DAVIS
DAVIS
two terms, 1871-83. He was afterward elected
president of the West Virginia Central & Pitts-
burg Railway Co., the Piedmont & Cumberland
Railway Co., and the Davis national bank, at
Piedmont. W.Va., and became a large stock-
liolder in the Davis coal and coke company, as
well as other enterprises along his line of railroad.
DAVIS, Henry Lyon, educator, was born in
Elkton, Md., about 1775; son of Naylor Davis of
Prince George's county, Md. He was graduated
from Dickin.son college in 1794, and was teacher
of mathematics and vice-principal at Charlotte
Hall academy, Md., 1790-1802. He was ordained
a deacon in the P.E. church, and was advanced
to the priesthood in 1802. He was rector of
Trinity parish, Charles county, 1802-04; St.
Stephen's, Cecil county, 1804-15; and St. Anne's
parish, Annapolis, Md., 1815-26. He was vice-
president of St. John's college, Annapolis,
1816-18; professor of mathematics, 1818-20; and
president, 1820-24. He was removed from office
b}- the board of Democratic trustees, as he was
an avowed Federalist. In 1826 he accepted the
presidency of a college at Wilmington, Del., and
in 1827 returned to Maryland and settled in Anne
Arundel county, where he served as rector at
Elkton and Georgetown. He was a member of
the standing committee of the diocese of ^lary-
land for twenty-two years, and president of the
committee for eleven years; secretary of the
Maryland diocesan convention for eight years;
and a delegate to the General convention in 1803.
He was married in 1819 to Jane Brown Winter
of Fredericktown, Md., and Henry Winter Davis,
representative in congress, 1855-65, was their son.
The honorary degree of D. D. was conferred upon
him by Dickinson college in 1820. He died at
Georgeto^\-n, Md., in 1836.
DAVIS, Henry Winter, representative, was born in Annapolis, Md., Aug. 16, 1817; son of the Rev. Henry Lj'on and Jane Brown (Winter) Davis, and grandson of Naylor Davis of Prince LL~ ^ '^MtB George's county, Md.
^, ^^^r ^^^ father was presi-
^*^ »^ dent of St. John's col-
lege, Annapolis, Md., andliismotheralineal lescendant of the Wy nters or Wyntours of Charles county, ^Id., who settled in the province with the earliest immigrants. David Davis, associate justice of the U.S. supreme court, was his cousin-gernian. He was placed in the care of a maiden aunt, ElizaVjeth Brown
■"^^ThA^xyU^^^^
Winter, shortly after his birth, and she be-
came the director of his childhood education.
He then attended the Wilmiugton college, of
which his father was president, 1826-27, and on
his return to Anne Arundel county he spent his
time with the slaves on his father's plantation
in hunting and fishing, to the neglect of his
studies. He leaves record of this association as
follows: " Thej' [tlie slaves] spoke with freedom
before a boy what Ihey would have repressed
before a man. The}- were far from indifferent to
their condition; they felt wronged and sighed
for freedom; they habitually spoke of the day
when God would deliver them." He was gradu-
ated at Kenyon college in 1837. His father had
died the year before, leaving a small estate com-
prised mostly of slaves. These the young aboli-
tionist refused to sell, and his onlj- income with
which to complete his law course was derived
from the sale of some land by his aunt, which
enabled him to attend the University of Virginia,
and he further contributed to the sum by acting
as tutor there. While at the university he took
up the French and German languages and in-
creased his knowledge of Latin and Greek. He
was graduated in law in 1841 and began practice
in Alexandria, Va., removing in 1850 to Balti-
more, Md. He made a brilliant canvass for Scott
and Graham in 1852, and in 1854 was elected a
representative from the 3d district of Maryland
in the 34th congress, and was returned in 1856 to
the 35th congress. In the political changes that
destroyed the Whig party, Mr. Davis joined the
American party, supported Fillmore and Donelson
in 1856, and was re-elected to congress in 1858.
In the contest for the speakership of the 36th
congress, upon the withdrawal of John Sherman
after the fortieth ballot, he voted for the Repub-
lican compromise candidate, WiUiam Pen-
nington, who was elected by one vote, and he
received for this act the censure of the legislature
of Maryland, in answer to which he said to his
constituents: " You can send a slave to congress,
but cannot send me." In 1860 he declined to
allow his name to go before the Republican
national convention as its candidate for Vice-
President, and when Mr. Lincoln was making up
his cabinet he urged the President to name John
A. Gilmer rather than himself for a cabinet offi-
cer. He accepted John Bell as his candidate for
President and in 18G1, after the Baltimore mob
had attacked the Massachusetts troops in the
street, he announced him.self, on April 15, 1861,
as an unconditional union candidate for repre-
sentative in the 37th congress. He conducted a
bold and fearless canvass, and in spite of the bit-
ter opposition polled nearly 6000 votes, but not
enough to secure election. In 1862 he was elected
to the 38th congress and was made chairman of
