BIOGRAPHY: Col. Samuel W. DAVIS, Cambria County, PA 

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann 
Olsen. 

Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty 
Mirovich and Sharon Ringler.

USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives 
remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in 
accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of 
providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by 
anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities 
so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic 
pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including 
copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to 
uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb 
Archives to store the file permanently for free access. 
http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ 
____________________________________________________________

From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 222-4
____________________________________________________________


COL. SAMUEL W. DAVIS, the present affable and efficient prothonotary, of Cambria 
county, and a substantial and progressive citizen, of Ebensburg, the county seat 
of that county, is a son of William and Elizabeth (Davis) Davis, and was born 
near Ebensburg, in Cambria township, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, February 13, 
1841.
      His father, William Davis, was a native of the principality of Wales, born 
in the year 1802, and in the year 1818 he left the land of his birth to seek a 
home in the New World. He landed at the port of Baltimore, and then proceeded, 
via Philadelphia, to central Pennsylvania. His first location was at Ebensburg. 
There, however, he remained but a short time, until he removed to Cambria 
township, where our subject was born. Subsequently he returned to Ebensburg, 
where he passed the remainder of his life, his death occurring in 1878. He was 
engaged in general merchandizing, lumbering and stock dealing, in which 
triangular enterprises he was uniformly successful, attesting in a marked degree 
his general business qualifications.
     Formerly he was an old-line whig, but upon the organization of the present 
Republican party, in 1856, became identified with its interests and remained a 
republican, staunch and firm in his convictions, until his death. He was a 
member of the Congregational church, and was a consistent and devout Christian.
      He married Elizabeth Davis, a daughter of John Davis, who was a native of 
Wales, and who emigrated to the United States in an early day. He first settled 
in Huntingdon county, but at the time of his death was a resident of Cambria 
township, where he had followed agricultural pursuits. Of the children of Mr. 
and Mrs. Davis, four died in infancy, and the following grew to maturity: Mary, 
deceased; Catharine, the widow of Evan Griffith, of Altoona, Pennsylvania; 
Lydia, the relict of John O. Evans, of Ebensburg; Samuel W., subject; and 
Lemuel, justice of the peace and real-estate agent, of Kane, McKean county, this 
State.
     Samuel W. Davis wedded Sarah J. Evans, a daughter of David O. Evans, now of 
Ebensburg, but formerly of Wales, and to them have been born ten children: Emery 
Hubert, under his father, deputy-prothonotary; Mary E., Elmer C., Lillian June, 
Ralph H., Willis, Nannie Margaret, Park Meade, and Reginald S., all of whom 
reside at home with their parents, and one is deceased.
      Lieutenant Davis acquired his mental training in the public schools of his 
native county, and under the direction of private tutors. Finishing his 
education, he was employed as clerk in his father's mercantile establishment, 
and afterwards became associated with him in the mercantile and lumber business, 
in which he continued until 1862. In August of that year he enlisted in the 
Federal service in company F, One Hundred and Thirty-third regiment, nine 
months' men. At the expiration of this term of enlistment, he enlisted as a 
private in company C, Two Hundred and Ninth regiment, and upon the organization 
of the company was made first lieutenant, and served efficiently in that 
capacity until hostilities ceased between the North and the South. In 1874 he 
organized in Ebensburg company A of the Fifth regiment, National Guard of 
Pennsylvania, and for seven years held the commission of captain, and was 
promoted to major, and later to colonel. Returning home from the service, he 
again took up lumbering until 1869. Upon that date he engaged in the livery 
business at Ebensburg, and continued until 1885.
      Politically Lieutenant Davis is a staunch and uncompromising republican, 
who has ever been alive to the interest and success of his party. In 1878 he was 
elected to the office of county commissioner, and in 1881 was re-elected to that 
office. At the expiration of this term of office he became clerk to the county 
treasurer, Alex. Stackhouse. In 1889 he was appointed deputy-sheriff by Sheriff 
J. C. Stineman; was continued another term under the present incumbent, Sheriff 
D. W. Coulter. In the autumn of 1895 he was elected to the office of 
prothonotary of Cambria county, for a term of three years, and is now ably and 
acceptably filling that office. He is a member of Summit Lodge, No. 312, Free 
and Accepted Masons, and John M. Jones Post, No. 556, Grand Army of the 
Republic, at Ebensburg.
      Both as a public official and a man Lieutenant Davis' career has been one 
of integrity and blamelessness. He is a man of strong personality, broad minded, 
public spirited, conservative, and yet entertaining. He was a member of the 
board of commissioners when the present court-house -- a structure of 
architectural beauty and elegance -- was erected in 1881; was a member of the 
school board which built, in 1893, the present public-school building of 
Ebensburg, at a cost of twenty thousand dollars, and which is a model of 
neatness and architectural good taste, and was also one of the leading spirits 
in the move which resulted in the erection of an opera house, which affords a 
place for pleasant and instructive entertainments for the inhabitants of that 
town. All of these buildings reflect great credit upon the town of Ebensburg, 
and speak much for the enterprise of Colonel Davis, who was the leading spirit 
in their construction. He is a man of pleasant address, affable, and congenial, 
and possesses a host of admiring friends.