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AVIS, LEWIS JOHNSON, banker, financier, was born in Washington, District of Columbia, July 21, 1834. He is a son of George Madison and Georgeanna Davis, the former of whom was for more than a quarter of a century connected with the bank of the Metropolis, of Washington. Up to the age of fourteen he attended public schools, and the private school of Arnold and Girault. In December, 1848, he entered business fife, beginning in the employ of R. W. Lathorm & Co., with whom he continued until September, 1850. His health was not robust at this period, and he repaired to Belair, Maryland, where he took up some studies under Doctor Edwin Arnold. Subsequently he returned to Washington and accepted a position in the Washington City Savings Bank, with which his grandfather, Lewis Johnson, was then prominently identified.

In 1858, after the dissolution of the savings bank, the private banking firm of Lewis Johnson & Company was founded and Mr. Davis became one of the partners. From this time onward he has been closely and honorably identified with the financial life of Washington city, and on the death of Lewis Johnson, in 1872, he became the senior member of the firm, which relation he sustained until he retired from business in May, 1904. Since 1883 he has been a member of the Washington Stock Exchange, and, in 1896, was its president. In 1871, under the act of the legislative assembly of that time, he was made a member, and later president of the sinking fund commission of the District of Columbia, and in that capacity he disbursed many millions of dollars for municipal improvements and other governmental purposes. He was the prime mover in the legislation of 1878 by which congress assumed one-half of the expenses of the District.

During the period of the Civil war Mr. Davis exhibited strong Union sympathies, and has since been Republican, "in sympathy, although without a vote." He is characterized by a commendable public spirit, a charitable disposition, and an unselfish devotion to