USA > Missouri > Encyclopedia of the history of Missouri, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference, Vol. II > Part 44
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managed by him Mr. Davis has better cause to feel proud of the Commercial Club of St. Joseph than any other enterprising organiza- tion with which he has been connected. The military career of Mr. Davis is confined to his school days, but it is none the less credit- able to him. While attending the military academy he was made captain of a company and at the same time was at the head of a company of the National Guard of Missouri at Macon. The political affiliations of Mr. Davis are Democratic. In church work he takes an active interest, having been chosen to fill the vacancy in the Board of Trustees of the Francis Street Methodist Church South immediately after the death of his father. Mr. Davis was married, January 25, 1893, to Miss Mary Logan Fairleigh, daugh- ter of William G. Fairleigh, of St. Joseph. The father of Mrs. Davis was one of the pio- neer residents of the city where he amassed his fortune and established a reputation for sterling worth and integrity. He resided in St. Joseph at the time gold-hunters were be- ing outfitted for the trip to California, and was a member of the firm of Tootle, Fairleigh & Company. This firm was numbered among the first jobbing concerns in a city that has won a reputation in this line second to none other on the Missouri River, and its members realized fortunes that gave them rank among the wealthiest men of the West- ern country. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davis-Randolph M., Jr., aged five years, and Alice Fairleigh, aged three years. Although he is still one of the youngest of St. Joseph's business men, Mr. Davis is numbered among the foremost, a place he has held since the day he associated himself with his father at the close of his school days. His abilities have be- come more pronounced with each passing year, and those with whom he is associated from day to day realize more as time passes on that St. Joseph owes that which she can not repay to this worthy son of a noble sire.
Davis, Randolph T., manufacturer and legislator, was born December 26, 1837, in Buchanan County, Missouri. His parents were Ishmael and Nancy (McDaniel) Davis. The father was born in Kentucky, removing thence to Missouri with the earliest of the pioneers upon the opening of the Platte Pur- chase, in which tract he laid claim to a half
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section of land. The traits of rugged manli- ness and highest honor, which distinguished him in an eminent degree under peculiarly trying circumstances, became as character- istic of the son and have made the family name a synonym for the highest integrity and irreproachable honesty. The son acquired the foundations of an education in the public schools of Weston, and when sixteen years of age entered the High School in that city with the cherished hope that he would be able to complete the course in that department and enter at once upon a collegiate career. Misfortune overcame him, however, in an overwhelming and unexpected way, dispelling all the bright anticipations he had entertained for the future. Through the defalcation of a public official, for whom his father was a bondsman, the parental home and fortune were swept away. The elder Davis was a man of such high honor that he refused to take advantage of the protection that subter- fuge and concealment might have afforded, and he willingly yielded up the earnings of a lifetime in order that the obligations might be satisfied and his integrity preserved. Al- though but a boy, the son possessed the in- herent traits of true manhood exhibited by his father, and he cheerfully sacrificed the great desire of his heart, and, foregoing the ambition to acquire a college education he began a period of toil that was crowned with reward and enabled him to regain the home of his childhood and present it unencumbered to his father and mother. This self-abnega- tion was not without other good results, for it established his noble character in the minds of those who were familiar with the sacrifice that he had made and doubtless led to richer and deserved fortune. His long-continued effort and personal denial were followed by success. After the family homestead had been recovered the son engaged in business and at that time laid the foundations for a life of prosperity in all material ways. He pur- chased the Union Mills, in Platte County, which he managed with such success that he felt his ability to enter a larger field. Re- moving to St. Joseph he secured an interest in the City Mills, of which, in 1876, he became the sole owner. In 1883 he organized the R. T. Davis Mill Company, and the present extensive milling plant was erected, the prod- uct of which is known and held in highest re- pute wherever flour is used. Of this business
Mr. Davis was the active head until his death in 1894. No event in the history of St. Joseph ever affected the community more profoundly. It was not only the passing away of the head of a large business, in itself an important factor in its effect upon the prosperity of the city, but it was equally the sense of the irreparable loss of one who, in all manly qualities, stood in a place of his own and whose entire career and daily life were worthy of emulation. Mr. Davis was known as one of the most enterprising men in St. Joseph. His public spirit was never failing when the occasion demanded his support, and to every cause that appealed to him on ac- count of its worthiness he was not slow to re- spond in a liberal way. Mr. Davis served as county collector of Buchanan County from 1878 to 1882. In the latter year he was elected to the State Senate, but resigned at the close of his first legislative session on ac- count of the growth of a business that was increasing so rapidly as to demand his entire time and attention. His political affiliations were with the Democratic party. He was a consistent member of the Francis Street Methodist Church South, was one of the of- ficers of that church, took an active part in all that concerned the welfare of the organi- zation and was a liberal contributor to every worthy cause. Mr. Davis was married Feb- ruary 7, 1859, to Miss Louisa C. Boydston. She died March 6, 1861, leaving a daughter, Mattie E. Davis. June 30, 1863, Mr. Davis married Miss Mary J. Boydston, a sister of his deceased wife. She survives, with four of the children born to her, Emma L., Ran- dolph M., Robert T. and Nannie May. These are all married and are happy in the enjoy- ment of an ideal home life. The other two children, H. Clay and Frank B., are numbered among the departed. Mr. Davis left his large family well provided for. The heirs consider the reputation the father left the richest bequest, but in addition to this price- less boon they came into possession of a busi- ness that had gained a world-wide fame and a fortune comfortably large.
