John James Davis
John James Davis | |
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from West Virginia's 1st district | |
In office March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1875 | |
Preceded by | Isaac H. Duval |
Succeeded by | Benjamin Wilson |
Member of the West Virginia House of Delegates | |
In office 1869–1870 | |
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates | |
In office 1861 | |
Personal details | |
Born | John James Davis May 5, 1835 Lexington Law School |
Occupation | Lawyer, politician |
John James Davis (May 5, 1835 – March 19, 1916) was an American attorney and politician who helped found
Early and family life
John James Davis was born in
Young J.J. Davis attended Northwestern Virginia Academy at Clarksburg (the Harrison County seat). When he was 17, he moved to Lexington, Virginia to attend the Lexington Law School (now the law department of Washington and Lee University). Graduating in 1856, J.J. Davis was admitted to the Virginia bar that same year and began what would become his lifelong legal practice in Clarksburg.
On August 21, 1862, John J. Davis married Anna Kennedy in
American Civil War
Davis became politically active after the Virginia Secession Convention on April 17, 1861 voted to approve an ordinance of secession over the opposition of many delegates from the northwestern counties, including fellow lawyer John S. Carlile from Harrison County. Carlile called a mass meeting in Clarksburg on April 22 to call Virginia's secession treasonous and consider responses. Davis attended that "Clarksburg Convention."[5]
On May 13–15, J.J. Davis was among seven Harrison County men attending the Wheeling Convention, which established the Restored Government of Virginia.[6]
In June 1861, Harrison County voters elected Davis and John C. Vance to represent them in the Virginia House of Delegates, which met in Wheeling from July 1–26; Davis never served in Richmond, Virginia (the normal meeting place of the Virginia General Assembly, including during the American Civil War).[7] In October, Harrison County voters again elected Vance and Davis as their two delegates to the General Assembly, which met at Wheeling from December 2, 1861 – February 13, 1862, May 6–15, 1862, and December 4, 1862-February 5, 1863 (although Vance resigned on January 2, 1862).[8]
Despite Davis's Unionist advocacy, his father remained a Confederate sympathizer and his brother Rezin enlisted in the Confederate army.
Postwar career
As the war ended, Davis continued his legal practice in Clarksburg, and voters elected him to the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1869. He served one term, in 1870, in that part-time position.
Active in his local Democratic Party, Davis was a delegate to the
National politics
When Republican Isaac H. Duval announced that he would not seek re-election from West Virginia's 1st congressional district in 1870, Davis was the Democratic nominee and won. He served in the 42nd Congress, and was re-elected as an Independent Democrat to the 43rd Congress. He decided against running for re-nomination in 1874, and fellow Democrat Benjamin Wilson won the seat.
His elective political years over, except for stints at the Democratic National Conventions and as a presidential elector for
Death and legacy
John J. Davis died in Clarksburg on March 19, 1916, and was interred in the Odd Fellows Cemetery, where his wife of nearly 55 years joined him less than a year later. Their daughter Emma, who never married, remained active in Democratic politics in Clarksburg. After serving as Solicitor General, his son John W. Davis would become U.S. Ambassador to Britain, then move to New York.
References
- ^ CongBio no.D000119
- ^ History of West Virginia, Old and New (American Historical Society, Inc. 1923) p. 284, available at http://files.usgwarchives.net/wv/harrison/bios/davis2.txt
- ^ 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Slave schedules for Harrison County, Virginia p. 1 of 8
- ^ 1923 West Virginia history
- ^ Clarksburg Historic District NRIS cont. p. 2 (22 of 37), available at http://www.wvculture.org/shpo/nr/pdf/harrison/82004794.pdf
- ^ Cynthia Miller Leonard, Virginia's General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978)p. 490
- ^ Leonard, p. 492
- ^ Leonard p. 494
- ^ 1923 West Virginia history
- ^ Bernard L. Butcher, Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia (Genealogical Publishing Company 1999) p. 725