George R. Davis

Colonel George R Davis (1840-1899)

George Royal Davis (born January 3, 1840 in Palmer , Hampden County , Massachusetts , †  November 25, 1899 in Chicago , Illinois ) was an American politician . Between 1879 and 1885 he represented the state of Illinois in the US House of Representatives .

Career

After attending the primary school in his birthplace, he entered the "Williston Seminary" in Easthampton , which he graduated with honors in 1860. He then studied law and was admitted to the bar in due course. During the Civil War , he gave up his profession and enlisted in the Massachusetts' Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He served here until 1863, when he returned to Massachusetts, where he built a battery of light artillery. first as a captain and then as a major in the Union Army . Colonel Davis first came to Chicago in 1869 with General Philip Sheridan . He left the army and made Chicago his home in 1871. After the war he worked in the trade and in the insurance industry. He was also active in the financial market. Davis retained his interest in military affairs and took an active part in building the local militia. Davis was named commandant of the ING First Regiment and a senior colonel in the Illinois Civil Service. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party .

In the congressional elections of 1878 Davis was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the second constituency of Illinois , where he succeeded Carter Harrison on March 4, 1879 . After two re-elections, he was able to complete three legislative terms in Congress by March 3, 1885 . From 1883 he represented the third district of his state there as the successor to Charles B. Farwell . In 1884 he renounced another candidacy.

After his tenure in the US House of Representatives, George Davis resumed his previous activities. Between 1886 and 1890 he was elected treasurer in Cook County , to which Chicago was a part.

At the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893 , Davis was the general director responsible for organizing this exposition . Davis and his team of directors were faced with the monumental task of sorting out the millions of exhibits. For this he brought America's most famous classification specialist at the Smithsonian Institution , George Brown Goode , for whom he designed a classification system in groups and subgroups for the exhibition.

He died in Chicago on November 25, 1899.

Web links

• George R. Davis in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• George R. Davis in the database of Find a Grave (English)
• An address, delivered at the dedication of Williston seminary, at East-Hampton, Mass. December 1, 1841 . By Rev. Mark Hopkins. Publisher: JH Butler, Northampton, 1841
• Dedicatory Ceremonies in the Manufacturers and Liberal Arts Building on October 21, 1892
• Introductory Address by Director General George R. Davis in: Dedicatory and Opening Ceremonies of the World's Columbian Exposition - historical and descriptive. Memorial Volume. EDITED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON CEREMONIES OF THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN COMMISSION AND THE WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITON. Publisher: Stone, Kastler & Painter Chicago, Ill., 1893

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joseph Henry Sawyer: A history of Williston Seminary . Published by the Trustees, Easthampton 1917
2. ^ World's Columbian Exposition The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago