El
Dorado County
Biographies
JOHN J. DAVIS
With the great tide of emigration
which brought so many worthy citizens to California in 1852, John James Davis
came to the west, arriving at Placerville, El Dorado County, on the 14th
of September of that year. He came from
the Hoosier state, his birth having occurred there in Ripley County, on the 11th
of March, 1826. His paternal grandfather was one of the pioneer settlers of Kentucky and in that
state his father, James Davis, was born and reared. When he was sixteen years of age, the family
removed to Indiana, becoming pioneer settlers of Ripley County, in which
location James Davis, having arrived at the years of maturity, was united in
marriage to Miss Catherine Smith, a native of the Empire state. They were farming people and were valued
members of the Methodist church.
Thirteen children were born of this union, ten of whom reached the years
of maturity. The father attained the
ripe old age of seventy-seven years, and his wife surviving him several years,
passed away at about the same age. Many
of their children have also joined the silent majority.
Mr. Davis, whose name introduces
this review, was reared on his father’s farm in the county of his nativity, and
as soon as old enough to handle the plow, began work in the fields. After the harvests were garnered in the
autumn he would attend the district school of the neighborhood and therein
pursued his education until the coming of spring brought new duties to the farmer
lad. At the age of twenty-two years he
removed to Iowa, where he followed the cooper’s trade until 1852, when he
determined to see a home on the Pacific slope and started across the plains
with ox teams. He paid thirty dollars
for the privilege of traveling with a party under command of R. I. Finch. The journey was safely accomplished, and
after reaching his destination, Mr. Davis engaged in placer mining at Diamond
Spring, where he met with fair success.
He also followed mining at Webber Creek, between Diamond Springs and
Placerville, and on one occasion took out eighty-five ounces of gold in a
single week. The largest nugget which he
found at Diamond Spring was worth ninety dollars. He continued his mining operations in various
places for seven years, and in September, 1859, settled upon his present ranch,
where he now has four hundred and fifty-two acres of valuable land,
constituting one of the best fruit farms in Amador County. He makes a specialty of the cultivation of
pears, apricots, plums, grapes and almonds, and these fruits, so well adapted
to the climate, bring to him a handsome financial return.
In 1869 Mr. Davis was happily
married to Mrs. Mary Davis, who by her former marriage had a son, Stephen
K. By her present marriage she has six children,
named James Lawrence, John Sheridan, Joseph, Thomas Smith, Robert Ingersoll and
Mary S. Mr. Davis has for many years
been a valued member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in his
political views is a Republican, unswerving in his loyalty to the party. For many years he has served as a trustee of
the school district, doing all in his power to promote the educational
interests and to insure progress among many local lines of benefit to the county. He has been the architect of his own fortune
and has managed his business well.
Realizing the importance of industry and close application to the
affairs of life, he has so directed his efforts with reference to those
characteristics that he has become the possessor of a very valuable property
and he is regarded as one of the leading agriculturists in his section of the
state.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“A Volume of Memoirs and Genealogy of Representative Citizens of Northern
California”, Pages 210-211. Chicago Standard Genealogical Publishing Co. 1901.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies