John Davis (Kansas politician)

John Davis (August 9, 1826 – August 1, 1901) was a U.S. Representative from Kansas.

For other people named John Davis, see John Davis (disambiguation).

John Davis
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Kansas's 5th congressional district
In office
March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895
Preceded byJohn Alexander Anderson
Succeeded byWilliam A. Calderhead
Personal details
Born(1826-08-09)August 9, 1826
Springfield, Illinois
DiedAugust 1, 1901(1901-08-01) (aged 74)
Topeka, Kansas
Resting placeTopeka Cemetery
Political partyPopulist Party
Other political
affiliations		Greenback Party
Alma materIllinois College

Early life

Born near Springfield, Illinois, Davis moved with his parents to Macon County in 1830. He attended the country schools, Springfield Academy, and Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois. He engaged in agricultural and horticultural pursuits near Decatur, Illinois.

Career

Davis moved to Kansas in 1872 and located on a farm near Junction City. He was elected president of the first distinctive farmers' convention held in Kansas in 1873, out of which grew the Farmers' Cooperative Association, of which he was the first president.

He later served as president of the Grange convention in 1874 and became proprietor and editor of the Junction City Tribune in 1875. Davis also served as Secretary of the Central Kansas Horticultural Society for many years.

Politics

Davis was an anti-slave Republican and believed in the principle of government supported agricultural education. He was also "a neighbor and intimate acquaintance of Abraham Lincoln"[1]

Davis was an unsuccessful candidate of the Greenback Party for election in 1880 to the Forty-seventh Congress and in 1882 to the Forty-eighth Congress.

Davis was elected as a Populist to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses (March 4, 1891 – March 3, 1895). In congress, he made speeches on finance, tariff reform, transportation, the income tax, and was an advocate of women's suffrage.[2]

Davis was unsuccessful in his bid for re-election in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress.

Later life

After his political career Davis devoted his time to literary work until his death at the residence of his daughter in Topeka, Kansas, August 1, 1901.[3] He was interred in Topeka Cemetery.

References
  • United States Congress. "John Davis (id: D000115)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

Notes
  1. The Kansas Commoner, Wichita, Kansas, September 11, 1890
  2. Johnson, Rossiter. The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Volume III. 1904
  3. Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. Standard Publishing Company. pp. 495.

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
John A. Anderson		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Kansas's 5th congressional district
1891 – 1895		 Succeeded by
William A. Calderhead
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