Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 760 - 763 

GEORGE W. DAVIS came to Grant Township in the spring of 1882, and located on section 30, where he is operating 160 acres of improved land, cultivating the soil to good advantage, and raising high-grade Durham cattle, Norman horses and pure-bred Poland-China swine. He has a first-class farmhouse, a good barn, and all the necessary out-buildings for the shelter of stock and storing of grain, and is numbered among the thrifty and well-to-do citizens of the county.

              Mr. Davis was born in Wayne County, N. Y., May 21, 1826, and was the first-born son of Willard and Bathiar (Edgington) Davis, who were also natives of the Empire State and among the pioneer settlers of Steuben and Ontario Counties. The family is of Danish ancestry, and the paternal grandparents were favorably known among the oldest families of New York State. Willard Davis was occupied in farming pursuits until a few years before his death, and passed his last days in Monroe County. The mother after the death of her husband continued at the homestead for a time, and after the removal of her son to the West joined him here, and is now a member of his family.

             Mr. Davis after leaving the district school completed his studies in Madison University, New York, and during the California gold excitement of 1849, crossed the plains and engaged in mining a year, then became interested in the lumber trade in Mariposa County, Cal. He followed the latter four years on the Pacific Slope, then returned to his native State, and engaged in the manufacture of flour a year, after which he turned his attention exclusively to farming pursuits.

             Mr. Davis, at the age of twenty-eight years, was married, April 12, 1855, to a maiden of his own county in New York State, Miss Millie Palmer, who was born July 27, 1834. She was the third child in a family of nine, the offspring of Rensselaer, and Mary (Miller) Palmer, natives respectively of New York and Massachusetts. The paternal grandparents of Mrs. Davis, Nathan and Dolly (Lamb) Palmer, were natives of Connecticut, and the latter a brother of Maj. Palmer, who distinguished himself as a soldier of unusual bravery in the War of 1812. On the mother's side the grandparents, Jonathan and Pamelia (Lee) Miller, were natives of Massachusetts. Grandfather Miller left the Bay State in early manhood and settled in Wayne County, N. Y., during the pioneer days, when he was obliged to chop down the forest trees in order to obtain a piece of ground large enough to build upon. By degrees he cleared the land around his cabin home, opening up a good farm, which he occupied until his death, on the 25th of December, 1821.

             Mr. Davis upon returning from California, in 1865, to his native State, engaged there in farming until deciding upon a removal to Kansas, and his subsequent movements we have already indicated in the building up of his present homestead. To this he has chiefly confined his attention, having very little to do with public or political affairs, but votes the straight Republican ticket. Mrs. Davis, a lady held in high esteem by her neighbors, is a member in good standing of the Methodist Episcopal Church, at Valley Center. The household circle was completed by the birth of six children, of whom one, Bertha, died Nov. 9, 1869, when an infant of three months. The others were named respectively: W. Willis, George R., Oscar Palmer, Vincent and Ernest Lynn. W. Willis is married, and engaged in the drug business at Valley Center; George R. has charge of the restaurant at Valley Center; Oscar P. is a student at Garfield University, and the other children are pursuing their studies in the district school one mile from the homestead. The farm is pleasantly situated one and one-half miles from Valley Center, which affords a convenient grain market and easy access to church.

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