Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/180

 DAVIS

DAVIS

two terms, 1871-83. He was afterward elected president of the West Virginia Central & Pitts- burg Railway Co., the Piedmont & Cumberland Railway Co., and the Davis national bank, at Piedmont. W.Va., and became a large stock- liolder in the Davis coal and coke company, as well as other enterprises along his line of railroad. DAVIS, Henry Lyon, educator, was born in Elkton, Md., about 1775; son of Naylor Davis of Prince George's county, Md. He was graduated from Dickin.son college in 1794, and was teacher of mathematics and vice-principal at Charlotte Hall academy, Md., 1790-1802. He was ordained a deacon in the P.E. church, and was advanced to the priesthood in 1802. He was rector of Trinity parish, Charles county, 1802-04; St. Stephen's, Cecil county, 1804-15; and St. Anne's parish, Annapolis, Md., 1815-26. He was vice- president of St. John's college, Annapolis, 1816-18; professor of mathematics, 1818-20; and president, 1820-24. He was removed from office b}- the board of Democratic trustees, as he was an avowed Federalist. In 1826 he accepted the presidency of a college at Wilmington, Del., and in 1827 returned to Maryland and settled in Anne Arundel county, where he served as rector at Elkton and Georgetown. He was a member of the standing committee of the diocese of ^lary- land for twenty-two years, and president of the committee for eleven years; secretary of the Maryland diocesan convention for eight years; and a delegate to the General convention in 1803. He was married in 1819 to Jane Brown Winter of Fredericktown, Md., and Henry Winter Davis, representative in congress, 1855-65, was their son. The honorary degree of D. D. was conferred upon him by Dickinson college in 1820. He died at Georgeto^\-n, Md., in 1836.

DAVIS, Henry Winter, representative, was born in Annapolis, Md., Aug. 16, 1817; son of the Rev. Henry Lj'on and Jane Brown (Winter) Davis, and grandson of Naylor Davis of Prince LL~ ^ '^MtB George's county, Md.

^, ^^^r ^^^ father was presi-

^*^ »^ dent of St. John's col-

lege, Annapolis, Md., andliismotheralineal lescendant of the Wy nters or Wyntours of Charles county, ^Id., who settled in the province with the earliest immigrants. David Davis, associate justice of the U.S. supreme court, was his cousin-gernian. He was placed in the care of a maiden aunt, ElizaVjeth Brown

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Winter, shortly after his birth, and she be- came the director of his childhood education. He then attended the Wilmiugton college, of which his father was president, 1826-27, and on his return to Anne Arundel county he spent his time with the slaves on his father's plantation in hunting and fishing, to the neglect of his studies. He leaves record of this association as follows: " Thej' [tlie slaves] spoke with freedom before a boy what Ihey would have repressed before a man. The}- were far from indifferent to their condition; they felt wronged and sighed for freedom; they habitually spoke of the day when God would deliver them." He was gradu- ated at Kenyon college in 1837. His father had died the year before, leaving a small estate com- prised mostly of slaves. These the young aboli- tionist refused to sell, and his onlj- income with which to complete his law course was derived from the sale of some land by his aunt, which enabled him to attend the University of Virginia, and he further contributed to the sum by acting as tutor there. While at the university he took up the French and German languages and in- creased his knowledge of Latin and Greek. He was graduated in law in 1841 and began practice in Alexandria, Va., removing in 1850 to Balti- more, Md. He made a brilliant canvass for Scott and Graham in 1852, and in 1854 was elected a representative from the 3d district of Maryland in the 34th congress, and was returned in 1856 to the 35th congress. In the political changes that destroyed the Whig party, Mr. Davis joined the American party, supported Fillmore and Donelson in 1856, and was re-elected to congress in 1858. In the contest for the speakership of the 36th congress, upon the withdrawal of John Sherman after the fortieth ballot, he voted for the Repub- lican compromise candidate, WiUiam Pen- nington, who was elected by one vote, and he received for this act the censure of the legislature of Maryland, in answer to which he said to his constituents: " You can send a slave to congress, but cannot send me." In 1860 he declined to allow his name to go before the Republican national convention as its candidate for Vice- President, and when Mr. Lincoln was making up his cabinet he urged the President to name John A. Gilmer rather than himself for a cabinet offi- cer. He accepted John Bell as his candidate for President and in 18G1, after the Baltimore mob had attacked the Massachusetts troops in the street, he announced him.self, on April 15, 1861, as an unconditional union candidate for repre- sentative in the 37th congress. He conducted a bold and fearless canvass, and in spite of the bit- ter opposition polled nearly 6000 votes, but not enough to secure election. In 1862 he was elected to the 38th congress and was made chairman of