Davis, Samuel, lawyer and jurist, was born April 17, 1847, two miles southwest of Marshall, in Saline County, Missouri, son of Jesse and Lavinia (Jarboe) Davis. His father, a native of Virginia, was born Au- gust 14, 1823, and about 1835 came to Mis-
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souri with his father, also named Jesse, who became one of the earliest pioneers of Sa- line County. The farm which he purchased and improved became the homestead, on which Judge Samuel Davis was born. Judge Davis' grandfather was a man of great force. of character, and in Virginia spent some time in public life. His Welsh ancestors settled in Virginia in the early colonial period, and the family was represented in the Revolu- tionary War. Judge Davis' father taught school for several years, and also served in many public offices in Saline County. Prior to the Civil War he occupied the various offices of school commissioner, assessor, and deputy collector. Upon the outbreak of the war he was filling the office of county clerk, but was alieniated from this office by rea- son of his sympathy with the South. He died November 7, 1867. His wife, a native of Kentucky, was a daughter of John W. Jar- boe, whose ancestors came from France and . settled in Maryland. Her maternal grand- father, Crouch, a Virginian, fought under Washington in the Revolutionary War. She came to Missouri on a visit in 1844, here met Jesse Davis, and in 1846 they were mar- ried. Alexander Skillern, who erected the first house in the township of Marshall, married her sister. Judge Samuel Davis was reared on the homestead, and after a preparatory course in the common schools, entered the famous Kemper Military School at Boonville, where he had for classmates such men as Washington Adams, Judge James Gibson, of Kansas City, and William M. Williams, of Boonville. Until 1868 he remained on the farm, teaching school one term in the mean- time. After a course of study in the law office of John P. Strother, of Marshall, he was ad- mitted to the bar in August, 1869, before Judge Townsley, of the circuit court, and at once opened an office in Marshall for the practice of his profession. A staunch Demo- crat, he took an interest in politics early in his career. For a while he served as justice of the peace for Marshall. In 1872 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Saline County, and re-elected in 1874, serving four years in all. In 1876 his manifest capabili- ties led to his nomination and election to the State Legislature, and a re-election in 1878.
