San Joaquin County
Biographies
GEORGE M. DAVIS
GEORGE M. DAVIS, a native of
Virginia, was born September 28, 1818, his parents being Hartwell and Ella
(Bunch) Davis, both natives of Virginia. George was raised on a farm. In the
fall of 1836, when he was about seventeen years of age, his father died;
leaving Virginia, he went to Missouri, settling in Pike County. His mother had
promised the boys that if they would apprentice themselves to a trade for four
years, she would give them either a new suit of clothing or six months’
schooling. Our subject learned the blacksmith’s trade, then took the six
months’ schooling; after which he went to Louisiana and engaged in wood
chopping and packing flour in a mill, which he followed for one winter. Then he
and his brother Joseph went to Randolph and started a blacksmith shop; at the
end of a year they went to Missouri, and started a shop there, which they
continued for about two years. George then drove a stage for the next three
years. Then he went to work in a saw-mill and advanced from one position to
another until he was head sawyer; finally, finding the work too heavy for him,
he gave it up. In the spring of 1850 he came to California. He crossed the
plains with a party of four men. At South Pass they sold their wagons and
packed from there to Placerville. The day after his arrival he traded off a
mule for a pick, rocker and pan, receiving $30 to boot, then went to
prospecting near Henrytown. Remained there three days, then went to Grizzly Cañon,
thence to Jaybird Cañon, where he wintered, averaging about $5 a
day. They spent the summer at Oregon Pass on the middle fork of the American
river. In January, 1852 he returned to Missouri; in the spring of 1852, in
company with his family, his brother and three other families, he started once
more for California. Their trip occupied about six months and was in all a very
pleasant one. For a year he and his brother engaged in blacksmithing and
freighting, then purchased a ranch about seven miles from Stockton, containing
about 160 acres. They farmed that land until the brother died, about 1877.
George purchased the ranch on which he now resides in 1858. It contains about
160 acres.
Mr. Davis was married, in 1848, to Miss
Cynthia Sheppard, a native of Virginia, who died in 1853, leaving a family of
three children, one of whom died the following year. Mr. Davis then took his
two children back to Missouri, to have them educated. He returned the same year
to California. In 1868 he was married to Miss Ellen Stephens, a native of Missouri.
They have one child by this union, a daughter, who is still living at home. The
second wife died in 1877. In 1878 Mr. Davis was married to Miss Maggie Fehn,
and they have three children, one boy and two girls.
Politically he was a Democrat till Lincoln
was put up as a candidate, then he voted for him and has since been a stanch
Republican ever since.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 259. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
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