Biographical Sketch of M. H. Davis, Johnson County, Missouri,
Jackson Township.

>From "History of Johnson County, Missouri," by Ewing Cockrell,
Historical Publishing Company, Topeka, Cleveland, 1918.
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M. H. Davis, a well known pioneer citizen of Johnson county, is one of
the respected farmers of Jackson township.  Mr. Davis is a native of
Illinois.  He was born in 1842 in Scott county, a son of R. C. and 
Elizabeth S. (Baldridge) Davis.  The lineage of the particular branch
of the Davis family to which M. H. Davis belongs has been traced back
to colonial ancestors who settled in Tennessee in the early part of the
eighteenth century.  R. C. Davis was a son of James Davis, a native of
Tennessee, who moved to Illinois several years prior to the time of the
Civil War.  Elizabeth S. (Baldridge) Davis was a daughter of James 
Baldridge, a veteran of the Revolution of 1776, was married in a fort,
during the Revolutionary War.  James Baldridge was a native of England
and a member of a wealthy family of high social rank in Great Britian.
The great-great-grandfather Baldridge was united in marriage with Miss
Holmes, whose family was in all probablity connected with the Holmes
family that produced America's greatest poet and humorist, Oliver Wen-
dell Holmes.  The first known Holmes to arrive in this country was John
Holmes, who came from England to Woodstock, Connecticut, with the first
settlers in 1686.  When M. H. Davis was ten years of age, he moved with
his parents to Iowa and in that state was reared to manhood and was re-
siding at the time of his marriage.  In the spring of 1867, R. C. Davis
and his son, M. H., came to Johnson county.  M. H. Davis purchased a 
small tract of land, comprising 65 acres, and built a one room house on
the farm and in this they resided for several years, while they were 
breaking native sod and developing the land for the production of 
wheat.  Mr. Davis, whose name introduces this sketch, recalls the days
when much of the county was open prairie and trails in place of roads,
led in all directions.  He is now the owner of 130 acres of well 
improved, abundantly watered, productive land, on which he is raising
grain, hay and stock.  This season, of 1917, he had 30 acres of the 
farm in corn and has planted 20 acres in wheat and harvested 15 tons of
hay and 500 bushels of oats.  He raises Shorthorns, Poland Chinas, and 
good horses.  The residence was built in 1867 but additions have been
sincemade and the appearance of the home entirely altered in 1883.  In
1864, M. H. Davis and Mary Ballard were united in marriage.  Mrs. Davis
was a daughter of James Ballard, of Indiana.  When Mrs. Davis was an
infant, her father died.  Mrs. Ballard moved with her daughter to Put-
nam county, Missouri in 1860, and they were there residing at the time 
of the latter's marriage to Mr. Davis.  Mr. and Mrs. Davis crossed the
plains in 1864 and lived for a time in Canon City, Colorado.  In the 
spring of 1867, they came to Johnson county, Missouri with the parents
of Mr. Davis.  To Mr. and Mrs. Davis were born six children, three of 
whom are now living: Mrs. Margaret A. Carter, Pittsville, Missouri; 
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Rice, Pittsville, Missouri; and John H., Pittsville,
Missouri.  Mrs. Davis, one of the most beloved of the noble pioneer
women of Johnson county, died September 15, 1917.  Seventy-five years
have come and gone since M. H. Davis first saw the light of day in
Illinois, seventy-five years covering probably the most momentous 
period in the world's history, seventy-five years fraught with the
greatest opportunities and responsibilities humanity has ever known.
It has been "good to be here" during the past three quarters of a cen-
tury.  During all these years Mr. Davis has discharged every duty
devolved upon him in a highly commendable manner and has nobly done his
part in bettering the material prosperity of his community.

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