nine-tenths of the natural resources and wealth are yet to be devel- oped." Mr. Davey's family consists of two sons and one daughter. He and his family are members of the Episcopal Church. His early studies of the condition of the country made him a Republican, and he has been one ever since.
Davidson, Hugh G., physician, was born in Hickman County, Tennessee, in 1832, son of Rev. David and Theresa (Green) Davidson. He was educated in the schools of his native State and while a young man taught school, and later became a min- ister of the Christian Church, in the mean- time giving a share of his attention to the running of a farm. Still later he studied medicine, and became a successful physician. A man of broad intellectual qualities, with a retentive and versatile mind, and great force of character and will power, he was success- ful in all his undertakings. Having married Miss Martha A. Higgins, of his native county, he removed to Missouri and settled in Butler County in 1854. Soon afterward he became connected with the government
secret service, and when the Civil War was declared he was made provost marshal of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Missouri Dis- tricts, in which position he served until fail- ing health compelled him to resign. Though of Southern birth, he has since the war been ·a Republican, and an active worker in the ranks of his party. He was at one time the candidate of the Republican party for Con- gress, and at different times has occupied a place on his party's ticket for other offices, but met defeat owing to the overwhelming Democratic majority, though several times leading the ticket. He is recognized as one of the most active and enterprising citizens of Butler County, always giving his hearty support to projects designed for the benefit of the county and its people. By his good business management he has accumulated wealth, and is passing his declining days peacefully and contentedly on his large farm near Hendrickson, in Butler County. His son, Alexander Washington Davidson, phy- sician, was born in Hickman County, Ten- nessee, September 26, 1853. When he was an infant his parents removed to Butler County, Missouri. He was educated in the public schools of Poplar Bluff, and studied medicine under the direction of his father. Later he entered the American Medical Col- lege at St. Louis, from which he was grad- uated in 1876. He then located at Greenville, the county seat of Wayne County, Missouri, where he acquired a large practice. He continued his residence ať Greenville until 1884, when he located in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, and has since resided there. Both professionally and socially he enjoys a high place in the estimation of the people of that city and of Butler County. He has the confidence and respect of a large clientage. He is known among his profes- sional brethren as a studious, careful, highly intellectual and conscientious practitioner, and is ranked as one of the leading citizens of his home city. He has always affiliated with the Republican party, is a member of the Poplar Bluff school board, the United States board of pension examiners, and in 1899 was elected mayor of Poplar Bluff. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the order of Knights of Pythias. In 1878 he was married to Miss Lizzie Atkins, of Greenville, Missouri. They have four children living.
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DAVIESS COUNTY.
Daviess County .- A county in the northwestern part of the State, bounded on the north by Harrison, east by Grundy and Livingston, south by Caldwell, and west by DeKalb and Gentry Counties; area, 357,000 acres. The surface of the county is gently undulating, and is about evenly divided be- tween prairie and timber lands. Grand River is the principal water course. It enters the county at the western border about six miles south of the Harrison County line, and flows in a southeasterly direction to the south- eastern corner. Big River, Cypress Creek, and Hickory and Sampson Creeks are its chief tributaries from the north. From the southwest it receives the waters of Grind- stone Creek, while Honey Creek, flowing east through the southern part of the county, is its chief feeder from that section. There are numerous small streams throughout the county, tributaries or sub-tributaries of Grand River. Numerous springs abound throughout the county. The soil is generally a rich, dark, sandy loam, mixed with a veg- etable mold. The bottom lands along Grand River and other streams, which are consid- erable in area, are as rich as any lands in the State. About 85 per cent of the land is under cultivation, the remainder being still in timber, consisting