Cyrus M Davis

DAVIS

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 3/20/2009 at 00:50:13

Cyrus M Davis, Iowa is one of the greatest agricultural states in the Union. The splendid productions of field and meadow have been a most important element in its welfare and prosperity. Its products have been shipped out into other states and its influence upon trade has been very great. It is a well known fact that agriculture is the basis of all prosperity and those countries advance more rapidly where the productions of the fields are sufficient to support the people. Mr Davis is numbered among those in Boone county who have won for Iowa its splendid reputation in this regard. He owns and operates a farm of 180 aces on Sec 24 and 25, Worth township, and the old hoe place is substantially improved and is a valuable tract of land. He came to Boone county in October 1854, being then only twelve years of age, his birth having occurred in Harrison county, Ohio, November 18, 1842. His father Lewis Davis, was a native of Virginia, born in 1820 and in 1832 went to Ohio with an uncle, becoming a resident of Harrison county, that state, when the district was a frontier region. There he grew to manhood and when he had attained to years of maturity he sought a companion and helpmate for life’s journey, being united in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Ames, whose birth occurred in Harrison county. Mr Davis followed farming there for a number of years and six children were there added to the family. In 1854 he came to Boone county, Iowa and purchased land and developed a farm in Worth township, spending his remaining days upon that place. He died in 1892, at the age of seventy-two years, while his wife passed away in February 1900. In their family were six sons and seven daughters and all reached adult age, but one brother and one sister are now deceased.
Cyrus M Davis spent the first twelve years of his life in the state of his nativity and during the remainder of his youth lived in Boone county. He was early trained to the arduous duties of field and meadow in the development of a new far, giving to his father the benefit of his services until he was nineteen years of age, when the country was to the Union and in 1862 he joined Company D, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the south and was assigned to duty with the Western Army. He participated in the battles of Cape Girardeau, No Meto, Little Rock, Brownsville, and went with General Banks on the Red River expedition, being forty two days under fire in that campaign. He was also in the battle of Alexandria, Fort De Russy, Pleasant Hill and many smaller skirmishes. He afterward took part in the battle of Eastport, Mississippi and in the three days’ engagement at Nashville. After the battle of Tupelo he went to Mobile with his command, took part in the battle there and afterward proceeded to Montgomery, Alabama, and participated in the siege and capture of Spanish Fort and Fort Blakely. He served with valor and loyalty until the close of the war, when he was honorably discharge at Davenport, Iowa in August 1865.
Mr Davis immediately afterward returned to his home. He was ill in the hospital but once, having spent two weeks in the hospital at Brownsville, Arkansas. He has always been found at this post of duty, faithfully defending the cause of the Union, but with rejoicing returned to Iowa when the country no longer needed his services, the preservation of the Union being an assured fact. He then remained with his father upon the old home farm until his marriage, which was celebrated in this county on March 18, 1866, the lady of his choice being Mrs Sarah M Boone, a widow and daughter of John Nutt, one of the pioneer farmers of Indiana. She was born in that state, but reared in Boone county. After his marriage Mr Davis rented land for two years and then located upon his present farm on Sec 24, Worth township, first purchasing 160 acres of raw prairie, on which he built a small house. Throughout the months of spring, summer and autumn he was found in the fields attending to his crops as they progressed toward perfection. After a number of years had passed his first home was replaced by a good substantial residence and all modern equipments and accessories have been added to his property, so that it has now become very valuable. The boundaries of the farm have been extended by additional purchase until he now has 200 acres there. He also bought 200 acres of timber land on Sec 15, Worth township, and has good pasture land. In connection with general farming he is engaged in the raising and breeding of stock and is regarded as one of the prosperous agriculturists and stock men of this locality.
The home of Mr and Mrs Davis has been blessed with six children, and only two of the number are now living, Zilpha and James Albert. The former is yet with her parents, while the latter is married and followed farming with his father. He has one child, Ina May. The members of the family who have passed away are: Ollie, who died at the age of nineteen years, Harrison who died at the age of eight years, Annette who died at he age of two years, and an infant. Mrs Davis and the children are members of the Christian church and Mr Davis voted with the Republican party in early life, casing his first ballot for Abraham Lincoln while in the army, but now he is independent in his political affiliations, supporting the men and measures that he thinks best calculated to advance the national welfare or local progress. He has served as a member of the school board for several years and has taken and active interest in securing good schools and advancing the standard of education. Throughout the years of his manhood he has known no other home than Boone county and is one of its valued and respected citizens. From pioneer times down to the present his work has been of a character to reflect credit upon the state, and in matters of citizenship he is as loyal today to his country as during the period the war when he donned the blue uniform of the Union and went forth to defend its cause.

1902 boone County History Book