John H. Davis Biography History of Montana,by Joaquin Miller, 1894 USGENWEB Montana Archives May be copied for non-profit purposes. Captain John H. Davis, the oldest and most prominent hotel man of Virginia City came to Montana in 1866, just after having served his country faithfully and well in the great Civil War.Captain Davis is a native of Kentucky, born near Sterling, August 28, 1829. His father, Job Davis, was born in Ireland and when a boy came to America and settled in Kentucky where he married Eliza Rama, a native of Virginia and a member of one of the old families of that state. They became the parents of eleven children, all of whom are still living. He was a Kentucky farmer and Methodist preacher, spent the whole of his life in that state and died in 1886, in the eighty-third year of his age. Captain Davis is the oldest of the family. He was reared and educated in his native state and remained there until he was twenty-three years of age, when he emigrated to Illinois, then a new country, and with a warrant given him by his father, took claim to a tract of land near Taylorville, which he improved and on which he resided until the spring of 1858. In 1858 he sold out, and with a mule team crossed the plains to Colorado. Denver was then in its infancy, and this whole western country was wild and unsettled. Obtaining a mining claim, he went to work and continued there successfully until the spring of 1861 when he returned to Kentucky to visit friends. It was while he was visiting in Kentucky that Fort Sumter was fired upon. The whole country was in the highest degree of excitement. He returned to Illinois and enlisted in Company A, Eighth Illinois Infantry, for a term of three months, and after that term had expired he again enlisted, this time in Company B, Forty-first IllinoisVolunteer Infantry. Of this company he was elected First Lieutenant and was with it in all the engagements in which it participated. At the capture of Fort Donelson he had command of the company and at the battle of Shiloh he received a musket ball in his shoulder. This ball he still carries. At the battle of Vicksburg he was wounded in the thigh by a shell, from the effects of which he is slightly lame, and from which he still suffers. For gallant service at Vicksburg, he was promoted to the captaincy. He was at the capture of Atlanta and was in command of a pioneer corps that went in advance of Sherman's forces in the memorable march to the sea. The war over, he went to Chicago, from whence, in 1866 he came with his private conveyance to Montana, and selected Virginia City as a place of location. For five years he was engaged in mining, meeting with the usual reverses and successes of the miner. During his best year in the mines he took out $6000. The last claim he worked became flooded with water and after abandoning it he leased some stock and a ranch on the Upper Ruby. This stock ranch he ran for about five years, raising a great many cattle but finally selling them on a declining market. Then he again turned his attention to mining, and still owns mining interests. In 1880 he engaged in the hotel business at Puller Springs. IN 1888 he returned to Virginia City and took charge of the Madison House which he conducted successfully five years, and since 1893 has been proprietor of the Easton House. His generous and genial nature,especially fit him for this business. He knows how to run a hotel in a way to gain the good will and patronage of the traveling public and such has been his life in Montana that he enjoys the esteem and confidence of all who know him. Captain Davis was married in Kentucky in 1850 to Jane Bolton, a native of his own town. She died in Illinois in 1857, in the twenty-seventh year of her age, leaving two children, Thomas W. and Viola, both now residents of Kansas, the latter being the wife of Jesse Cox. In December 1866, Captain Davis married Minerva Tuller, a native of Indiana. They had five children, Blanch, wife of James Cowan; Jessie, wife of Robert Cowan; Olive, wife of Amos Wiles and John Arthur--all residents of Montana. The mother of this family died in 1884 and in 1888 Captain Davis married Mrs. Amelia North, sister of his second wife, and widow of Robert North, who lost his life in the Union army. USGenWeb Project 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 forprofit, nor for commercial presentation by any other organization. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than as stated above, must obtain express writtenpermission from the author, or the submitter and from the listed USGenWeb Project archivist.