San Francisco County
Biographies
HON.
WILLIAM R. DAVIS
HON. WILLIAM R.
DAVIS, attorney at law and ex-Mayor of Oakland, was born in Washington county,
Iowa, February 26, 1850, a son of George W. And Ellen R.
(Walker) Davis. The father, a native of Ohio, moved to Iowa in
young manhood and thence to California in 1854. Here he first engaged in
mining in Grizzly Flat, in Amador county, and in 1858
settled in Santa Rosa. He is still a resident of Santa Rosa, Sonoma county, being joint owner with his eldest son, Edward W., of
the Yulupa ranch and vineyard, and of other
agricultural, fruit and stock ranches in that county. The mother, born in
Kentucky, in 1830, died in Santa Rosa in 1876. Grandfather Walker, a
native of a Southern State and for many years a planter in Kentucky, died near
Bowling Green, in that State, at an advanced age.
William R. Davis, the
subject of the present sketch, was but four years old when the family came to
this State, and is therefore a Californian in everything but birth. He was
party educated at Santa Rosa, then in the Brayton school or college in Oakland, from which he entered the
University of California. Upon his graduation at that institution, in the class
of 1874, he was offered the position of instructor in the university, which he
declined. After a brief experience in journalism as correspondent and then
as the editor of the Santa Rosa Times, he became the principal teacher
of the Washington College at Irvington, Alameda county,
under its proprietor, S. S. Harmon. Mr. Davis is credited with having been
largely instrumental, through his marked ability as a teacher, his high
attainments and zeal for learning, in placing that college in the front rank of
the educational institutions of the State, its pupilage at that time being the
largest in its history. But however well adapted for teaching, that honored and
useful profession did not prove to be his final choice. At the suggestion
of the late Henry Vrooman, his attention was called
to the science of law—the perfection of human reason.
Under the friendly
tuition of Mr. Vrooman he took up that study in 1875,
and by diligent application was enabled to secure admission to the bar of the
Supreme Court of California in 1878, to the district and Circuit Courts of the
United States in 1880, to the Supreme Court of Nevada in 1883, and to the
Supreme Court of the United States in 1886. While
reading it was understood that he was to become a member of a firm with Mr. Vrooman. Meanwhile, in 1877, he became a member
of the law firm of Moore, Vrooman & Davis, and
assistant District Attorney in 1878. By the withdrawal of Mr. Moore, in
1878, the firm became Vrooman & Davis, and
remained so until 1886. A few years later Mr. Davis was for a short time
associated with W. I. Hill, under the style of Davis & Hill, but with the
exception he has practiced his profession alone since 1883. His practice
has been general throughout the State, and to some extent in Oregon and
Nevada. He has also had charge of cases in the United States Courts,
including the Supreme Court at Washington, District of Columbia. The
detailed mention of the more important cases and the principles involved and
adjudicated through his individual and associated labors, is beyond the scope
and purpose of this sketch. Suffice it to say, they have secured to Mr.
David an established position in the front rank of his profession on the
Pacific coast. While thus attaining eminence in his chosen vocation, he
has also achieved a recognized standing in general literature. Among
others, an article from his pen entitled ”Nature and Human Nature in Oakland,”
published April 24, 1888, in the Tribune of that city, and extensively
copied by the public press (including the Government Report as to the part on
Nature), attracted wide attention and favorable comment for its marked ability
as well as grace and force of _expression; and his address in 1889, in
commemoration of the character and services of his deceased friend and partner,
Senator Henry Vrooman, delivered in court in behalf
of the Bar Association, was also universally regarded as marked amongst the
commemorative oratorical addresses of California. It was favorably noticed
by the press of the State as deserving to be ranked with the higher order of
memorial tributes, for grace and eloquence, its style being at once
characterized by calm reflection, while chaste, simple, strong and vigorous.
But it is by his
administration as chief executive of the municipality of Oakland that Mr. Davis
has most signally won the public confidence and esteem of his fellow
citizens. He was elected Mayor of that city in March, 1887, on the
Republican ticket, by the largest majority polled by his party in fifteen
years, and with a third party—the American-–in the field. In his semi-annual
message to the City Council, October 4, 1887, he made an exhaustive presentation
of the subjects requiring their careful consideration as the legislative
department of the municipal government. Inviting their cordial
co-operation as well as that of their 50,000 constituents–for “in unity is
strength”–he outlined all the great measures of municipal improvement that have
since occupied, and will continue to occupy until accomplished, the attention
of the public. Among these were the improvement of the plazas, not only as
open breathing places but also as artistic pleasure grounds, ornamented with
flowers and trees as well; the West End park; the Lake Merritt boulevard; the
macadamizing and bituminizing of streets and the perfecting of the city’s
sidewalks, inculcating the maxim that no plank sidewalks should thereafter be
laid; artificial or natural stone, bituminous material or some substantial
equivalent under fixed specifications should be henceforth required. In
street-making he recommended the formation of three districts within each of
which, according to location and amount of travel, corresponding degrees of
superiority in material as well as thoroughness in construction should be
required before acceptance by the council. The central and business
thoroughfares would constitute District No. 1; the adjacent, though much traveled,
streets, District No. 2; and the outlying and suburban streets, District No.
3. He felt that this would reduce the proposed bond-issue by several
hundred thousand dollars, and that some such plan was the only way, with safety
to the people at large, out of the otherwise unavoidable self-seeking of
interested parties. As the keeping of the streets, once accepted, in
proper order for all future time becomes a public charge, it is only just that
first-class and permanent work should be done in the first instance by the
property owners, before municipal acceptance.
