Page:One of a thousand.djvu/179

 DAVIS. DAVIS. I6 5 " Free Soilers," the national nominations of both parties. In 185 1 he was tried before a United States commissioner for assisting in the rescue of Shadrach, claimed as a fugitive slave. His tongue and pen could not be muzzled, however, and he continued to speak and act as conscience dictated with- out regard to party ties. In 1859 he was made an overseer of Harvard College. In 1856 he was one of four from Massachusetts to the convention at Pittsburgh which organized the Repub- lican party. In June of the same year he was delegate to the Philadelphia national convention which nominated Fremont. He was chairman of the Republican state com- mittee during the " Know Nothing" hurri- cane of 1854 and '55. He has done much for the advancement of Plymouth, erecting business and resi- dential buildings, and has set out over four hundred elms in town. He was trustee of the Samoset House from 1850 ; trustee of the Pilgrim Society from 1853 to date ; dele- gate to the Constitutional Convention of that year ; has been president of Plymouth County Agricultural Society twenty years, and member of the board of agriculture twenty-three years ; in 1862 he was mem- ber of the General Court, and House chair- man of committee on agriculture. Upon the incorporation of the Massachusetts Agricultural College in 1862, he was desig- nated by the Legislature as a trustee, and served as such until 18S7. He was assessor of internal revenue under President Lin- coln, and held the office until April, 1869. He soon after sailed for Europe with his family, and was absent until August, 1870. In 1872 he attended the mass convention at Cincinnati which nominated Horace Greeley, and has since been allied to the Democratic party; has been a candidate for representative to Congress, and has served as a member of the 1 )emocratic state committee, etc. In 1874 he was appointed judge of the third district court of Plymouth county, and still holds the position. DAVIS, HENRY C, son of Benjamin and Cordelia (Buffington) Davis, was born in Palmer, Hampden county, October 22, 1843. He obtained his preparatory education in the public schools, at Wesleyan Acad- emy, Wilbraham, and Williston Seminary, Easthampton. He chose the profession of law, and was graduated from the Harvard law school, 1868. In that same year he opened a law office and began practice at Ware, where he has since remained. Mr. Davis was married in Ware, May 4, 1876, to Jennie A., daughter of Lorenzo and Jane (Maiden) Demond. Of this union were five children : Henry C, John A., Marion, Mary, and an infant child. Mr. Davis has been a member of the school board twenty years, and was a mem- ber of the House of Representatives in 1874. DAVIS, James Francis, son of Samuel P. and Mary (Withington) Davis, was born in Hinsdale, Cheshire county, N. H., Feb- ruary 3, 1S26. His education was limited to the com- mon schools in the town of Templeton, enjoying no other educational advantages, save practical experience in business. He first engaged in the stove and hard- ware business in Barre, in 1856, in which he remained until 1869, when he made a change in his business, and opened an in- surance agency in the same town, where he still resides. In 1S60 he was assessor of Barre, and has been chosen to the same office nearly every year since. He was a selectman during the civil war, 1S61 to '65 inclusive. He was for thirteen years president and business manager of the famous Barre Central Cheese Company. He has been justice of the peace ten years ; was a mem- ber of the Legislature in 1887 ; is commis- sioner to qualify civil officers ; has been trustee, treasurer, and secretary of Worce- ster County West Agricultural Society ; trustee of Barre Library Association since its organization ; chairman of the Republi- can town committee for past fifteen years, and is treasurer and member of the building committee of Barre Hotel Corporation. DAVIS, Robert Thompson, son of John and Sarah (Thompson) Davis, was born in county Down, North of Ireland, August 28, 1823, of parentage Presby- terian on the paternal, and Quaker on the maternal side. His parents emigrated to this country and settled in Amesbury, Essex county, when he was three years of age. His early educational training was received in the public schools and academy of Amesbury, and the Friends' school, Providence, R. I. He was graduated from the medical de- partment of Harvard University in the class of 1847; was for a short time dispen- sary physician in Boston ; practiced medi- cine three years in Waterville, Me., and removed to Fall River in 1850, where he has since resided, except for a short period.