Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of John R. DAVIS ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Valerie Crook, , July 1999 ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 159 JOHN R. DAVIS is secretary-treasurer of the Davis Lum- ber Company, one of the larger concerns operating in the lumber sections of West Virginia, the band mill being at Centralia in Braxton County. Mr. Davis has charge of the company's office and business at Weston. He was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, at Ur- sina, July 7, 1877, son of Joseph B. and Sophia (Walker) Davis. His parents were also born in Somerset County, were reared and educated there, and after their marriage Joseph Davis went into the mercantile and. lumber business. For a number of years he continued the business under the name of J. B. Davis & Sons at Ursina, and is still active in the business and the director of the County Trust Com- pany at Somerset. He has served as a trustee of the Lutheran Church and is a republican. Joseph B. Davis and wife had six children: Bertha C., a graduate of high school, also attended college; Edgar C., a graduate of the State Normal School at Indiana, Pennsylvania; John B.; Frank W., president of the Davis Lumber Company; and Claude W. and Wilbur L., both associated with the Davis Company. John R. Davis grew up at Ursina, Pennsylvania, attended the grammar and high school there and the State Normal at Indiana, and after finishing his education served his prac- tical apprenticeship in the lumber business under his father. Since 1911 he has looked after the company's business at Weston. He married Miss Bertha Brannon, a native of Weston. They have five children, named William B., Adelaide W., Elizabeth C., John B., Jr., and Martha Hughes. Mr. Davis is a vestryman of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, affiliated with Weston Lodge of Masons, Bigelow Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., St. John Commandery No. 8, K. T., and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a noble of Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Parkersburg. He is a republican, and for two years was a member of the City Council of Weston, but declined a re-election. He is a mem- ber of the Weston Rotary Club, of which he served as a director in 1921-1922.