Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/189

 DAVIS

DAVIS

university, 1872-7-4; acting president of Eidge- ville college, Ind., 1874-78; professor of Latin in Rio Grande college, Ohio, 1879-87, and was elected president of the same in 1887. He was or- dained a Baptist minister in 1875 ; was president of the Ohio Free Communion Baptist association, 1892-93; school examiner, Gallia county, Ohio, 1886-89 ; city school examiner, Gallipolis, Ohio, 1898; member of the Free Baptist conference board, 1892-95 ; and associate editor of The Free Baptist, Minneapolis, Minn., from 1890. He was married, June 22, 1876, to Jane Elliott Boyd, A.B., Ohio university. He received the degree of D.D. from Ohio university in 1896.

DAVIS, John W., representative, was born in Lancaster, Pa., July 17, 1799. He was graduated at the Baltimore medical college in 1821 ; located in Carlisle, Ind., in 1823; and was elected surro- gate of the county in 1829, and a member of the state legislature several terms, serving in that body as speaker in 1832. He was a Democratic representative in the 24th, 26th, 28th and 29th congresses; was chairman of the committee on public lands, and was speaker of the house in the 29th congress. After his service in congress he was re-elected to the state legislature, was again speaker in 1847, and also served as a commis- sioner to the Indians. In 1848 President Polk appointed him U.S. commissioner to the Empire of China, and he was succeeded in 1851 by T. A. R. Nelson. He presided over the Demo- cratic national convention of 1853 at Baltimore and President Pierce appointed him governor of Oregon Territory in whicji capacity he served, 1853-54. He died at Carlisle, Ind., Aug. 22, 1859.

DAVIS, John William, governor of Rhode Island, was born in Rehoboth, Mass., March 7, 1826; son of John and Nancy (Davis) Davis; grandson of WilUam and Mary (Peck) Davis, and of Daniel (3d) and Anna (Bullock) Davis; and great-grandson of Daniel Davis, Jr. ; of Capt. Stephen Bullock; of Capt. Peleg Peck; and of Jolm Davis, father of William. His first ances- tors in America were John Davis, a son of the Rt. Hon. Sir Thomas Davis, Kt., Lord ma3"or of Lon- don, 1676, who settled in Newport, R.I., in 1680, where he was a merchant and store keeper ; John Howland of the Mnyfloicer; and James Davis, who came from Marlboro, England, was admitted a freeman of Newbury, Massachusetts Bay. 1636, and was one of the original twelve settlers of Haverhill in 1640. John William Davis acquired a good education, and in 1844 ap- prenticed himself to learn the trade of mason in Providence, R.I. He worked at his trade and taught school in other states for three years, and then engaged in the grain business in Provi- dence. 1850-90. He resided in Pawtucket, where he was president of the town council, 1882 and

1885; a state senator, 188.5-86; customs appraiser by appointment of President Cleveland in 1886; and governor of the state. 1887 and 1888. He in- troduced many reforms in the state prisons and reformatories, secured the passage of the act giving the right of the elective franchise to all citizens upon uniform qualifications, and ended the bitter quarrel that had divided the people of the state for fifty years. He served as mayor of Pawtvicket in 1897 ; was again a state senator in 1898; was a commissioner in charge of the construction of the new state house, and a mem- ber of the advisory board of the Rhode Island law school.

DAVIS, John Woodbridge, engineer, was born in New York city, Aug. 19, 1854; soq of Dr, Edwin Hamilton and Lucy (Woodbridge) Davis; grandson of Henry and Avice Slocmn (Town) Davis, and of John and Elizabeth (Buchanan) Woodbridge; and a descendant of John Wood- bridge (born in Stan- ton, Wiltshire, Eng- land, in 1614; died in Newbury, Mass., in 1691), who married Mercy, daughter of Gov. Thomas Dudley. He was prepared for college, and after at- tending the College of the city of New York, 1869-71, he left to serve as transitman in an engineer corps on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 1871- 74. He entered the school of mines of Cohmibia college in 1875, and was graduated in 1878 with the degree of C.E., receivmg that of Ph.D. in 1880. He conducted, 1879-82, the survey of 900,000 acres of land in Tennessee, the domain of the Grimdy mining company, extending into eleven counties of that state. In 1882 he instituted and as- sumed the presidency of the Woodbridge pre- paratory chemical, technical and scientific school in New York city, named in honor of Benjamin Woodbridge of Harvard, the first graduate of the first college in America. He was appointed in 1884 civil service examiner of civil engineers for the Croton aqueduct and other city departments, and was the first civil service e.x;aminer of engineers in New York city. In 1892 he invented a foldable kite of remarkable fractional power, capable of being deflected from the wind, and with it hauled boats, wagons, buoys and life-lines. This kite was placed on the Brenton Reef light-ship in the .spring of 1893, and at the first trial by the crew carried a ser-