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DAVIS, GEORGE WASHINGTON
[^70]
DAVIS, MOLLIE EVELYN MOORE
only a small percentage of the public servants to be selected by vote of tlie people.
Although Richard Coke? polled a majority of more than forty thousand over Davis in the gubernatorial contest of 187.'?, Davis declared the election law unconstitutional and refused to Rive up the office. Davis appealed to President U. S. Grant to send troops to Austin to sustain him in his claim, which had been bolstered by the Davis-appointcd Semicolon Court.? While Coke and the newly-elected legislature organized the administration on the sccond floor of the capitol, Davis and the old legislature continued to maintain their positions on the first floor, closely guarded by a company of Negro troops. After several days of dual government, during which time nn armed clash was constantly expected, Grant wired Davis that he would not intervene, and Davis gave up the officc.
lie continued to make his home in Austin, reentered the practice of law, and was the Republican leader in the state until his death. As the Republican candidate for governor against Oran M. Roberts? in 1880, Davis was defeated by more than a hundred thousand votes. He was warmly supported by a strong faction for a place in the cabinet of President Chester A. Arthur but was an unsuccessful candidate for Congress from the Austin district in 1882.
Even his most bitter opponents believed that Davis was personally honest. He was the ablest and most influential Texas Republican during Reconstruction. He always persisted in his belief that all Democrats and conservatives were rebels and would always remain so. In his domestic and social life Davis was above reproach. He was known as a man of unusual culture and refinement. At Corpus Christi, in 1858, he married Anne Britton, daughter of Forbes Britton.? Davis died on February 7, 1883, and was buried in the State Cemetery ? at Austin.
Bibliography : S. S. McKayt Texas During the E. J. Davis Regime (M.A._thesis. University of Texas, 1919); Dictionary of American Biography, V (1930); C. W. ? Ramsdell, Reconstruction in Texas (1910).
S. S. McKay
Davis, George Washington. George Wash-Ini'lim Iliivlfl ivsin I>111 it ill I i:*ilii-as=*;<- 1111 Mini'll jn,
ill.if, In 1II1 1 lm 1 mim lii Trsnn Mini ti'tllril in
(Jonzalcs, wiilili lie icpicMMittil In lliu 1 uhvi niinn
of 1833 and the Consultation."'"? He participated in the battle of Gonzales,? was a member of Captain John M. Iiradley?s ? company during the siege of Bexar,? took part in the battle of Concepci6n
nn*1 I lm Iinlllp of ^nn fn'inln ,,,T* Up wni ilicilinr(>nl
from the army on May a9, iN.tt), unit pinlialily ic-turned shortly to Gonzales Counly for hr was elected justice of the peace there in 1843 and associate justice of the county in 1844.
BmuocRApnir: Biographical Directory of Texan Conventions and Congresses (1941); S. H. Dixon and I- W. Kemp, Heroes of San Jacinto (1932).
Davis, James. James Davis was born in Virginia in 1792. He came to Texas in February, 1842, was commissioned as acting adjutant general of the Texas Army on May 3, 1842, and served until July 28. With Ewen Cameron ? he commanded a company of volunteers which defeated Mexican troops under Antonio Canales? at Lipantitlan in San Patricio County on July 7, 1842. From 1843 to 1844 Davis represented Liberty County in the House of the Eighth Congress. He was a delegate to the Convention of 1845 and from 1851 to 1853
served in the Senate of the Fourth Legislature from the district composed of Jefferson, Liberty, I>0||< and Tyler counties. He also attended the (jon<iiJ tutional Convention of iSOO.? In his later yr.ir> Davis was a newspaper man and was associate,, with the Tyler Reporter, the Texas Observer nml the Cleburne Chronicle. He died on a farm?nc.ir Weatherford in 1877.
IllnLioc*Ap 11Y : Biographical Directory of Texan ? ventions and Congresses (1941); Amelia Williams n?,| E. C. Barker (eds.), Writings of Sam Houston 111 (1940).