During the latter term (Thirtieth General Assembly) he filled the important position of chairman of the ways and means commit-
tee, and throughout his entire legislative career was recognized as one of the most useful members and most brilliant and force- ful debaters in that body. Upon his retire- ment from the Legislature he resumed his practice. He was made the candidate of his party for judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Cir- cuit in 1898, and was elected without opposi- tion, succeeding Judge Richard Field, of Lexington. From 1894 to 1896 he acted as chairman of the Saline County Democratic committee. Early in his career he was at- torney for the Chicago & Alton Railroad for four years. During his entire practice but one murder case was tried in Saline County in which he did not appear as coun- sel, usually for the defense while not acting as public prosecutor. In religion Judge Davis is a member of the Presbyterian. Church, in which he has been an elder for several years. He was married, November 19, 1872, to Julia S. Newton, a native of Lou- isville, Kentucky, and a daughter of George B. and Louise (Haven) Newton, who re- moved from Kentucky to Missouri before- the Civil War. Her father was for many years a noted educator in this State, con- ducting a private institution at Longwood,. afterward at Georgetown, and finally at Mar- shall, where he located in 1870. His death. occurred in 1892. Judge and Mrs. Davis are the parents of one son, George Newton. Davis, who was born November 26, 1876; read law with his father, graduated in the classical department of the Missouri Valley College, at Marshall, was admitted to prac- tice by the circuit court, in 1900 was gradu- ated from the Law Department of the Uni- versity of Michigan, and is now in the practice of his profession at Marshall. Those fellow practitioners of Judge Davis who have known him best place a high estimate on his ability, and his sterling integrity and personal worth are conceded. He belongs to that conservative type of men whose ca- reers are always referred to with feelings of pride by the communities in which they re- side. He is thoroughly versed in the principles of the law, has a keen apprecia- tion of fairness and justice, and although he has been on the bench scarcely three years, the poorest and least conspicuous litigants appearing before him have learned that if their causes be just, they have nothing to fear by a trial before him. Personally, he is affa-
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ble and courteous, and the happy impres- sion made by him upon the first meeting with a fellow man is deep and lasting.
Davis, Webster, ex-Assistant Secre- tary of the Interior, was born at Ebens- burg, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, June I, 1861, his parents being Daniel J. and Eliza- beth (Evans) Davis, who were natives of Wales and Pennsylvania, respectively. They moved, in 1868, to Daviess County, Mis- souri, where his father bought a farm, on which young Webster worked until 1874, when the family moved to Chillicothe, Mis- souri. There he was clerk in a hardware store for a year, and then moved, for the third time, with the family to Gallatin, in the same county and State, where he took up a new occupation, shoemaking, under the instruction of his father. He worked at this trade until 1881; but having thus far had but little schooling, and being determined to ob- tain an education, he went to Lake Forest, near Chicago, with the intention of entering the university at that place, with less than fifteen dollars in his pocket when he arrived. He was too ambitious and energetic, how- ever, to feel discouraged, and at once sought and obtained a minor city appointment, that of attending to the street lamps of the town, by which means he paid all his expenses for a year and saved enough to help support the family at home. His parents needed more financial assistance, however, and he left his studies and returned to the shoemaker's bench at Gallatin, and later to the store coun- ter; but feeling that he was called to a higher position in life, he determined to be- come a lawyer, and in 1882 went with the law firm of Shanklin, Low & McDougal, at Gallatin, where he kept books and did copy- ing to pay for his instruction in the intricacies of the law. In 1884 he removed to Law- rence, Kansas, where he spent two years in the State University. He was admitted to the bar at Garden City, Kansas, in 1885, and practiced law there for a time. Feeling the need of more thorough preparation, he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, and entered the Law Department of the University of Mich- igan. Upon his graduation from that famous school he returned to Missouri and settled in Kansas City. Soon afterward his mother's health failed, and he took her to Pueblo, Colorado, where he remained for nearly a