chiefly of oaks of dif- ferent varieties, white and black walnut, elm, hickory, maple, cottonwood, hackberry, lo- cust, sycamore, etc. There is abundance of limestone and sandstone in the county. No minerals have been discovered, though some geologists claim that deep-lying strata of coal are indicated. The most profitable pro- ductions of the county are stock, poultry, dairy products and fruit. The average yield per acre of the cereals is: Corn, 30 bush- els ; wheat, 15 bushels, and oats, 25 bushels. Timothy, clover, bluegrass and the native grasses grow well. The fruit acreage is: Apples, 2,500 acres ; peaches and cherries, 200 acres, and small fruits 200 acres. Ac- cording to the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics for 1899, during the year 1898, the surplus products shipped from the county were: Cattle, 13,371 head; hogs, 63.305 head; sheep, 4,516 head; horses and mules, 1,672 head; wheat, 2,532 bushels; corn, 1,336 bushels; hay, 39,400 pounds ; flour, 271,968 pounds; cornmeal, 2,006 pounds ; timothy seed 18,000 pounds ; lumber, 113.300 pounds ; logs, 96,000 feet ; walnut logs, 24,-
000 feet ; piling and posts, 6,000 feet cord- wood, 408 cords; cooperage, 2 cars; brick, 10,250; wool, 42,070 pounds ; poultry, 746,- 342 pounds; eggs, 1,086,560; butter, 206,- 766 pounds ; cheese, 78,107 pounds ; tallow, II,25I pounds; hides and pelts, 73,8to pounds ; fresh fruit, 955 pounds ; dried fruit, 2,630 pounds; vegetables, 2,740 pounds. Other articles exported are tobacco, dressed meats, fish, game, lard, honey, molasses, canned goods, nursery stock, furs and feath- ers. The French fur traders were the first white men to visit the territory now Daviess County. They ascended the Grand River, and for many years after 1815 made annual trips for the purpose of acquiring the peltries of the Indians. There was no permanent settlement made in the country, which was included in the limits of Ray County, until 1831, when a number of families from other sections of Missouri, mostly native of Ken- tucky and Tennessee, settled in the central, the northeastern and the southeastern parts of the county. The Stokes, Stone, Duval, Pemiston and Creekmore families settled in the central part; the Netherton and Aubrey families in the northeast, and the Splawns, Taylors, Smiths, Traspers, Woods, McDows, Weldons and McHaneys in the southeastern portion. The following few years a large number of other families made homes for themselves in the Grand River basin, and in 1836 several hundred Mormon families, who were driven from Jackson and Clay Counties, greatly increased the population. The Mor- mons, or the "Saints," as they called them- selves, built numerous cabins in different parts of the county, and laid out a town on the eastern bluffs of Grand River, about three miles above the present site of Galla- tin, which they called Diamond. They de- clared that at that place they had discovered the grave of "Old Father Adam," and they determined to make the place one of their sanctified cities. Diamond, at the height of its glory, contained a population of about 500. It was, next to the city of Far West, in Caldwell County, the chief stronghold of the Mormons in northwestern Missouri. The town of Diamond was surrendered to the forces of General A. W. Doniphan when the authorities directed that the Mormons be driven from the State, and soon became a deserted town, and little now remains to designate its one time activity ; even no trace
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DAVIESS COUNTY.
of the grave of "Old Father Adam" is in evidence. (For Mormon troubles see "Mor- monism.") Daviess County was organized from a part of Ray, by legislative act ap- proved December 29, 1836, and was named in honor of Colonel Joseph H. Daviess, of Kentucky, who fell in the battle of Tippe- canoe, in 1811. In 1837 the commissioners appointed to locate a permanent seat of jus- tice selected the land now a part of the site of Gallatin, which was laid out in town lots and named in honor of Albert Gallatin, the noted Swiss financier, who was Secretary of the Treasury of the United States from 1801 to 1813. The first circuit court was held in July, 1837, at the cabin of E. B. Creekmore, at the present site of Gallatin, Judge Austin A. King presiding; J. B. Turner, clerk, and William Bourman, sheriff. A grand jury was impaneled and the members held their de- liberations in a hazel-bush thicket, near Creekmore's cabin. One indictment was re- turned, and the jury was discharged. When the war against the Mormons was made, be- fore the forces of General Doniphan reached Daviess County, the "Saints" burned the town of Gallatin. In 1840 a brick courthouse was built, and is still in use.