An ordinance
embodying his views was passed, but repealed after his term of office had
expired, the council thus reverting to the general law which requires only a
majority vote for acceptance, practically without legal protection as to
material, specifications, construction or location of street. Some
acceptances since made have already shown the wisdom of his plan and the folly
of an easy acceptance. Nevertheless, the general plan of bituminous
streets is voluntarily carried out in Oakland upon miles of business and
adjacent streets, so sound is this plan considered.
The Mayor also
recommended the use of salt water for street sprinkling, as being at once cheaper,
and slower to evaporate. He had taken pains to ascertain on a scientific
basis that salt water was more than twice as effective as fresh water for that
purpose; and with a city so favorably situated for a full and cheap supply as
Oakland was, to neglect the use of salt water was a plain instance of false
economy. Mayor Davis also called attention to the obstruction of sidewalks with
merchandise as an encroachment upon public rights. “Merchants should
enlarge their stores in other directions than out upon the
sidewalks.” Traffic across, not occupancy of, sidewalks and public ways,
was the only legitimate mercantile use to be made of them. Holders of
franchises for the use of streets, for street railroads, they being also a
partial obstruction, should pay a proportion of their profits to the city
treasury as a compensation to the public for their
valuable privileges.
He further
recommended that sewers should be multiplied, and no more wooden ones be
permitted,–the latter being “not a public improvement, but a public detriment.”
The Council was
plainly reminded that they were endowed by the constitution with ample power to
secure good water. “Nine months of good water,” said the Mayor, “is not worth quite as much, honestly, as good water
twelve months in the year.” Since that time Oakland’s water has become
good.
He urged the building
of the Lake Merritt boulevard, recommending the issue of bonds to the amount of
not less than half a million or a million dollars, for that and other public
improvements. He had worked for months privately, professionally and
officially, “to avoid difficulties that tend to prevent the execution of that
desirable work:” he reminded them “that liberality is not extravagance” in such
important enterprises. He suggested that steps should be taken to frame a
few charter for the city; and in response to a petition of prominent citizens
to do so he selected, November 18, 1887, fifty-one persons to devise a plan for
that purpose. Fifteen freeholders were chosen; and as an evidence of the confidence
of the community in Mr. Davis, it may be interesting to make some quotations
from the newspapers of the day in that connection:
“We do not believe
there is any person in this city, of any party, who has not implicit confidence
in the judgment and integrity of Mayor Davis’ he might as well have designated
the fifteen as the fifty-one.”
Being invited by
these freeholders to offer suggestions, Mr. David submitted nineteen points
which he deemed worth of incorporation into the new charter, and all of these
were accepted by them and embodied in the charter.
When the time arrived
for nominating candidates for mayor in 1889, there was a very general feeling
of regret when it was found that Mr. David declined a renomination. His
health had been temporarily impaired by over-work in the discharge of official
duty and professional labors. He could have had a second nomination as he
received the first, by acclamation. Said one exponent of
public opinion, “He has filled the position (of Mayor) with intelligence,
dignity, grace, affability and application. He has acted with a
mind single to the best interests of Oakland.” Said another, “He has made
a good Mayor, and deserves from his party its re-indorsement.
Our Democracy is not so thick that we cannot speak the truth of him.” Said
a prominent citizen, “He has been remarkably successful, and has done much for
the city.”
In his valedictory
message of April 2, 1889, Mayor Davis said: “A year ago the present
administration had a local policy in favor of every legitimate
enterprise.” He reviewed the progress made within the year; reviewed such
of his recommendations of October 4, 1887, as were not yet carried into effect;
made new suggestions as to annexation of territory to the ctiy,
and the codifying and publishing of the city ordinances. The territory has
since been annexed.
In its comments on
his parting message, a newspaper of the city thus voiced the general regret:
“Every man in Oakland regrets the circumstances that have made that parting
necessary. His successful placing of things in easy train for the
undertaking and completing of the boulevard around Lake Merritt is a brilliant
piece of municipal statesmanship.” “His last message is characterized,
like all his former communications, by singular good sense and a thorough
understanding of municipal affairs. He may be congratulated on completing
his official term without a recognizable mistake, without an act or _expression
that has been called in question by any portion of the community,–an
administration universally popular and absolutely without fault.”
When the new charter
was finally secured, the Times of March 2, 1889, under the caption,
“Don’t Forget the ex-Mayor,” took occasion editorially to remind its readers
how much was due to Mayor Davis in securing that result.
In the campaign of
1890 Mr. Davis was chosen delegate at large, and chairman of the Alameda County
delegation to the State convention at Sacramento, and was afterward invited by
the State Central Committee to address the voters throughout the State; but he
was forced by the pressure of professional business to confine his services
within the limits of Alameda county, where he contributed his full share toward
winning the unprecedented Republican majority of that year. The Haywards Journal said of one of his political
addresses: “Those who heard Hon. W. R. Davis at San Leandro
say it was a speech worth traveling twenty miles to hear.”
Mr. David is a member
of Oakland Lodge No. 188, F. & A. M.; of Alameda Chapter, No. 36, R. A. M.;
and of Oakland Commandery, No. 11, K. T.
He was married in
Oakland, April 3, 1879, to Miss Otteline Towne, born
in Illinois in 1855, a daughter of Salem and Charlotte M. (Clarke)
Towne. Mrs. Towne is living in Oakland, aged sixty four years. “Grace
Greenwood.,” Mrs. Lippincott, is of the same Clarke
family. Mrs. Davis takes an active interest in works of charity and
benevolence, and is one of the patrons of Fabiola
Hospital.
Mr. and Mrs. Davis
have two children. viz:
George Clarke, born January 3, 1880; and William R., Jr., born September 17,
1890.
Transcribed
by 8-31-06 Marilyn R. Pankey.
Source: "The Bay of San
Francisco," Vol. 2, Page 329-332, Lewis
Publishing Co, 1892.
©
2006 Marilyn R. Pankey.