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 1 66 DAVOL. DAVOL. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1S53 ; of the state Senate of 1859 and '61 ; of the national Repub- lican conventions of i860 and 1876 ; was mayor of Fall River in 1873, being elected without opposition, and declining a re-election ; was a member of the state board of charities when organized in 1863 ; was appointed a member of the state board of health upon its organiza- tion in 1869, and so remained until its con- solidation with the state board of health, lunacy and charity in 1879, when he be- came a member of that board ; was elected to the 48th and 49th Congresses, and was re-elected to the 50th Congress, as a Republican. He has attained to eminence in his pro- fession of medicine ; has been president of the Bristol County South Medical Society; councilor of the Massachusetts Medical Society; member of the American Medical Association, and of the National Public Health Association. In social and commercial circles he has also been prominent. He has been presi- dent from its foundation, of the Commer- cial Club, the leading social organization of Fall River ; president of Wampanoag Mills, and director in Stafford, Merchants', Barnard, and Robeson mills, and holds a one -third interest in the Globe Mills property. Dr. Davis has ever been active in educa- tional matters. Davis school, Fall River, was named in his honor. He has been an intelligent observer, a careful student, and to these factors is joined the endowment of a graceful and eloquent oratory. His power in debate was felt in the last Con- gress, during the long and heated discus- sion on the tariff issues. Dr. Davis was married October 1, 1848, to Sarah, daughter of Dr. Thomas and Ann Wilbur, who died in 1856. In June, 1S62, he married Susan Ann, daughter of Moses and Phcebe S. Haight, of New Castle, N. Y. He has one son : Robert C. Davis. DAVOL, WILLIAM C, son of Abner and Mary (Durfee) Davol, was born in Fall River, Bristol county, January 5, 1806. The Davol is one of the old families of Rhode Island and southeastern Massachu- setts, Pardon Davol, the founder of the family, locating in Fall River. Securing what education he could in the common schools of those days, he entered the Troy Mill while yet a mere lad. After becoming acquainted with the various de- partments of mill work, he was made over- seer of the spinning department. At the age of twenty-three he was appointed su- perintendent of the mill, which position he retained until 1841, when he became a member of the firm of Hawes, Marvel & Davol. WILLIAM C DAVOL. This firm entered upon the business of manufacturing machinery, of which Mr. Davol was the skillful designer and draughtsman. They soon took rank among the foremost of cotton machine manufac- turers in the country. Upon the death of Mr. Hawes, the business was continued by the other members of the firm, under the name of Marvel & Davol, until the financial crash of 1878— '9. The importance of Mr. Davol's labors in the development of the cotton industry can hardly be over- estimated. It was very largely through his mechanical genius that the manufac- turers of Fall River were enabled to enjoy the advantages of the most improved ma- chinery, and thereby to compete so success- fully in the products of their factories. To Mr. Davol is due the successful introduction into this country of the cele- brated English patent called the Sharp & Roberts self-acting mule, a great labor- saving machine. Accompanying Major Bradford Durfee to England in 1838, he made a study of this invention, and became