W. H. Davis, p. 1475

W. H. DAVIS, a member of the prominent lumber and hardware firm of W. H. Davis & Co., Washington, Penn., was born in Allegheny (Allegheny City), Penn., April 25, 1846, and is descended from pioneers of the State.

George Davis, his father, was the son of Joshua, references to whom are made in the history of the Davis family of South Strabane township. George was a farmer in early manhood, but some short time after the venerable Charles Carroll opened the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, that novel industry won his attention, and next he is found in the service of the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company as engineer. For many years he followed engineering, and, only toward the latter years of his life, did he resume farming. He was united in marriage with Miss Martha Crawford, who was a resident of Lexington, Ky., and immediately after they located in Allegheny county; subsequently moved into Allegheny City, and, in their later years, or about 1854, in Peters township, this county, where he died, in his fifty-sixth year, December 14, 1870. His widow died April 8, 1872, aged fifty-four years.

George and Martha Davis were the parents of six children, namely: Mary Jane, wife of Dunning Hart, of Amwell township; Maggie A., wife of John Finley Scott, of Buffalo township; William H., the subject of this sketch; Wilson C., a lumber dealer at Saltsburgh, Penn.; Martha W., widow of Alexander Wilson, of Allegheny county, and George B., an architect of Monmouth, Ill. The parents of this family were, at the period of death, members of the Brush Run United Presbyterian Church. The father was a stanch Republican.

William H. Davis accompanied his parents to Washington county in 1854, and grew to manhood here. He received a primary education in the schools of Peters township, and completed a commercial course in Duff's Commercial College, Pittsburgh. His marriage with Miss Lucy M., daughter of John and Mary P. (Adams) Fife, of Allegheny county, Penn., took place November 10, 1870. The Fifes were represented in Allegheny county at a very early date, and in the history of that section of the State, published by A. Warner & Co., the name is repeatedly mentioned, and the biography of the present head of the family given. William H. Davis and wife took up their residence on the home farm in Peters township, and remained there until 1881, when they moved to Kansas. After a stay of three years there, they returned to Washington county, Penn., where Mr. Davis opened a lumber yard at Hills, on the Chartiers road, which he carried on for six years. The storms and floods, in the spring of 1889, resulted in heavy loss to him, as the water rushing through his yards carried away a considerable quantity of lumber and damaged permanent improvements.

In the fall of 1889 he established his yard at Washington, Penn. Soon after, his cousin, J. K. Davis, became his partner, but he, in the course of a few weeks, sold his interests to W. H. Davis, Jr., another cousin, who continued in the firm until March 21, 1893, when he withdrew, and it was reorganized under the present title. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Davis are: Mary Etta, wife of W. R. Woods, of Allegheny county, Penn.; George; Martha Crawford; Sarah Viola, and Addie Maria, all residents of Washington. The parents are members of the First Presbyterian Church. Politically Mr. Davis is a Republican, but the close personal attention he gives to his extensive business interests does not permit him to take an active part in politics.

Text taken from page 1475 of:
Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893).

Transcribed February 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project.
Published February 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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