OBIT: John R. DAVIES, D.D., 1919, formerly of Blair County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by JRB

Copyright 2007.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/blair/
_________________________________________ 

TYRONE TOPICS.

REV. JOHN R. DAVIES DIES IN PHILADELPHIA.
Pastor for Ten Years of Tyrone Presbyterian Church, Where He Did Good 
Work

  The members of the First Presbyterian church were shocked and grieved 
at the services yesterday morning when announcement was made of the 
death of a former and beloved pastor, the Rev. John R. Davies, D.D.  
During his pastorate of ten years in the Presbyterian church at Tyrone, 
Rev. Davies did a great and good work and came to be beloved by both 
congregation and community.  One of the monuments of his good work in 
the church here is the John R. Davies Mission Band, which celebrated 
its 25th anniversary on February last.
  We quote the following account of Rev. Davies from yesterday's issue 
of the Philadelphia Press:
  "Rev. John R. Davies, secretary of the Presbyterian Board of 
Ministerial Relief and Sustentation and for many years pastor of the 
Bethlehem church, Broad and Diamond streets, died of heart trouble 
yesterday, at the Fairfax apartments, Wayne avenue and School Lane, 
Germantown.  The funeral will be held Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock at 
the Bethlehem church.  Interment will be made in Lancaster.
  Dr. Davies is survived by his wife who was Miss Isabelle M. Moffat, 
of Scranton; two daughters, Mrs. Charles C. Law, of New York and Miss 
Hester C. Davies, a teacher in the Stevens Academy, Germantown; and a 
son, Dr. John H. Davies, Jr., who was with Base Hospital No. 10 in 
France.  He sailed from Brest on March 8.
  The eminent clergyman was active in work until he was taken ill about 
four weeks ago.  Recently he made an extended tour throughout the west 
in the interests of the board of which he was secretary.  He had been 
confined to his room ten days.
  Dr. Davies was born August 4, 1855 in Aberganny, Monmothshire, 
England.  His parents, Thomas Y. and Hester Davies brought him to this 
country when he was a lad.  They settled in Scranton.  He worked as an 
iron moulder there, and was graduated from Lafayette college, class of 
1881, and from the Princeton Theological Seminary, class of 1884.  His 
first charge was the Langcliffe church, at Avoca, near Scranton, his 
next at Tyrone, Pa.  In 1892 he was called to the Fourth avenue church, 
New York city, to succeed the late Dr. Howard Crosby.  He remained 
there until 1898, when he accepted the call to the Bethlehem church, 
his last pastorate.  Dr. Davies was a director of the Princeton 
Theological Seminary, a former alumni trustee of Lafayette college and 
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa society.  He was appointed by the 
Moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly to represent the church 
at Quadrennial Methodist Episcopal conference at Saratoga Springs in 
May of 1916.
  As a pastor Dr. Davies was extraordinar[il]y successful.  Called to 
the Bethlehem church in 1898, he freed the church of a debt of $55,000; 
rebuilt the entire interior of the edifice along modern lines and built 
a Sunday school auditorium, with a number of separate class rooms in 
addition to the church proper.  The auditorium is capable of seating 
1000 persons.  The church has a communicant membership of about 1600.
  At Bethlehem Church he raised between $500,000 and $600,000 and more 
than 2000 persons were taken into the church membership.  At the same 
time that he was appointed to the Relief Board, Rev. Dr. Robert Hunter 
was chosen associate secretary.  Together they represented nearly sixty 
years of pastoral service in this city.  The two asked Presbytery to 
dissolve their pastoral relations to enable them to accept the 
secretaryships to which they had been elected.  This was done but the 
two continued to be associated with their respective churches till 
their congregations should find new pastors.  This has not yet been 
done.  
  In 1915 Dr. Davies was called to the pastorate of the Immanuel church 
of Los Angeles, one of the largest churches on the Pacific coast, but 
declined."

Altoona Tribune, Monday Morning, March 17, 1919