BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES HORNOR DAVIS, HARRISON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA ******************************************************************* USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ******************************************************************* Submitted by Valerie Crook (vfcrook@earthlink.net) The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 601-602 Harrison JAMES HORNOR DAVIS. A civil engineer by profession, for a number of years an extensive program of business interests has claimed the time and attention of James Hornor Davis, whose home is in Clarksburg and who rep- resents an old family of Harrison County. This branch of the Davis family originated in Wales, and settled in the State of Maryland prior to the Revolu- tionary war. Caleb Davis, a grandson of the first Ameri- can settler, was born in Maryland, March 15, 1769, and died probably in Virginia, April 25, 1834. His wife, Mary, was born November 10, 1774, and died September 2, 1827. They had two sons and five daughters. Only three of the daughters' names are known, Rebecca, Ann and Minerva. The sons were John, born at Woodstock, Virginia, July 11, 1797; and Rezin. Rezin Davis, born probably at Woodstock, Virginia, on February 13, 1804, died at Clarksburg in March, 1884. He married at Clarksburg, June 5, 1828, Miss Ann Pollard Britton, daughter of Forbes and Elizabeth (Pindall) Brit- ton. She was born November 10, 1807, and died at Clarks- burg May 19, 1877. Their children, all natives of Clarks- burg, were: Caleb Forbes, born April 27, 1829, married Carrie Cox; Mary Elizabeth, born September 11, 1830, married William L. Hursey, son of John and Margaret (Laughlin) Hursey; James Pindall, born January 5, 1832, married Lovira Owens, daughter of Washington Owens; Margaret Wilson, born December 13, 1833, married Elmore B. Hursey, son of John and Margaret (Laughlin) Hursey; John Alexander, born May 18, 1836, married Alcinda Jas- per, daughter of William Woodson Jasper; Rezin Pollard, born January 4, 1840, married Bettie A. Gambrill, of Elli- cott Mills, Maryland, and died July 20, 1876; Thomas, born April 24, 1842, died July 3, 1845; Edward, whose record is given in a following paragraph; Catherine, born August 3, 1847, died unmarried January 27, 1901. Dr. Edward Davis, next to the youngest in the above fam- ily, was born July 3, 1844, and died at Clarksburg March 27, 1872. Though only twenty-eight when he died, he had earned success in his profession as a physician. On Oc- tober 25, 1866, at Clarksburg, he married Almira Louise Hornor, who was born at Lumberport, West Virginia, July 21, 1844, daughter of James Yard Hornor. A complete record of the Hornor family is given in a separate article. After the death of Doctor Davis his widow married Judge Gideon M. Camden, a distinguished citizen of the state, and after his death she became the wife of Judge George Wes- ley Atkinson, who at the time of their marriage was serv- ing as governor of West Virginia. This aged couple are now residing at Charleston. Dr. Edward Davis was the father of two sons: Edward Bezin, born at Clarksburg, West Virginia, February 11, 1868, married Garnet Hornor, daughter of Charles A. and Mary (Rhoades) Hornor, and James Hornor Davis. James Hornor Davis was born on a farm near Bristol, formerly Cherry Camp, November 13, 1870, and was brought to Clarksburg by his mother shortly after the death of his father. He attended the public schools, gradu- ating from high school in May, 1888, and then spent two years in West Virginia University at Morgantown, where he trained himself for civil engineering. He still regards that as his active profession, though after ten years of practice other affairs began to take up much of his time. For a time after leaving university he was associated with his brother Edward in the hardware business. Mr. Davis was one of the organizers of the West Virginia, Ohio and West- ern Bailroad, afterward changed to the West Virginia Short Line Bailroad. This road was built from Clarks- burg to New Martinsville, West Virginia, and Mr. Davis was engineer on location. During 1903-04 he was deputy clerk of the County Court of Harrison County under Charles F. Holden and resigned to engage in the real es- tate and insurance business at Clarksburg. Mr. Davis was appointed postmaster of Clarksburg, serving from 1917 to 1921, under the second administration of President Wood- row Wilson. He has served as a member of the city, county and state democratic executive committees, and is an ardent democrat. He is an active member of the First Presbyte- rian Church at Clarksburg, is a Knight Templar and thirty- second degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is a citizen who has assumed the deepest interest in the civic and business af- fairs of Clarksburg. Mr. Davis is a director of the Union National Bank, the largest in Clarksburg, is president of and a large stock- holder in The Exponent Company, publishers of the Clarks- burg Exponent, and has a number of other business inter- ests in and around Clarksburg. While in West Virginia University he was appointed a Cadet by Peregrin Hays, and had military training throughout his university career. Later he was made second lieutenant of Company K of the First Regiment of the West Virginia National Guard upon its organization about 1893, and some two years later was made captain of the same company. At Clarksburg, October 19, 1892, Mr. Davis married Edna Holmes, who was born in Fayette County, Pennsyl- vania, March 3, 1870, daughter of Matthew Gay and Eliza- beth Dawson (McCleary) Holmes. Her father was born in Preston County, West Virginia, November 20, 1838, and died at Clarksburg in March, 1907. In August, 1859, at the age of twenty-one, he went to Shanghai, China, and for nine years was in business there. In 1870 President Grant appointed him United States consul at Cheefoo, China. He resigned in 1872 and on returning to West Virginia es- tablished his home at Clarksburg, where for many years he was in the shoe business. In 1887 he served as a mem- ber of the House of Delegates, and in 1888 was elected sheriff of Harrison County. His widow, now living with her daughter, Mrs. Davis, is the daughter of William and Katherine McCleary, her father a resident of Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Of the four children of M. G. Holmes and wife one died in infancy, a daughter, Minnie, died in early youth, the youngest is Mrs. Edna Davis, and her brother, W. Howard Holmes, lives at Oakland, Cali- fornia. In their home in Clarksburg six children were born to the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Davis: Elizabeth, born Au- gust 27, 1893, died the same day. Ewing McCleary, born September 22, 1894, died June 27, 1897. Catherine Louise, twin sister of Ewing, was married October 4, 1916, to Ed- ward Hart, son of John B. and Isabelle (Willis) Hart, and they now live at Charleston, West Virginia. Virginia Hor- nor, born September 26, 1896, was married September 17, 1919, to the late deceased Henry Walker Ruhl, son of John L. and Julia (Walker) Euhl. James Edward and John Holmes Davis, the surviving sons, both unmarried and now finishing their educations in Princeton University, were born respectively June 4, 1901, and December 26, 1902.