year. On his return to Kansas City he was appointed a chief deputy in the office of the surveyor of customs for the Western District of Missouri and the State of Kansas. Mr. Davis continued his studies, and took an active interest in local, county, State and national politics. He soon acquired a more than local reputation for high-class, finished oratory, and was in great demand in the vari- ous campaigns as a speaker at Republican meetings. His reputation grew rapidly, and soon leaped the confines of the State, and he received many pressing invitations to de- liver political addresses in Kansas, Illinois and other States. In 1892 he was nominated for Congress, and reluctantly accepted, after having declined a previous nomination. As the district was overwhelmingly Democratic, he was defeated. In 1894 he was nominated by the Republicans of Kansas City for mayor, and was elected by a majority of nearly 7,000. He made a splendid record in this of- fice, and, greatly to the disappointment of the Republicans of the city, he declined renomi- nation. When elected the people were paying $1.60 per 1,000 feet for gas, and when he left the office they were paying fifty cents per 1,000 feet. Later the price was raised to $1.00, because of the consolidation of the two then existing companies. The city also acquired the water works during his administration, and were relieved of litigation amounting to over $3,000,000 with the National Water Works Company. Various other reforms and highly beneficial measures were the result of Mr. Davis' two years' occupancy of the mayoralty chair. In 1896, notwithstanding the vigorous fight made upon him by cer- tain of the party leaders, he came within three votes of securing the nomination for Gov- ernor of Missouri in the State Convention. During the presidential campaign of 1896, by request of the managers of the Republi- can national committee, Mr. Davis took the stump and made over one hundred speeches in Ohio and other States of the Middle West. He soon attracted the atten- tion of Major Mckinley, who determined, in the event of his own election, to give Mr. Davis a prominent position in the national administration at Washington. In accord- ance with this resolve, Mr. Davis was ap- pointed to the office of Assistant Secretary of the Interior, beginning his duties on June I, 1897. This appointment gave great satis-
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faction to the Republicans throughout the length and breadth of the land, for, by rea- son of his splendid oratorical powers, Mr. Davis had raised himself to a position of eminence. No man of his years in Missouri, or elsewhere, had succeeded in captivating such large and intelligent audiences wherever he spoke. He was the avowed friend of the old soldiers, and they looked upon him as their staunch advocate at all times. Decem- ber 1, 1899, Mr. Davis obtained leave of ab- sence and went on a vacation to Cape Town, South Africa, to recuperate his failing health. Upon arriving at Cape Town, he determined to visit the Transvaal and Orange Free State, in order to see for himself the con- duct of the war and to learn as much as possible about the combatants. At Preto- ria and Bloemfontein he met Presidents Kruger and Stein, of the Transvaal and Orange Free State, and was entertained by them and afforded every possible opportu- nity to visit the cities and towns of the two republics and the scenes of conflict. He was present at the battle of Spion's Kop, where the British suffered a loss in killed and wounded and captured of about 3,000, and were badly repulsed. The Boers' loss was about 100. After four months Mr. Davis returned to the United States, an ardent Boer sympathizer, and resigned his position of Assistant Secretary of the Interior. Before doing so he made a vain attempt to induce President McKinley and the members of his cabinet and leading members of the Senate and House of Representatives to take ac- tion looking to intervention in the British- Boer War. He tried to get the National Republican Convention to adopt a resolu- tion of sympathy with the Boers, but the party managers turned a deaf ear to his ap- peals. He then began negotiations with leading Democrats, with the result that a Boer plank was incorporated in the Demo- cratic national platform. Since then he has been identified with the national Democracy. Daniel J. Davis, father of the subject of this sketch, died at his home, 3,000 East Twelfth Street, Kansas City, Missouri, on January 6, 1901, at the age of sixty-seven years.
Dawn .- A village ten miles south of Chil- licothe, on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad in Livingston County. It was laid out in 1853. It has a public school, two
churches, one operahouse, flouring mill, a weekly paper, the "Clipper," a hotel, and about twenty stores and miscellaneous shops. Population, 1899 (estimated), 600.
Dawson .- A village in Nodaway County, of 100 inhabitants-named after Colonel Lafe Dawson-two and a half miles northwest from the Burlington Junction. The Wabash Railroad runs through the place. As a rail- road station, it is called Dawsonville. It draws its sustenance from the rich Noda- way Valley, and is a large shipping point for grain. There is a Baptist Church, several stores and a lumber yard in the place, and a water-power gristmill on the Nodaway River, near by.
Dawson, Lafayette, familiarly known as Lafe Dawson, was born in McLean County, Illinois, May 13, 1839. He came to Missouri in 1865, and located at Maryville, in Nodaway County, and entered upon the practice of law. In a few years he rose to distinction as one of the most effective plead- ers of the northwest Missouri bar. His greatest powers were exhibited in criminal trials, though his learning made him a for- midable opponent in civil cases also. .
Dawson, William, member of Con- gress, was born in New Madrid County, Mis- souri, March 17, 1848, and was educated at the Christian Brothers College, of St. Louis. He served as a sheriff of New Madrid County, and also two terms in the State Legislature, and in 1884 was elected to the Forty-ninth Congress from the Fourteenth Missouri District as a Democrat by a vote of 17,694 to 1,020 for Cramer, Republican.
