Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Davis, John L. 1838 - living in 1917 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 5:33 pm Author: B. F. Bowen JOHN L. DAVIS. John L. Davis, one of the pioneers of Marshall county, a well-to-do retired farmer and an honored veteran of the Civil War, now living at Frankfort, is a native of the old Buckeye state, but has been a resident of Kansas since the year 1870, when he came to Marshall county, and hence has been a witness to and a participant in the development of this county since pioneer days. He was born in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, August 22, 1838, a son of John M. and Avelander (Pierce) Davis, natives of the state of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively, members of old families in that state, whose last days were spent in Mechanicsburg, where John M. Davis was a well-known and well-to-do building contractor. Reared at Mechanicsburg, John L. Davis was early trained to the trade of carpenter and cabinet-maker by his father, who gave him a bench and tools in his shop when he was a boy, telling him to go to work and make whatever he wanted to, and he was working at his trade in that city when the Civil War broke out. In 1863 he enlisted in Company C, One Hundred and Thirty-fourth Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served with that command for four months. His brother, Joseph Davis, served throughout the war as a soldier in the Thirty-second Ohio Regiment. In 1870 John L. Davis came to Kansas and located at Frankfort, where for two years he was engaged as a builder and then, in 1872, began farming on a place just north of the town. At the same time he opened and began operating the first retail meat market opened in Frankfort, but presently sold that and bought a tract of one hundred and thirty-five acres south of the town, which he proceeded to develop. When Mr. Davis took possession of that farm it had a little two-room house on it and that he enlarged and built other and adequate buildings until he came to have one of the best-equipped farm plants in that part of the county. He now owns a splendid farm of two hundred acres and is regarded as being quite well circumstanced. In addition to' his general farming Mr. Davis also for years was quite extensively engaged in the raising of live stock. Since his retirement from the farm and removal to Frankfort his son, Joseph Davis, who is making his home on the place, is operating the farm and is doing very well. On November 28, 1861, eight or nine years before coming to Kansas, John L. Davis was united in marriage, in Ohio, to Esther Cox, who was born at Salem, in Columbiana county, that state, December 25, 1844, a daughter of Samuel and Rachel Cox, both of whom were born at Edinburg, Pennsylvania, and to this union three children have been born, namely: Ora, who married M. M. Haskins, of Frankfort, and has five children, Frank, Harold, Fletcher, Hazel and Davis; Elizabeth, who married W. J. Gregg, of Frankfort, and has five children. Gerva, Gracia, Geraldine, Gilbert and Edward, and Joseph, mentioned above as operating the old home farm, who also is married and has five children. Hazel, Norma, Madia, Joseph Leroy and Carrol. In addition to the fifteen grandchildren here mentioned, Mr. and Mrs. Davis have three great-grandchildren, Catherine, Ellen Ora and Marshall Haskins. The Davises are members of the Presbyterian church and have ever been warm supporters of the same, as well as all other local good works. Mr. Davis is an active member of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic, in the affairs of which he for years has taken a warm interest, and Mrs. Davis is a member of the Woman's Relief Corps and of the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, in the affairs of both of which organizations she takes an active interest, being conductor and past matron of the latter society. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/davis37bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 4.4 Kb