James Davis was the second son of James and Reliance (Cobb) Davis, and
was born in Barnstable September 28, 1777.
[Illustration: James Davis & signature]
He was a descendant of Robert Davis, who was living in Yarmouth in the
year 1643, removing thence to Barnstable in 1650, where he died in 1693
at the age of seventy-one. Of him it is said that "he was not a man of
wealth, nor distinguished in political life," but "his character for
honesty and industry he transmitted to his posterity."[7]
Mr. James Davis, the subject of this sketch, was the third in descent of
that name.
At the age of fourteen he was bound an apprentice to a Mr. Crocker,--who
was also originally from Barnstable,--a pewterer, carrying on
business at the "South End" in Boston, not far from where stood the
mansion house of the late Mr. John D. Williams. Shortly after the
apprenticeship of Mr. Davis began, Mr. Crocker secured the services of a
Hessian,--supposed to be a deserter from the British army,--who
understood and communicated the art of making castings of brass and
copper. From this time and from this beginning, as Mr. Davis firmly
believed, ships built in New England were fastened with bolts, spikes,
etc., made of _composition_ instead of iron as had formerly been the
invariable practice. Mr. Crocker was a man of somewhat irregular habits,
and not infrequently severe in his treatment of the apprentices, of
whom, as was then quite a common custom, he always had several. At this
time it happened that they all revolted and left him, save Mr. Davis,
the youngest of the number. He remained alone to the end of his term,
faithfully complying with every condition of his indenture.
In 1800 Mr. Davis, then twenty-three years of age, hired a shop on Union
Street, and started in business for himself as a brass founder. He was
in some way connected with Martin Gay, a proscribed and banished
royalist of the American Revolution and an absentee from 1776 to
1792.[8] On the return of Mr. Gay in the last-named year he resumed his
trade, of a coppersmith probably, on the property in Union Street, which
had meanwhile been held and occupied by his wife Ruth, and whose dower
therein had been set off to her by the Probate Court. Mr. Gay is
thereafter denominated a founder, a designation it is thought he may
have derived from his employment of, or association with, Mr. Davis. Mr.
Gay subsequently proposed to Mr. Davis to sell to him the business, and
further to aid him with such pecuniary assistance as he might require in
its prosecution. This proposition was finally accepted, but not without
some considerable hesitation on the part of Mr. Davis, as he had no
security to offer for the indebtedness involved. No security was
required, nor was any ever given, but the transaction was fully
completed by a transfer, and by its ultimate payment without default. In
1807 the remainder of Mr. Gay's original interest in the real estate was
conveyed by commissioners, under a special Act of the Legislature, to
his wife, who had never swerved from her loyalty to the newly formed
government. After Mr. Gay's death, in 1809, Mr. Davis bought the estate
from the widow, and the property, as enlarged by several subsequent
purchases, still remains in possession of his heirs.[9]
He occupied the entire premises with his foundry, shop, and residence,
for many years; associated with himself his son, Mr. James Davis, Jr.,
as a partner, January 4, 1828, and finally merged the business into the
Revere Copper Company, as already stated.
Upon the organization of the Company he was elected Treasurer, and held
that office until January 22, 1843. He was also a Director until his
death, which took place very suddenly at his house on Tremont Street,
Boston, April 25, 1862.
He was persistently industrious, thrifty, and scrupulously upright in
every transaction,--qualities transmitted to him from his ancestor
Robert,--and generous withal to every proper claim upon him. He gloried
in his early struggles to overcome adverse conditions, and was
gratified to be numbered with those from his native town who had
achieved honorable distinction in the various activities of life.
There was a ruggedness and sharpness of vigor about him which was lost
sight of as he ripened and mellowed in a conspicuous manner under the
influences of ampler means and advancing years. The simple tastes and
quiet ways of his boyhood home were however to the end more attractive
and satisfactory to him than the demands and restraints of an
increasingly artificial life.
That he was wise and farsighted is abundantly shown by the fact that all
his real estate investments are held intact to this day by his heirs.