Fayette County, West Virginia    Biography of John Wysor DAVIN

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Submitted by Valerie Crook, <vfcrook@trellis.net>, March 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 367


JOHN WYSOR DAVIN is a young man who has won con-
secutive advancement in connection with railroad service,
and is now chairman of the car-allotment commission of
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, with official headquarters
at the passenger station building of this railway in the
City of Huntington. He still resides in the old homestead
of the family at Montgomery, Fayette County, where he
was born on the 10th of March, 1892.

John Davin, father of him whose name initiates this re-
view, was born in Ireland, in 1848, and died at Mont-
gomery, West Virginia, in 1912.  His father, Michael
Davin, was born in Ireland, in 1810, and died near Boone-
ville, Missouri, in 1899. he having immigrated with his fam-
ily to the United States about the year 1849, and having
become a farmer near Latonia, Kentucky, whence in 1874
he removed to Missouri and settled near Booneville, where
he became a specially successful farmer and where he and
his wife passed the residue of their lives. John Davin
was an infant at the time of the family removal from the
Emerald Isle to the United States, and grew to adult age
on the home farm in Kentucky. He did not go to Missouri
with his father, but came to West Virginia and assisted
in the construction of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad.
Later he engaged in the coal business at Montgomery as a
pioneer operator in the coal fields of that district, and ho
was one of the influential citizens and business men/of
Montgomery at the time of his death. He was a demo-
crat in politics. He married Miss Mary E. Montgomery,
who was born in Virginia in 1859, and whose death oc-
curred at Montgomery, West Virginia, in 1920. Of their
children the firstborn was Charles Ashley, who died in
1881, in infancy; Miss Florence E. remains at the old
home in Montgomery; Harlow A. resides at Logan, this
state, and is an assistant superintendent in the employ of
tlie Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company; Lottie is the
wife of Dr. Horace H. Smallridge, a representative dentist
in the City of Charleston; Annie is the wife of Lon G.
Smallridge, a merchant in the City of Tacoma, Washington;
John W., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth;
Thomas L. remains in the old home town of Montgomery,
and represents the Bankers Life Insurance Company; and
Miss Margaret remains at the old home in that place.

In the public schools of Montgomery John W. Davin
acquired his early education, and there also he attended
the branch school of the University of West Virginia. In
1909 he became yard clerk for the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail-
road Company at Handley, Kanawha County, and his abil-
ity and effective service eventually led to his promotion to
the position of local car distributor in the Kanawha coal
district. In 1916 he was transferred to Huntington, and
later in the same year was here promoted to the position
of chief car distributor. In June, 1919, he resigned this
place and became traffic manager for the Amherst Fuel
Company at Lundale, Logan County, but in December of
the following year he resigned this post and resumed his
alliance with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, for which he
has since served as chairman of the car allotment commis-
sion, with executive headquarters in the City of Huntington.

Mr. Davin takes loyal interest in public affairs and is
independent in politics. He is affiliated with Coal Valley
Lodge No. 74, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at
Montgomery, where also he is a member of Fayette Lodge
No. 29, Knights of Pythias, besides which he is a member
of Charleston Lodge No. 202, Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks, in the capital city of the state.