Daviess County furnished for the Union Army in the Civil War, from first to last, over 900 men, who belonged to the follow- ing organizations : The first military organ- ization in the county was composed of three companies organized by Major Samuel P. and Joseph H. McGee and Captain William H. Folinsbee, and was known as the Missouri Home Guards, Six Months Militia, or Cox's Battalion. This organization was formed in July, 1861, and remained in service until January, 1862. In February of the same year Colonel James McFerran, then a lawyer and judge of the circuit court, began the organiza- tion of the Missouri State Militia Volunteers. Three companies of this regiment were raised in Daviess County, namely, Company A, Joseph H. McGee, captain ; Company B, Wil- liam H, Folinsbee, captain; Company C, John Ballinger, captain. The regiment was mustered into service February 2, 1862, for three years, or during the war. This, with ten other regiments in the State were first intended as State organizations, and were not to be ordered beyond State lines, but were later, by act of Congress, placed on an equality with regular United States vol-
unteers, and were given bounties and re- ceived pensions the same as United States volunteer soldiers. In the summer of 1862 this regiment took part in the battles of Panther Creek, Kirksville and Seas Ford, besides having many skirmishes with guer- rillas and bushwhackers, then very numer- ous in Missouri, and the regiment was later engaged in the following named notable bat- tles with Price's army: Jefferson City, Cali- fornia, Boonville, Lexington, Independence, Little Blue and Big Blue, in Missouri, and Mine Creek, Kansas. In this last named bat- tle some 2,700 prisoners were captured, in- cluding General Marmaduke, who afterward became Governor of the State, and General Cabell and numerous other officers less noted. This regiment was mustered out of service February II, 1865, at St. Louis, on account of expiration of service. Two com- panies were raised in Daviess County for the Forty-third Regiment, United States Volun- teer Infantry, to wit, Company F, William F. Flint, captain, and Company H, Marcus Morton, captain. This regiment served until June, 1865, and was mustered out on account of the close of the war. While there were no other companies raised in this county for the regular volunteer service, many enlisted from Daviess County in the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-seventh Infantry Regiments and the Eleventh Cavalry, and some few in the Sec- ond Cavalry, known as "Merrill's Horse." The Forty-third Missouri was a one-year organization, and was commanded by Ches- ter Harding, Jr., of St. Louis. The following companies of the Fourth Provisional En- rolled Missouri Militia were raised in this county : Company A, Joab Woodruff, cap- tain; Company B, James Tuggle, captain ; Company M, Napoleon B. Brown, captain ; this regiment was commanded by John B. Hale, colonel, and later by J. H. Shanklin, and is pensionable by act of Congress. The following named companies of the Thirty- third Enrolled Missouri Militia were raised in this county : Company A, Merritt Givens, captain; Company B, Napoleon B. Brown, captain ; Company C, Milton Mann, captain ; Company H, J. H. Creighton, captain ; Com- pany I, Joab Woodruff, captain. Dr. William S. Brown, now of Jamison, Missouri, was colonel of this regiment. It was raised for home protection, was not paid or clothed by the United States, and is not pensionable.
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The following named persons enlisted in the Spanish - American War: Major Charles Morton, Fourth United States Cavalry ; Paul E. Gillihan, Jackson Williams, Bert Conover, Charles Owens, George Townsend, Halleck Buzard, Claude Foley and Edward Perkins, all of whom are now in the Philippine Islands, William Redmon and W. L. Rucker having returned from Manila. There are Grand Army of the Republic posts at the following points in Daviess County : Gallatin, Bancroft, Coffeysburg, Pattonsburg, Win- ston, Jamesport and Jamison. The sur- vivors of the Civil War who were officers in the service and now live in the county are Major S. P. Cox, Lieutenant Benton Miller, Captain E. West, Captain N. B. Brown, of Gallatin, and Colonel W. S. Brown, of Jameston.
Daviess County is divided into fifteen townships, named, respectively : Benton, Col- fax, Grand River, Harrison, Jackson, James- port, Jefferson, Liberty, Lincoln, Marion, Monroe, Salem, Sheridan, Union and Washı- ington. The assessed valuation of real estate and town lots in the county in 1899 was $4,766,284; estimated full value, $14,298,- 852; assessed value of personal property, including notes, bonds, etc., $2,081,296; es- timated full value, $4,162,592; assessed value of merchants and manufacturers, $243,221 ; estimated full value, $403,368; assessed value of railroads and telegraphs, $1,018,312.17; assessed valuation of banks and bank stock, 63 per cent, $90,623; full value, $143,855. There are 71.36 miles of railroad in the county, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, passing from the southwest corner through to the center of the eastern boundary line ; the Wabash, from the northwest corner to the southeast corner, and the Omaha, Kan- sas City & Eastern through the northwestern section. The number of public schools in the county in 1899 was 5,286. The population of the county in 1900 was 21,325.
