Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/193

 DAVIS

DAVIS

entered the University of Michigan in 1855. His course was interrupted in 1857 by an illness which lasted ten years. In 1868 he returned to the University of Michigan as assistant librarian, and in 1877 was advanced to the position of librarian. He was elected a member of the American library association in 1878. In 1880 he began a systematic course of lectures on bib- liography in the university which he continued annually. He was married in 1880 to Ellen, daughter of Eli and Sarah Jane (Sabin) Regal. The University of Michigan conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M. in 1881. He is the author of Heminiscenccs of a Voyage Around the World (1879).

DAVIS, Rebecca Blaine Harding, author, was born in Washington, Pa., June 24, 1831; daughter of Richard William and Rachel (Wil- son) Harding, and granddaughter of George Harding. Her parents resided first in Alabama and later in Virginia. Her first published writ- ing was "Life in the Iron Mills, "" written in 1861, and produced in the Atlantic Monthly and later in book form, " A Story of To-day " followed soon in the same periodical, and appeared in book form under the title Margaret Hou'th (1861). In 1862 she married Lemuel Clarke Davis, editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer, and later of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, and went to that city to live. Among her works are: Waiting for the Verdict (1867); Dallas Galhraith (1868); John Andross (1874); Kitty's Choice (1876); A Lata Unto Herself (1878); Natasqua (1886); Kent Hampden (1892); Silhouettes of American Life (1892); Dr. Warrick's Daughters (1896); and Frances Waldeaiix (1897); besides" numerous con- tributions to periodical literature.

DAVIS, Reuben, representative, was born in Tennessee, Jan. 18, 1813. He was self educated and studied medicine and law. He removed to Aberdeen, Miss., where he was district attorney for the 6th judicial district, 1835-39; served four months of 1842 as judge of the high court of errors and appeals; and at the time of the Mexi- can war was colonel-commandant of the Missis- sippi rifles, but was obliged to resign on account of illness. He was in the lower branch of the state legislature, 1855-57; and a representative in the 35th and 36th congresses, 1857-61 In 1861 he joined the Confederate army as briga- dier-general, commanding a brigade of Missis- sippi militia. At the close of the war he resumed the practice of law. He was shot in a quarrel with the prosecuting attorney while defending a prisoner in the court-house at Coluinbus, Miss., Dec. 15. 1873, and his death was at the time reported and credited by biographical writers. He published in 1889, Kecollections of Mississippi and 3Iississippians, dedicated to the lawyers of

Mississippi by " one who is not only the oldest Mississippian now in the profession, but who is the sole survivor of the bar of fifty years ago." He died in Huntsville. Teiin.. Oct. 14, 1890.

DAVIS, Richard Harding, author, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 18, 1864; son of Lem- uel Clarke and Rebecca (Harding) Davis. He entered Lehigh university in 1882, and left at the close of his freshman year to take a course at Johns Hopkins university. He became a reporter on the Philadelphia I^-ess, and in 1888 was employed on the editorial staff of the New York Evening Sun. In 1890 he became managing editor of Hai'per's Weekly. He was a special war correspondent in Cuba for the New York Journal in 1897, and as such accompanied Frederic Remington, the artist, on the battle- fields, where his pen greatly aided the pencil of the artist in giving to the world a graphic view of passing events. He was made a Fellow of the Royal geographical society in 1897. He was married. May 4, 1899, to Cecil, daughter of John M. Clark of Chicago. He is the author of: Gallagher and other Stories (1891); Stories for Boys (1891); The West from a Car Windoio (1892); Van Bibber and Others (1892); O^ir English Cousins (1894); The Bulers of the Mediterranean (1894); The Exiles and Other Stories {\S^i); The Princess ylZuie (1895); About Paris (1895); Cinderella and Other Stories (1896); Soldiers of Fortune (1897); A Year from a Reporter's Note Book (1898); The King's Jackal (1898); The Cuban and Porto Bican Campaigns (1898); besides many contributions to periodical literature.

DAVIS, Robert Means, educator, was born in Fairfield district, S.C, April 9, 1849; eldest son of Henry Campbell and Isabella ^arper (Means) Davis; grandson of Dr. James and Catherine (Ross) Davis of Columbia, S.C, and of Robert and Sarah (Means) Means; great-grandson of Solomon Davis of Sinapuxent, Md., and a de- scendant of John Means of Ireland who lived in Boston, Mass., from 1767 to 1789, and his wife Isabella Harper. He attended the Mt. Zion institute, Winnsboro, S.C, where he organized in 1867 the first graded public school in the state supported by special taxation, outside the citj- of Charleston. He was graduated at the Univer- sity of South Carolina in 1869. After teaching in the King's Mountain military institute, 1869- 70, he went to California and taught there, 1870-72, filling temporarily the chair of classics in the Pacific Methodist college, and positions in the Santa Rosa public schools and in the pre- paratory scliool of the University of California. He returned to South Carolina and was grad- uated from the University law school in 1872. After practising law and conducting the Winns- boro News, 1872-74, he served on the editorial