Representative Francis (Franklin) Marion Davis View All Years
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Francis (Franklin) Marion Davis
Adams County
FRANCES M. DAVIS
Born near Columbus, Ohio, August 13, 1831. When a young man he attended Blendon College, and graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan University at Delaware. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in Ohio. A short time afterward he came to Iowa, traveling as far as Rock Island on the cars thence by stage to Des Moines, and from there on foot Adams County. He arrived in Quincy, the county seat at that time, August 5, 1855, and immediately commenced the practice of law. He was also a surveyor and did much of that kind of work in the early days. By his untiring industry and wise investments in land, Mr. Davis began to accumulate wealth from his first beginnings in Iowa and is one of the best known men in this community. Indeed, his acquaintance extended far beyond the confines of Adams County. He was a member of the state legislature in 1873, and was a well known practitioner in the supreme court of the state. Mr. Davis had the distinction of being the only person who ever succeeded in having the Supreme Court of the United States reverse one of its decisions. This was done in one of the swamp land cases he carried to the United States Supreme Court from Adams County. At the time of the civil war Mr. Davis assisted in the raising of a company in this county known as Company H, Fourth Iowa. In 1862, he took the field as captain of Company D. Twenty-ninth Iowa, and was wounded at Shell Rock. After the civil war Mr. Davis was several times commander of the local G. A. R. post. In politics he was a very active republican, fighting the battles of the party in this county with an earnestness seldom equaled by his adversaries. He was a leader in almost any walk of life. He was made a Mason under special dispensation from the grand lodge of Ohio, just prior to coming west, and was an influential member of the fraternity in this community almost from the very beginnings of the county. He was also one of; the most prominent members of the Corning Congregational Church. In 1857, Mr. Davis was married to Miss Julia Clark and to that union three children were born.
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