Columbia County ArArchives Biographies.....Davis, Joe Lee 
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Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

JOE LEE DAVIS.
    Joe Lee Davis of Magnolia, a prominent and representative business man, is
identified with manufacturing, mercantile and banking interests and his labors
are a potent force in promoting the material development and upbuilding of the
district in which he operates. Mr. Davis was born in Atlanta, Arkansas, December
20, 1869. His father, James Evan Davis, who died in Magnolia in 1909, at the age
of eighty-two years, was at one time a successful merchant and planter of
Atlanta, Arkansas, but retired about five years prior to his demise and
established his home in Magnolia, where his remaining days were passed. His
people were from Georgia. During the entire period of the Civil war he was in
the service of the Confederate government and was disfranchised afterward by
carpetbaggers because of his connection therewith. In early manhood he wedded
Mary R. Morgan, who died in Magnolia in 1908, at the age of seventy-five years.
She was born in Jasper county, Georgia, and was a daughter of Henry S. Morgan,
who served as a soldier in the Seminole war in Florida. The Morgans were
originally from Virginia and were descendants of Captain John Morgan of
Revolutionary war fame, who came from Ireland and settled in Virginia in 1752.
The Davis family comes of Welsh ancestry, although representatives of the name
emigrated from Wales to Ireland and then came to America in the eighteenth
century, settling first in Virginia, while at a later date a removal was made to
Georgia. The marriage of James E. Davis and Mary R. Morgan was celebrated et
Longcane, Georgia, in 1850, and they became parents of eleven children, five
sons and six daughters, of whom three sons and two daughters are deceased, while
six of the family are living.

    Joe Lee Davis, the ninth in order of birth, was educated in Atlanta Academy
in Atlanta, Arkansas, pursuing a full college course in mathematics and two
years in English and science. Through the intervening period he has been an
active factor in business circles and now divides his attention between
manufacturing, banking and mercantile interests. He engages in business under
the firm name of J. L. & D. M. Davis, the firm having branches at Magnolia, El
Dorado, Kerlin and Haynesville, Louisiana. At these various points they are
actively engaged in the lumber business. to which J. L. Davis has largely given
his attention for the past fifteen years. He is also the vice president of the
People's Bank of Magnolia, vice president of the Bank of Taylor, at Taylor,
Arkansas, and a director in the Farmers' & Bankers' Trust Company. He is also
the secretary of the Columbia Cotton Oil Company of Magnolia and of the Ouachita
Cotton Oil Company at Camden. He is the president of the Davis Loan & Investment
Company at Magnolia and president of the Magnolia Grocer Company, a wholesale
grocery concern. He is likewise the president of the McNeil Hardware & Furniture
Company of McNeil, Arkansas, is a director of the McNeil Mercantile Company of
McNeil, Arkansas, vice president of the firm of Hollis & Company, wholesale
dealers in mill supplies at Little Rock, and is a director of the Shreveport
Fertilizer Works at Shreveport, Louisiana. His business interests, therefore,
are of large extent and importance and that he deserves great credit for what he
has accomplished is indicated in the fact that he started out in the business
world as a bookkeeper while in his teens, for C. M. Fomby, at Atlanta, Arkansas,
and was afterward at Magnolia with Mr. Fomby, who was his brother-in-law and who
was engaged in general merchandising. Mr. Davis was thus employed at Atlanta and
Magnolia for eight years and during the latter part of that period became a
partner in the business. Later he embarked in merchandising independently,
carrying on business of that character under different firm names from 1890
until 1908, at Magnolia. He afterward entered the present firm, under the style
of J. L. & D. M. Davis and has continued to operate successfully to the present
time in connection with the lumber industry and mercantile pursuits. His
holdings and investments are now extensive and his business affairs place him as
one of the representative men of this section of the state. He also operates
several plantations in Columbia county, near Atlanta and Kerlin. He is a man of
forceful character, resourceful in all that he undertakes, and by reason of what
he has accomplished he is recognized as one of the captains of industry in the
southwest. His fellow townsmen recognizing his worth and ability and seeing what
he has accomplished in a business way have chosen him for various positions of
public honor, trust and responsibility. He is now the president of the Chamber
of Commerce at Magnolia and has been president of the county board of education
since it was established in 1920. He was likewise a member of the state board of
charities from 1907 until 1909 and was a delegate from Columbia county to the
constitutional convention of 1917-18. As a candidate he received every vote in
the township in which he was born and reared except two, a fact which indicates
in notable measure his personal popularity and the confidence reposed in him. He
was supervisor of the census for the Seventh Congressional district in 1920.
Fraternally he is a Mason, belonging to Magnolia Lodge, No. 82, A. F. & A. M.;
Magnolia Chapter, No. 112, R. A. M.; and Magnolia Council, No. 11, R. & S. M.
Religiously he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and is
serving on its board of stewards and its hoard of trustees.

    Mr. Davis has heen twice married. On January 11, 1894, he wedded Mattie
Goo^e, daughter of Dr. John Goode of Magnolia, Arkansas. Mrs. Davis departed
this life in 1898. At Prescott, Arkansas, on the 16th of January, 1901, Mr.
Davis was united in marriage to Miss Ella Arnold of that place, a daughter of
Dr. W. E. Arnold, who is still living, at the age of eighty-four years. Mr. and
Mrs. Davis have become parents of four children, a son and three daughters:
Ruth, who married James Hatley White of Hope, Arkansas, where they reside; Joe
L., Jr., who is cashier for the J. L. & D. M. Davis Company; and Mary and Lottie
who are students in Galloway College at Searcy, Arkansas. Mr. Davis is a native
son of Arkansas and has spent his life in this state. He has recognized and
utilized the opportunities which have come to him and his enterprise and
diligence have carried him steadily forward, until he has long since left the
ranks of the many to stand among the successful. His persistency of purpose and
capable management have brought him substantial reward and, moreover, his labors
have been of a character which have contributed to public progress and
improvement along material lines. At the same time he has never allowed business
affairs so to monopolize his attention that he has had no time for other
interests and duties. On the contrary, he has contributed much toward the work
of general advancement and improvement, standing loyally at all times for
progressive citizenship and for those interests which lead to the intellectual
and moral progress of the state.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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