C. F. Davenport Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Page 370 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm C. F. DAVENPORT. The citizens of Montrose City and vicinity will readily recognize this name as that of one of the popular and valued business men of that thriving town. During the greater part of his life he has followed agricultural pursuits and for fifteen years he operated a farm in McCook county, near the village in which he is now making his home and conducting a livery barn in connection with a hotel business. Mr. Davenport was born in Franklin, Maine, in the year 1853, the youngest of a family of nine children. His parents were both of Yankee blood and lived on a farm, about ten acres of which was cultivated and the balance was in timber. When our subject was but eighteen months of age, his father died, but his mother remarried within a few years and he made his home with his mother and stepfather until about eighteen years of age, and attended the public schools of his district to within two years of this time. Upon leaving his home, he secured employment in the cotton mills of Massachusetts and was thus engaged for five years. This line of work, however, proved injurious to his health, and, as his parents were getting old and needed his help, he quit the mills and returned to his mother's farm and took care of the old folks during the remainder of their lives. Shortly after his mother's death, Mr. Davenport moved to Dakota and filed claims to three quarter sections that he still owns, put upon it such improvements as go to make up a first-class estate and was engaged in its operation for about fifteen years and was quite successful in this venture. He devoted the most of his time to grain raising, although at times he had large numbers of cattle. About the year 1895. Mr. Davenport rented his farm and moved to Salem and conducted a meat market for one year. He then moved to Montrose and bought horses and material for a livery business, and as soon as he was fairly established in this, he branched out and opened a hotel in connection with his livery business. Politically he has always, been a Democrat and at present supports the fusion forces in South Dakota. In 1876, Mr. Davenport was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Hardy, with whom he became acquainted at the cotton mills. This union has been blessed by the advent of two children: Earnest Orton, deceased, and Mary Abby, who is still making her home with her parents.