Davis, James M., lawyer and banker, was born in Clark County, Illinois, Septem- ber 25, 1837. He was the fifth child of a family of fifteen children, his parents being Alexander and Priscilla (McKay) Davis. His paternal grandfather, Solomon Davis, was a Virginian ; his maternal grandfather, William Mckay, was a Marylander, both emigrating at an early date to Kentucky, the Davis
family settling near Danville and the Mckays at Maysville. At the former place, Alex- ander Davis was born and grew to manhood, removing first to Illinois and afterwards, in 1851, to Missouri, settling in Livingston County, where he was a farmer the remainder of his life. James M. Davis was educated in private schools kept in the old-fashioned log schoolhouses, afterward studying law with the Honorable Luther T. Collier, at that time a prominent lawyer in Chillicothe, but now of Kansas City. He taught school at intervals, but in March, 1860, was admitted to the bar and at once began the practice of his chosen profession alone. During his professional career of more than forty years, he has been associated with John E. Wait, W. C. Samuel and R. R. Kitt, all of Chillicothe. In 1872-3 he was judge of the county court of Living- ston County; from 1873 to 1878 he was the city attorney of Utica ; from 1878 to 1880 he was prosecuting attorney of Livingston County. At the election held in 1880 he was elected judge of the circuit court for the Sev- enteenth Judicial Circuit, then composed of Caldwell, Carroll and Livingston counties. This position he held until September, 1891, when he resigned the same in order that he might resume the practice of his profession; his two sons, Arch B. and W. W. Davis, hav- ing, previous to that time, been admitted to the bar, and then being engaged in the prac- tice of the law. He has continued in the active practice of the law from that time, the firm of which he is now the head being J. M. Davis & Sons, composed of himself, Arch B. Davis and W. W. Davis.
Previous to 1887 he was connected with different banks, and in that year in connec- tion with others he organized the First Na- tional Bank of Chillicothe, of which he was chosen the first president. He still retains that position, and the firm of which he is the head are the attorneys for that institution. He also retains large holdings in other banks in Livingston and adjoining counties. He is also an extensive and successful farmer and breeder of fine stock. His country home some two miles west of Chillicothe is a mag- nificent farm of over 1,000 acres, being one of the finest in the State. He is one of the most sagacious and far-sighted business men in North Missouri, a proof of which is that he owns over 4,500 acres of choice Missouri farm lands, besides a large amount of city
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property ; all acquired without ever having given a deed of trust or mortgage or execut- ing a promissory note. He was married Oc- tober 18, 1863, to Servilla McKay, of which marriage four children have been born, three of whom were living in 1900.
Davis, John T., one of the most famous of Western merchants, was born September 13, 1844, in St. Louis, and died in that city, April 13, 1894. He was educated at Wash- ington University, front which institution he was graduated in the class of 1863. Immedi- ately afterward he entered the mercantile house which had been founded by his father, Samuel C. Davis, and other gentlemen in 1835, and which first did business under the name of Davis, Tilden & Co., and later as Saniuel C. Davis & Co. Four years after he became connected with this business John T. Davis was admitted to a partnership in the house, and at his father's death he became head of the firm. Inheriting from his father a large estate, he inherited also the commer- cial genius of the elder Davis, and added vastly to his patrimony by his merchandising and financial operations. In addition to be- ing the head of a large commercial house he was a large stockholder in the State Bank, the St. Louis Trust Company, tlie Merchants' Bridge & Terminal Company, and many other corporations. Notwithstanding the fact that he was a man of very large wealth, he was unassuming in manner, modest in his demeanor, easily approached and always kindly and genial. He was for many years president of the St. Louis Club, and was also a member of the Mercantile and Noonday Clubs. His religious affiliations were with the Second Baptist Church of that city, which he took a prominent part in building up. In- terested in educational matters, he was for some years a member of the controlling board of Washington University, and was one of the benefactors of that institution. Mr. Davis married, in 1867, Miss Mary J. Filley, daughter of Honorable Oliver D. Fil- ley, at one time mayor of St. Louis. Their eldest son, John T. Davis, was associated with his father in business at the time of the death of the elder Davis, and succeeded to the management of his estate.