Davis, James Harvey. James Harvey Davit was born near Walhalla, Pickens District, South Carolina, on December 24, 1853. In 1857 he mo\n| to Texas with his parents, who settled in Wood County near Winnsboro. He taught school from 1875 to 1878. On December 25, 1878, he mnrriril Belle Barton; they were parents of four chiMrrn. Davis was admitted to the bar in 1882 ami prar-tired at Mount Vernon. For three years he lcdutnl for the Farmers? Alliance ? and for two yean was president of the Texas Press Association. In 1892 he was unsuccessful as Populist candidate for attorney general. He declined the appointment ol superintendent of agriculture for the Philippine Islands in 1914. He served in the House of Representatives in the Sixty-fourth Congress, 1915-1917, but was defeated for re-election. Davis was interested in agriculture, politics, and Chatauqua work ur.til his death on January 31, 1940.
Bibliography: Biographical Directory of the Amrr. ican Congress. 1774-tot7	------
Davis, Jefferson. Jefferson Davis (i808-1880), representative and senator from Mississippi in the (/United States Congress and later President of the ?Confederate States of America, advocated the annexation of Texas to the United States in 1844. lie was probably in Texas first in 1847, when as an officer in the United States Army he was with Zachary Taylor?s ? force on the Rio Grande. While Davis was United States secretary of war, he recommended in 1854 the Texas or thirty-sccond parallel route for construction of a railroad to the Pacific Ocean and in 1856 sent camels to Camp Verde ? in a project to use camels for army supply mill overland transportation (see Camels in Tes.u)
Allri llio civil Wnt n iniivinii'iil h in 1:1 inti In it In I>,illit6lii 1 * 1111 Im?m> <i Im 111 h> 11 * 1 I invU mill lmiu him to move to Texas. On June 14, 1875, lie ivai offered the presidency of the newly-established Agricultural and Mechanical College of Trxavv When Davis declined the appointment on July 8, 1R7?, hr wrote of his hopes of revisiting Texas.
Ilitvls la 1111:111111 Inll< 1-1I In Tiitna ,m |li,i>p innim
mints erected by the Texas Centennial Coinnm-sion, in Jeff Davis County created in 1887, mid In the Jefferson Davis Memorial Highway.
Bibliography: S. S. McKay, "Texas and the South ern Pacific Railroad, 1845-1860," Southwestern Hilton cal Quarterly, XXXV (1931-1932); L. B. Lesley, ?Thr Purchase and Importation of Camels by the Unilrd States Government, 1855-1857,? ibid., XXXIII (iqjq-lp3o); C. F. Arrowoon " Th- Election of TeffrMon Davis to the Presidency of the Agricultural and Meehan ical College of Texas,? ibid., XLIX (1945-1946); Affliin-ments Erected ... to Commemorate the Centenary el Texas Independence (1939).
Curtis Bishop
Davis, Mollie Evelyn Moore. Mary (Mollit) Evelyn Moore Davis, daughter of John and Mary Ann (Crutchfield) Moore, was born on April 11, 1844, in Benton (later Calhoun) County, Alabami. The family moved to Texas in 1855, living for v?H-
j up'i til, jyi tiwjw'iuv	mi'w
DAVIS. 5AMUEI
Otis prriml- i.t ?' |. V. Tyler, an. Mollie br.Mli h?T pocMi* iitl1 ing? of the 1 five years, sp< shc wrote mo state-wide rq moved to Gai Galveston Ac. ing the Cap a Cusliinr. Knla 1872. In 1874 : who in 1879 ; ?t mes. His w;
a pwi'l, beiam. in New Orlcan live years in 11 linppmh and 1
experiences in
brother's fam qiiercd tuberr |lv 1889, wl I'irayune, her Mollie Moo Texas and ,\ juvenile and and prose, a cism. Althoug!
hooks in addit War Tinici al Man-Fig (1S9 mas Masque Flags (1897, pliant?s Track Cullers (189' Queen?s Card (1901); A Bu (1903); The oj Silence (1 (1908). Select (rirnds years
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Stream: The I Moore Pavi* (J
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Texas Rcvoli Captain Job April jo !o J\ line County, lui'ce, I I* \ is ('minis', in < fcsiicri f<?t I> known uhith
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Davis, T\ of David H.
r\t.? 0*1.. n*i J5 UIU ?>!?
title to a sin on July 29, Davis as a twenty-five : the ayuntami ary, 1828. A ayuntamientc tion of the c< officers. On I