Nisha Rathode (Editor)

Henry G Davis

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Preceded by
  
Waitman T. Willey

Role
  
Former U.S. senator

Resigned
  
March 4, 1883

Name
  
Henry Davis

Succeeded by
  
John E. Kenna


Political party
  
Democratic

Nationality
  
American

Party
  
Democratic Party

Siblings
  
Thomas Beall Davis

Henry G. Davis bioguidecongressgovbioguidephotodd000103jpg

Born
  
November 16, 1823 Woodstock, Maryland (
1823-11-16
)

Died
  
March 11, 1916, Washington, D.C., United States

Previous office
  
Senator (WV) 1871–1883

Henry G. Davis | Wikipedia audio article


Henry Gassaway Davis (November 16, 1823 – March 11, 1916) was a self-made millionaire and Senator from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904.

Contents

Born on a farm in Howard County, Maryland, he became a railroad executive before branching out into coal mining and banking as founder of the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company. Davis won election to both houses of the West Virginia Legislature before serving as U.S. Senator from 1871 to 1883. His younger brother, Thomas Beall Davis, also served in Congress. After his tenure in the Senate ended, Davis continued to grow his business interests. In partnership with son-in-law, Stephen Benton Elkins, Davis created the Davis Coal and Coke Company and led it to become one of the largest coal companies in the world.

The 1904 Democratic National Convention nominated a ticket of Alton B. Parker for president and Davis for vice president. Davis was chosen primarily for his ability to provide funding to the campaign. At 80 years old, he remains the oldest person to ever serve on a major party's national ticket. The Republican ticket of Theodore Roosevelt and Charles W. Fairbanks prevailed by a wide margin. After the election, Davis helped establish Davis & Elkins College, and he died in 1916.

Early life

Henry Gassaway Davis was born near Woodstock, Howard County, Maryland, the son of Louisa Warfield (née Brown; March 10, 1799 – July 23, 1868) and Caleb Dorsey Davis (March 3, 1792 – September 4, 1850). He was the great-great-great-grandson of Maryland pioneer Thomas Davis, and the great-great-great-great-grandson of Maryland politician and justice Colonel Nicholas Gassaway, both of whom were of Welsh ancestry and emigrated to Maryland in the mid 17th century.

Davis worked on a farm until 1843, when he went to work for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as a brakeman and conductor. Later he was put in charge of the Piedmont, West Virginia terminal of the railroad, and soon went into coal mining and banking in Piedmont. On February 22, 1853, in Frederick County, Maryland. Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz. Henry and Katherine had eight children, three of whom died in infancy.

Political and commercial life

In 1865 Davis was elected a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates. The following year, he founded the Potomac and Piedmont Coal and Railway Company with the intent of furnishing transportation to his coal mining and timbering interests. The company was given the right to construct railroad grades in Mineral, Grant, Tucker and Randolph counties. He became a state senator in 1869. In 1871, he was elected to the United States Senate, serving two terms, with his service ending in 1883.

Following his service in the Senate, Davis retired to Elkins, West Virginia, where he resumed banking and coal mining. Davis’ company now controlled 135,000 acres (550 km2), employed 1,600 men of sixteen nationalities, operated two power plants, and worked over 1,000 coke ovens and 9 mines within one mile (1.6 km) of the central office at Coketon in Tucker County. By 1892, the Davis Coal and Coke Company, a partnership between Davis and his son-in-law, Senator Stephen Benton Elkins, was among the largest coal companies in the world.

Davis represented the U.S. at the Pan-American Conferences of 1889 and 1901.

Candidate for Vice President

In 1904, Davis became the Democratic nominee for vice president on a ticket with Alton B. Parker. Parker and Davis lost to the Republican ticket of Theodore Roosevelt and Charles Fairbanks by a wide margin. At the age of 80, Davis was and remains the oldest person to be nominated for president or vice president on a major party ticket. He was chosen primarily because of his ability to provide much needed funds to the campaign.

Bessie A. Davis and the Wreck of the RMS Republic

On January 23, 1909, Bessie A. Davis (née Elizabeth Irwin Armstead), the wife of Henry's son John Thomas Davis, was aboard the White Star liner RMS Republic when it collided with the Italian liner SS Florida and sank off Nantucket on the following day. Bessie had her two living children (Hallie Elkins Davis and Henry Gassaway Davis III) with her on the voyage, as well as her mother, but no harm came to any of them and they were evacuated (along with almost all the other passengers) onto other ships which had answered the distress calls of the RMS Republic. Bessie's son Henry Gassaway Davis III later became the first husband of Grace Vanderbilt, daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt III and Grace Graham (Wilson) Vanderbilt.

Later years

Davis in his last years acted as chairman of the permanent Pan American Railway Committee (1901–1916) and also donated land to build Davis and Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia. He died in Washington, D.C. on March 11, 1916 at the age of 92. He was interred in the Maplewood Cemetery in Elkins. A bronze equestrian statue of Davis was erected in 1927, at Sycamore Street and Randolph Avenue in Elkins, with an identical twin in Davis Park in downtown Charleston, West Virginia.

Legacy

  • Davis and Elkins College, in Elkins, WV; named for Senators Davis and Elkins
  • Graceland (Elkins, West Virginia); the summer home for Davis and a National Historic Landmark
  • Henry Gassaway Davis House; Davis' home at Piedmont, West Virginia, built in 1871
  • He is the namesake of the town of Gassaway, West Virginia
  • References

    Henry Gassaway Davis Wikipedia