Davis, Lowndes H., lawyer and mem- mer of Congress, was born at Jackson, Cape
Girardeau County, Missouri, December 14, 1836, and received a finished education, grad- uating at Yale College in 1860, and at the Louisville (Kentucky) Law School in 1863. In 1868 he was elected circuit attorney of the Tenth Judicial District, and served for four years in that capacity. Later he was elected to the State Legislature. In 1878 he was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth Congress and re-elected twice in succession, serving three full terms as the representative of the Fourth Missouri District.
Davis, Randolph M., manufacturer, was born October 24, 1868, in St. Joseph, Missouri. His parents were Randolph T. and Mary J. (Boydston) Davis. The genea- logical record of this family, to the members of which St. Joseph owes so much of present prosperity and high standing in the commer- cial world, is given in the biographical sketch of his father, Randolph T. Davis, the founder of the great milling industry of which the son is now the active head. The younger Mr. Davis, who shouldered the responsibilities at- tending the management of a great manufac- turing establishment upon the death of his father, has spent all of his life in St. Joseph and has had an unusually prominent part in the development of the city and the rapid ad- vancement that has marked her history dur- ing the last decade. He built the foundation for a good education in the public schools of St. Joseph and afterward attended the Mili- tary Academy at Macon, Missouri, where he was known as a receptive scholar and a close student. In 1885, at the close of his school days, Mr. Davis returned to St. Joseph and associated himself with his father in the R. T. Davis Mill Company as secretary. In the earliest days of his business career, which had its beginning just after he left the academy, the young man showed himself possessed of particularly promising qualifications and his subsequent success has shown that the hopes of the father whose place he was to assume so early in life were not unwisely founded. Since the day he entered the office of the great milling concern until this time, Mr. Davis has given the business his close per- sonal attention, and there is no more substan- tial evidence of the success he has attained than the reputation of a product which he himself introduced and pushed until the whole world came to know of it-the "Aunt
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Jemima Pancake Flour." In order to prop- erly advertise this product a fortune has been spent, and profitably. It is now known wherever a cook is found, and to the younger Davis the credit for the success of the venture is due. About one year ago the company engaged in the manufacture of this flour was consolidated with the R. T. Davis Mill Com- pany, and the corporate name for the united concern is now the R. T. Davis Mill and Manufacturing Company. It has been re- peatedly said that the pancake flour so famil- iarly known by the caricature of the typical Southern "Aunty" has done more to make St. Joseph famous than any other manufac- tured article sent out from that city. For some time before the death of his father Mr. Davis was the general manager of the R. T. Davis Mill Company. Immediately after the death of the head of the company the son was made president and general manager of the concern and still holds that position. An evi- dence of his own popularity with the millers of the Southwest, as well as a substantial proof of the importance of the establishment of which he is the head, is shown in the elec- tion of Mr. Davis to the office of president of the Southwestern Millers' Association, an honor that was conferred upon him by an or- ganization comprising all of the millers of this great wheat-producing territory, at its meet- ing held at the Coates House in Kansas City in 1897, and which position of honor he still holds. Mr. Davis' energies have not all been expended in the direction of the busi- ness that commands his time and talents. At the age of twenty-four he organized and was elected president of the St. Joseph Commer- cial Club, în organization that has been at the head of every public enterprise since the day of its inception. Strangely enough Mr. Davis was not only the founder of the club and its first leader, but he was the only young man numbered among the list of officers and directors of the club. He conceived the idea of establishing such an organization and the prominent business men of St. Joseph found that his zeal and enthusiasm were contagious. They caught the spirit of enterprise from the young promoter, and the Commercial Club, still flourishing and working in the interests of the city and Northwest Missouri, was the result. There were 300 charter members and the club was organized August 20, 1892. Next to the great manufacturing concern
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