Jonathan D. Davis

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Jonathan D. Davis
Member of the Michigan Senate
from the 1st district
In office
November 2, 1835 – December 31, 1837
Personal details
Born(1795-06-29)June 29, 1795
Hanover, New York
DiedMay 15, 1853(1853-05-15) (aged 57)
Albion, Michigan
Political partyDemocratic

Jonathan D. Davis (June 29, 1795 – May 15, 1853) was an American physician and politician. He served in the Michigan Senate in the early years of Michigan's statehood.

Biography[edit]

Jonathan Davis was born in Hanover, New York, on June 29, 1795. He worked as a store clerk and teacher to pay for his own academic and medical education.[1]

He moved to Plymouth, Michigan, in 1828, purchased land, and began a career as a doctor and farmer.[1] He served as the clerk of Plymouth Township in 1828 and 1834.[2] He was also a justice of the peace in 1828 and 1831, and commissioned as a captain in the territorial militia in 1829.[3] He was briefly commissioned twice more, once during the Black Hawk War as a major in 1832, and again during the Toledo War when he served in September 1835 as a colonel, commanding the 1st Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division (Washtenaw County).[4]

Davis served as a territorial judge and was later elected as a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1835, then as a Democrat to the Michigan Senate in the first election under the new constitution, and served from 1835 to 1837. He was the president pro tempore of the senate in 1837.[1]

He moved to Jackson, Michigan, in 1842, and worked as the prison physician. He later moved to Albion, Michigan, where he died on May 15, 1853.[1]

Davis was married; his wife, Betsy, died in Jackson on May 19, 1880.[5]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Bingham 1888, p. 221.
  2. ^ Farmer 1890, p. 1341.
  3. ^ Journal of the Legislative Council 1832, pp. 34, 54, 68.
  4. ^ Rosentreter 2003, pp. 149, 245, 259.
  5. ^ Inter-State Publishing Co. 1881, p. 161.

References[edit]

  • Bingham, Stephen D. (1888), Early History of Michigan: With Biographies of State Officers, Members of Congress, Judges and Legislators, Lansing: Thorp & Godfrey, retrieved 2018-11-12
  • Farmer, Silas (1890), History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Detroit: S. Farmer & Company, retrieved 2018-11-12
  • History of Jackson County, Michigan, Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co., 1881, retrieved 2018-11-12
  • Journal of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, vol. 5, Detroit: Geo. L. Whitney, 1832, retrieved 2018-11-12
  • Rosentreter, Roger (2003), Michigan's Early Military Forces: A Roster and History of Troops Activated Prior to the American Civil War, Wayne State University Press, ISBN 978-0-8143-3081-4, retrieved 2018-11-12