Biographical Sketch of Holt Davis, Johnson County, Missouri, Jackson Township. >From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell, Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918. ********************************************************************** Holt Davis, a well known and prosperous farmer and stockman of Jackson township, is one of Johnson county's own sons, a member of a prominent pioneer family of Jackson township. Mr. Davis was born here November 28, 1847, a son of Michael and Maria Davis, who came to this part of Missouri from Illinois in 1846 and settled on a farm of one hundred twenty acres of land. Although Holt Davis has passed the allotted three score years and ten, he is still a young man, as active and alert both mentally and physically as many men of fifty, yet he is perhaps the oldest man in Jackson township who can claim this township as his birthplace. Michael Davis was a very successful farmer and stockman and a highly respected citizen of Johnson county. He died August 10, 1904. Mr. Davis, the subject of this review, attended school at Miller and Baker school houses in Jackson township. His first teacher was Jasper Ferguson. Holt Davis was born on the farm and his boyhood was spent much as the average boy on the farm spends his youth. His time was divided between attendance at the country school and assisting with the work on the farm. In 1881, he left the country and moved to Pitts- ville, where he entered the mercantile business in which he was engaged four years and then he returned to the farm to remain permanently. Mr. Davis owns an excellent stock farm, a place comprising two hundred seventy-three acres located near Pittsville. A portion of his place is rented and on the remainder the larger part is grazing land. He has extensive stock interests and is raising a large herd of Shorthorns on his place. In 1873, Holt Davis and Julia A. Warford were united in marriage. Mrs. Davis is a daughter of William A. and Martha J. Warford, who came from Colorado to Missouri and settled in Johnson county in 1867. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are worthy and valued members of the Baptist church. Politically, Mr. Davis is a Democrat. The first money which Holt Davis earned was made raising wheat on a small tract of four acres of land. He received two dollars and ten cents a bushel for his grain and the next year increased his acreage to fourteen acres from which he reaped not one bushel of grain. Thoroughly disheartened, Mr. Davis gave up the production of wheat then and for all time. Having been a resident of this county seventy years, Holt Davis knows perhaps as much about the changes which have taken place in the county as any one now living. He remembers when the main highway was the only road in this part of the state. Houses were far apart and if one traveled any great distance he went by stagecoach. Oxen were used for farm work, espec- ially in breaking sod. The one thing constantly feared and dreaded was the destructive prairie fire. Mr. Davis has many, many times helped fight this common foe of the pioneer. He and Mrs. Davis are numbered among the best citizens of Johnson county. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: <> Penny Harrell ====================================================================