Representative Arthur Henry Davison View All Years

HON. ARTHUR HENRY DAVISON

MR. SPEAKER: Your committee appointed to prepare memorial resolution commemorating the life, character and public service of the Hon. Arthur Henry Davison, a former member of the Twenty-fifth General Assembly of Iowa, begs leave to submit the following:

Arthur Henry Davison was born near Blooming Valley, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, March 6, 1857, and died in Des Moines, Iowa, December 1, 1928. Burial was at Riverview cemetery, Rock Rapids, Lyon county, Iowa. His parents were Wesley and Cynthia Amelia (Thompson) Davison. Arthur H. attended common school in the country and in Blooming Valley. In the fall of 1873 he attended State Normal School at Edinboro, Pennsylvania, and for the next six years he alternated between teaching near home, working in creameries, and attending State Normal School, except that one year he spent in Platte county, Nebraska, where he taught and worked on a farm. In 1879 he was graduated from the State Normal School at Edinboro and in September of that year removed to Rock Rapids, Iowa, where he became principal of the town schools. He occupied that position until the summer of 1881 when he was appointed county superintendent of Lyon county to fill a vacancy. That fall he was elected county superintendent and was reelected in 1883, serving in that office until January, 1886. In November, 1883, he with Charles Creglow purchased the Rock Rapids Review which he edited for about a year as a Republican paper. In 1885 he purchased the Lyon County Reporter, a Republican paper, which he published and edited until August, 1887. From 1885 to 1887 he dealt extensively in real estate. In 1893 he was elected Representative for Lyon and O’Brien counties, and served in the Twenty-fifth General Assembly. In May, 1896, he was admitted to practice law, but never entered extensively in that work.

For years he was a member of the Rock Rapids School Board, and of the Public Library Board. He removed to Des Moines in December, 1898, and in January, 1899, became secretary of the Executive Council of Iowa. That body had been created but eighteen months and he was its first formally elected secretary. During his tenure and largely by his insistence, the importance of the Council in all matters touching the state’s business was greatly enlarged, and that body became dominant in the innumerable details of the state’s government. Mr. Davison, serving in this capacity, was of necessity the burden bearer. Every order, contract, bill, voucher, came under his watchful eye; and he formulated and enforced regulations for the transaction of public business consistent with best methods in private business. He was invaluable for his knowledge and industry in those larger responsibilities of the Executive Council in the assessment and taxation of property. He was conscientious and thorough. The hostility he often incurred was a real tribute to his honesty. He was largely responsible for carrying through to the finish, in harmony with the spirit of the legislation, the capitol extension project, and in such way that captious criticism was forever silenced. Nothing suspicious or questionable was ever suggested in connection therewith. It was largely through his insistence that provision was made for an archives department in our Historical building for the preservation of the records of the state. He was ever looking for betterment of methods, always to the end of greater efficiency or better results. He gained the confidence of leading legislators who often consulted him. Governors and officials of other states frequently sought his advice and relied upon him in many matters affecting the welfare of the state. In a modest way, without thought of himself, free from selfish ambition, Secretary Davison was a useful public servant who blazed a way that will be followed long after his name has been forgotten.

Therefore, Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Forty-third General Assembly, That in the death of Hon. Arthur Henry Davison, this state has lost a loyal citizen, a man of fine ideals and public spirit, and this House by this resolution tenders its sympathy to the relatives that survive him; and,

Be It Further Resolved, That these resolutions be spread upon the Journal, and an enrolled copy sent to the surviving relatives.

O. J. REIMERS,

O. J. DITTO,

G. W. SMITH,

Committee

Unanimously adopted April 8, 1929.