John Adelbert Davis (August 7, 1871–March 17, 1934) was the founder of the Practical Bible Training School in

Johnson City, New York Johnson City is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Broome County, New York, Broome County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 15,174 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Binghamton, New York, Bin ...

, in 1900. In 2004, Practical Bible was renamed Davis College in his honor.

Early life

On Melandy Hill in

Afton, New York Afton is a town in Chenango County, New York, United States. The population was 2,851 at the 2010 census. Afton is situated in the southeast corner of the county and lies wholly within the original Township of Clinton. It was formed from the to ...

, Davis was born to Union

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

veteran Charles Davis and his wife, Hulda Davis. Davis was the oldest of two children, his younger brother being Alonzo F. Davis. After a few years in Afton and North Sanford, New York, Davis moved to

Binghamton Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...

, New York.

Religious revelation

During his time in

, New York, Davis became a very devout Christian. In 1893, he went to the Chicago Bible Institute (now the

Moody Bible Institute Moody Bible Institute (MBI) is a private evangelical Christian Bible college founded in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois, US by evangelist and businessman Dwight Lyman Moody in 1886. Historically, MBI has maintained positions that have i ...

) where he served Mr. Moody's table. Heading back to New York after his time in Chicago, Davis stopped in

Kalamazoo Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in the southwest region of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Kalamazoo County. At the 2010 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 74,262. Kalamazoo is the major city of the Kalamazoo-Portage Metropolit ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, where a small set of evangelical meetings turned into a large revival meetings throughout the city.

Marriage and children

Davis married Etta Carr on June 19, 1894. Their son Gordon Carr was born June 29, 1896 followed by his brother Charles Justus in 1897.

Career as an educator

Revival meetings

Davis conducted meetings in the following years of his life all over the east coast of the United States including:

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and New York. He also went to England.

Bible school

In the spring of 1900, Davis wanted to start a Bible school to train young men and women to become pastors, missionaries, pastor’s wives, and many other parts of the Christian ministry. In the summer of 1900, the classes of the Practical Bible Training School began in Lestershire (now Johnson City), New York. Davis became one of the teachers and the Superintendent of the school. Davis chose a long-time friend John R. Clements to be the first president of the college. The school moved to Harrison Street soon after the first classes and in 1911 the school moved to its present location on Riverside Drive in the village of Johnson City, New York.

PBTS

In 1914, the Practical Bible Training School was prospering and Dr. Davis became the President of the School. In 1922 the student body formed the Students League of Many Nations one of the first Multicultural ministries in America. It would travel to every state in the union, and even opened the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

in prayer on multiple occasions, one of these times with the President of the United States.

Later years

On November 22, 1931, John and Etta lost their son, Charles. The next year in 1932, several faculty and staff left to form Baptist Bible Seminary (now in Clark Summit,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Death

On Saturday, March 17, 1934 after a stroke and several other health problems, Davis died in his bed. Over 4,000 people attended his

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect th ...

on the Knoll behind the school. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, John Adelbert 1871 births 1934 deaths American Christians Moody Bible Institute alumni People from Binghamton, New York People from Afton, New York People from Johnson City, New York Educators from New York (state)