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SOUTHEASTEEN MASSACHUSETTS 565
bench until his death. And during these various
official rela'^ns and vocations Mr. Davis
steadily followed his profession and in a number
of civil and criminal cases of importance
he acquitted liimself with acknowledged ability
and substantial success.
On Nov. 19, 1845, Judge Davis married Hannah
Stevenson, who was born Feb. 25, 1821,
daughter of Col. John B. and Mary (LeBaron)
Thomas, the former at the time clerk of the
courts of Plymouth county. Mrs. Davis died
Nov. 7, 1900. Four children were born to this
marriage, namely: Charles Howland, born in
1853, who died soon; Joanna, born in 1856,
who married Eichard H. Morgan; Charles
Stevenson, born in 1858; and Edward, born in
1860, now deceased.
(VI) Charles Stevenson Davis, son of the
late Judge Charles Gideon Davis, was born in
Plymouth Jan. 1, 1858. He received his early
education in the public schools there and at
Adams Academy, Quincy, Mass., after which he
entered Harvard, from which university he was
graduated with the class of 1880. He then took
up the study of law in the ofBce of Bacon, Hopkins
& Bacon, of Worcester, Mass., and was admitted
to the bar of this State in 1882. That
year he entered upon another experience which
has proved valuable to him, becoming private
secretary to Justice John M. Harlan, of the
United States Supreme court, at Washington,
D. C. He then began legal practice in his native
place, soon afterward, however, opening an
office in Boston, where he has been practicing,
most successfully, for many years. Meantime,
however, he has continued to make his home at
Plymouth, and though his legal interests have
centered in Boston he has always continued to
be thoroughly identified with his home city,
as
his numerous relations with the life of the community
testify. He is associate justice of the
Third District court of Plymouth county;
counsel for the town of Plymouth and other
towns; president of the Plymouth Savings
Bank; director of the Old Colony National
Bank; president of the Jordan hospital board;
a trustee of the Pilgrim Society of Plymouth,
and a director of numerous manufacturing and
railway corporations. He has filled a number
of municipal offices, among others that of selectman,
and he was chairman of the board. He
is a stanch Democrat in political opinion.
On June 30, 1886, Mr. Davis married Lydia
Eussell, daughter of the late John J. and Mary
(Danforth) Russell, the latter still surviving.
Mrs. Davis died in 1910, the mother of three
children, Charles Stevenson, Jr., Eussell, and
Helen, the daughter dying in (V)
infancy.
William T. Davis, son of William and
Joanna (White) Davis, was born March 3,
1823, in Plymouth, Mass., and in the town of
his nativity and illustrious ancestors was passed
in main his long and useful life; and with its
affairs, with its people and its' institutions, with
the history from the time of the landing of the
Pilgrim Fathers, none other was so familiar.
He was fitted for college at the Plymouth high
school, entered Harvard University, and was
graduated therefrom with the class of 1842.
Descending from forefathers of achievement,
from a liberally educated family, it was but natural
that he determined on entering one of the
learned professions, hence he chose that of
medicine, and for a time prosecuted his studies
in that direction in the University of Pennsylvania,
then continued his studies for a year in
Europe. A change came upon him, and on his
return from abroad he switched ofE onto the
law, studying first for a time under the direction
of lus brother Charles G. (whom it will
be noticed became a lawyer of eminence and a
man of distinction, at that time in Boston),
after which he furthered his preparation at the
Harvard Law School. Mr. Davis was admitted
to the bar of Suffolk county Nov. 9, 1849, and
in the city of Boston began the practice of his
chosen profession. There he continued to successfully
prosecute the practice of law with zeal
for several years, but conditions brought about
another change in the course of his life, and
in 1853 he returned to his native town, where
he engaged in business, and soon became one
of the substantial men and valuable citizens of
Plymouth.
Of scholarly attainments and of literary
tastes, Mr. Davis in time drifted into literary
work, and became the recognized historian of
his section, an acknowledged authority on the
history and genealogy of Ancient Plymouth,
which meant practically southeastern Massachusetts.
Among his writings and publications
are 'TSistory of Plymouth," "Ancient Landmarks
of Plymouth," "History of Newburyport,
Massachusetts," "Historical Sketches of Some
Massachusetts Towns," and "History of the
Bench and Bar of Massachusetts." He also
edited the "Plymouth Town Eecords" (two volumes)
and the "History of the New England
States" (three volumes). And this sort of
work, for which he was so admirably fitted,
brought him in demand for addresses and lectures
along these lines and those akin to them,
and on various public occasions not historical
he also delivered many addresses.
It goes without saying that Mr. Davis was
prominent in the public affairs of the com-