The New Student's Reference Work/Davis, David

Davis, David, an American jurist and statesman, was born in Cecil County, Md., March 9, 1815, and died at, Ill., June 26, 1886. After graduating from Kenyon College, Ohio, he studied law in the east, and began practice in Bloomington, Ill., where he made his home. In 1844 he was a member of the state legislature, and four years later was appointed to the bench as judge of the eighth judicial district of Illinois. In 1862 President Lincoln, whose executor and intimate friend he had become, appointed him a justice of the United States supreme court. In 1877 he resigned to enter the United States senate, and in 1881 was chosen president of the chamber. Though nominally independent in politics, Judge Davis usually voted with the Democrats. In 1883 he resigned his seat in the senate, and died three years later.