Day and Home School .- An educa- tional institution, located at Westport, now Kansas City, which was founded by Miss Ada Brann, in 1883, and chartered in 1898. It is housed in a fine modern building that cost $12,000. It is now under the charge of Miss Mary L. C. Barstow, and affords instruction in the branches preparatory to entering first-class women's colleges. Its various departments are in charge of com- petent teachers.
Deacon, Andrew Gordon, merchant, was born September 17, 1841, at Brighton,
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Canada, West, and is a son of Andrew Gordon and Amanda (Cory) Deacon. After an at- tendance of a year or two upon the schools of his native place, Mr. Deacon accompanied his parents to Waukegan, Illinois, where he remained until 1857, attending the district schools and the academy at that place. In the latter year he went to Fond du Lac, Wis- consin, and assumed a position as clerk in the hardware store conducted by his brother, Robert R. Deacon. In that capacity he con- tinued until the outbreak of the Civil War. In May, 1861, he offered his services to the Federal government and enlisted as a private in Company E, Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Colonel Cutler. During the war his service was with the Army of the Potomac until after the battle of Antietam, where he lost his right arm, as the result of a wound by a minie ball. For valorous conduct during this engage- ment he was promoted to a second lieuten- ancy, receiving a commission in October, . 1862; and by reason of his injury, which would have been sufficient excuse for most men to have left the service, he was trans- ferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps, in which he performed duty during the remain- ing two and a half years of the war in guard- ing Confederate prisoners at Camp Morton, Indianapolis. After the surrender of Lee and the declaration of peace he was assigned to duty with the Freedmen's Bureau, under General O. O. Howard, making his head- quarters at Richmond, Virginia, where his work consisted chiefly in the ratification of contracts between the whites and negroes, and the adjustment of the differences be- tween the two races generally. His term of service with the Freedmen's Bureau contin- ued two and a half years, and upon its ex- piration, in the spring of 1868, he came to Harrisonville, Missouri, and engaged in mer- cantile pursuits as a partner of his brother, John B. R. Deacon, who had established a general store there in 1865. Soon afterward E. C. Deacon, another brother, entered into the partnership, and the business gradually developed into a hardware and implement trade. After the retirement of E. C. Dea- con, in 1886, A. G. Deacon remained in the firm until about 1890, since which time the subject of this sketch has remained the sole proprietor of the establishment, one of the most important of its kind in western Mis-
souri. In addition to his other interests, Mr. Deacon is a director in the Bank of Harri- sonville, of which E. C. Deacon was the first president. For many years he has been a member of the Loyal Legion, affiliating with the commandery at St. Louis. Though al- ways a faithful adherent of the principles of the Republican party, he has never sought nor held public office. His marriage oc- curred in April, 1876, and united him with Jennie M. Davis, a native of Tennessee, and a daughter of Dr. Davis, an old resident of that State. Mrs. Deacon's mother was a sister of Robert A. Brown, a native of Ten- nessee, and one of the pioneer inhabitants of Harrisonville, where for many years he was a citizen of great influence. Mr. and Mrs. Deacon are the parents of six chil- dren, namely: Robert R., of Denver, Colo- rado; William Cory, who is a clerk in his father's store; Helen Davis, Mary Belle, Elizabeth and Andrew Gordon, Jr., residing with their parents. Since his residence in Harrisonville Mr. Deacon has occupied a position of prominence in commercial and social circles.
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Deacon, Eliakim Cory, retired mer- chant and ex-president of the Bank of Harri- sonville, was born October II, 1829, at Pic- ton, Prince Edward's County, Ontario, Canada, and is a son of Andrew Gordon and Amanda (Cory) Deacon. (For ancestral his- tory, see sketch of John B. R. Deacon.) After attending the public and private schools of his native place until he had at- tained the age of nineteen years, he left his home, in 1848, and went to Waukegan, Illi- nois, where for one year he studied medi- cine under the direction of his uncle, Dr. David Cory, who fell a victim to the cholera in 1853. His medical studies were never completed, however, for at the end of his year's reading he took a position as clerk in a dry goods house in Waukegan, remain- ing in that connection until 1853, when he and two other young men bought out the business and established the firm of Rew, Deacon & Co., a relation he sustained until 1857. About that time the country passed through the panic brought on by the fail- ure of the so-called "wild-cat" banks, and Mr. Deacon, who supposed himself to be worth about $10,000, soon found that he had practically nothing. Selling out his business,
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