Thomas M. Davies
Thomas M. Davies.—That
within the pages of this history of Clayton county it has
been found possible to accord specific recognition to a
goodly percentage of the sturdy and enterprising yeomen
who are influential and honored exponents of the
agricultural interests of this section of the State, can
not but add greatly to the consistency and value of the
publication, for Clayton is essentially an agricultural
county, with resources and advantages not to be excelled,
with the logical result that the great basic industry
constitutes the nucleus around which has been evolved the
general prosperity that now marks this favored section of
the Hawkeye commonwealth. Though Thomas M. Davies is to
be considered as one of the older but still active and
influential representatives of agricultural and
live-stock industry in Clayton county, it is specially
interesting to record that he has been a resident of the
county from early youth and is a scion of one of its
honored pioneer families, besides which is his enduring
distinction for having been one of the loyal and valiant
young men who went forth from Iowa to serve as soldiers
of the Union in the Civil war. He resides upon and gives
his personal supervision to his well improved farm of one
hundred and sixty acres, which is eligibly situated in
Mendon township, at a point within about four and
one-half miles of the thriving little city of McGregor,
from which place he receives service on rural mail route
number One.
Mr. Davies was born in Cumberlaudshire, England, on the
25th of September, 1842, and thus was a lad of about ten
at the time of the family immigration to the United
States, in 1853. He is a son of Lewis and Mary Anne
(Michell) Davies, the former a native of Montgomeryshire
and the latter of Cumberlandshire, England. In his native
land the father continued to follow the vocation of miner
until 1853, when he came with his family to America and
numbered himself among the pioneers of Iowa. After
remaining for a brief period in Dubuque he came to the
wilds of Clayton county and obtained a tract of land in
what is now Giard township. Here he reclaimed and
developed a productive farm, and on this pioneer
homestead he and his noble wife passed the remainder of
their lives in peace and prosperity and in the inviolable
esteem of all who knew them. Both were communicants of
the Church of England and after coming to the United
States they continued in the same faith, here defined as
that of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Lewis Davies
contributed his quota to the civic and material
development and progress of Clayton county, was a man of
strong mentality and sterling character and took deep
interest in the communal welfare, his political support
having been given to the cause of the Republican party.
Of the children of this honored pioneer John, the
first-born, went forth as a soldier of the Union when the
integrity of the nation was jeopardized by armed
rebellion, and he sacrificed his life in a righteous
cause, as he was killed in the battle of Vicksburg;
Thomas M., subject of this review, was the second child;
Daniel maintains his residence at McGregor, this county;
William is deceased; James is a prosperous farmer in
Giard township; Lewis resides in the vicinity of the city
of Spokane, Washington; George is a resident of the State
of Idaho; Sarah is deceased; Mary is the widow of Jacob
Heffner and maintains her home at Stillwater, Minnesota;
and Richard remains in Clayton county, as one of the
representative farmers of Mendon township.
Thomas M. Davies gained his early education in his native
land and after the family home had been established in
Clayton county he continued to attend the pioneer schools
when opportunity offered, but in the meanwhile found
definite requisition for his services in connection with
the development and general operations of his father’s
farm. Such was his association when the Civil war was
precipitated, and in 1864, within a short time after
attaining to his legal majority, he enlisted as a private
in Company B, Fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which
he served faithfully and gallantly until the close of the
war, with a record of having been one of the boys in blue
who took part in Sherman’s ever memorable march from
Atlanta to the sea. He participated in numerous
engagements and effectually proved his loyalty to the
nation to which he has paid appreciative allegiance since
his boyhood.
For two years after the close of the war Mr. Davies
rented his father’s farm, and he then purchased
eighty acres of his present homestead, to which he later
added an adjoining eighty acres, so that he is now the
owner of a well-improved farm of one hundred and sixty
acres, the general appearance of which breathes of
unmistakable thrift and prosperity and indicates the
progressive policies and methods which the owner has
brought to bear. The excellent buildings on the place
have been erected by Mr. Davies, and the greater part of
other permanent improvements have been wrought under his
effective supervision. Well-earned prosperity and comfort
are his, and now, in the gracious twilight of a
well-spent life, he may feel that his lines have been
cast in pleasant places. He has never sought public
office but has loyally supported the measures and
enterprises that have tended to foster the general
welfare of the community and has not faltered in
allegiance to the Republican party. He was reared in the
faith of the Church of England, as was also his wife, but
both have been for many years earnest members of the
Congregational Church at McGregor. In that attractive
little city is maintained also his affiliation with the
post of the Grand Army of the Republic, through the
medium of which he vitalizes the more gracious
associations and memories of his military career.
On the 4th of March, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Davies to Miss Louisa West, who was born near
Madison, the beautiful capital city of Wisconsin, and the
date of whose nativity was March 12, 1849.
Mrs. Davies was the first born of a family of six
children, all of whom are still living except the second,
Mozella. Jeanette is the wife of Charles Weston and they
reside in the State of Oklahoma; George was the next in
order of birth; Albert maintains his home in Oklahoma,
and Edward resides at Clermont, Fayette county, Iowa.
George and Louisa (Webb) West, the parents of Mrs.
Davies, were natives respectively of England and Paris,
France, and their marriage was solemnized in the city of
London. They came to the United States in 1848 and became
pioneers of Wisconsin, where they remained until their
removal to Clayton county, Iowa. Here Mr. West secured a
tract of land and began the development of a farm, this
homestead having continued as his place of residence
until his death, which occurred December 29, 1864. He was
a Republican in politics, served as township clerk in the
earlier period of Clayton county history, and both he and
his wife were communicants of the Church of England. Mrs.
West long survived her honored husband and passed the
closing period of her life in the home of her daughter,
Mrs. Davies, where she was summoned to eternal rest on
the 25th of July, 1896, venerable in years and loved by
all who had come within the compass of her gentle
influence.
All of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Davies are living
with the exception of the second, William L., who is
deceased; Walter is a successful representative of
agricultural enterprise in Mendon township; Birdie is the
wife of M. J. Robbins, of the same township; Lithe G.,
who was married Sept. 4, 1916, to C. G. Messinger, of
Fonda, Ia.; and Harry T., who remains at the parental
home.
source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; page 83-85
-OCR scanned by Sharyl Ferrall
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