Henry G. Davis

Henry Gassaway Davis
United States Senator from West Virginia
In office March 4, 1871 – March 4, 1883
Preceded by	Waitman T. Willey
Succeeded by	John E. Kenna
Personal details
Born	(1823-11-16)November 16, 1823 Woodstock, Maryland
Died	March 11, 1916(1916-03-11) (aged 92) Washington, D.C.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic

Henry Gassaway Davis (November 16, 1823 – March 11, 1916) was a self-made millionaire and U.S. Senator (1871–1883) from West Virginia. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1904. His brother was U.S. Congressman Thomas Beall Davis.

Biography

Early life

Henry G. Davis

Henry Gassaway Davis was born near Woodstock, Howard County, Maryland to Caleb Dorsey Davis^[1] and Louisa Warfield Brown,^[2] 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.^[3]

Davis worked on a farm until 1843, when he began 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. Davis married Katherine Ann Salome Bantz^[4] on February 22, 1853 in Frederick County, Maryland. Henry and Katherine had 8 children,^[5] 3 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.

Parker/Davis campaign poster

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 is) 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),^[6] 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,^[7] 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,^[8] daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt III^[9] and Grace Graham (Wilson) Vanderbilt.^[10]

Last 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 (Elkins, West Virginia). A bronze equestrian statue of Davis was erected in 1927, at Sycamore Street and Randolph Avenue in Elkins; it is located in the Wees Historic District.^[11]

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 Glassaway Davis House; Davis' home at Piedmont, West Virginia, built in 1871

References

• Henry G. Davis at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States Senators from West Virginia Class 1 Van Winkle Boreman Caperton Price Hereford Camden Faulkner Scott Chilton Sutherland Neely Hatfield Holt Kilgore Laird Revercomb Byrd Goodwin Manchin Class 2 Willey Davis Kenna Camden S. Elkins D. Elkins Watson N. Goff D. Elkins G. Goff Neely Rosier Shott Revercomb Neely Hoblitzell Randolph Rockefeller Capito

Chairmen of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations Morrill Fessenden Morrill Cole Morrill Windom Davis Allison Cockrell Allison E. Hale Warren Martin Warren Jones F. Hale Glass McKellar Bridges McKellar Bridges Hayden Russell Ellender McClellan Magnuson Hatfield Stennis Byrd Hatfield Stevens Byrd Stevens Byrd Stevens Cochran Byrd Inouye Mikulski Cochran