John Clay Davies (January 1857 – January 10, 1925) was an American lawyer and politician.

Life

He was born in January 1857 in Utica,

Oneida County, New York Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or ''Haudenos ...

. He attended Hamilton College for a short time. He was admitted to the bar in 1878, and practiced in

Camden Camden may refer to: People * Camden (surname), a surname of English origin * Camden Joy (born 1964), American writer * Camden Toy (born 1957), American actor Places Australia * Camden, New South Wales * Camden, Rosehill, a heritage res ...

. He was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(Oneida Co., 3rd D.) in

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Har ...

. He was Deputy Attorney General under Theodore E. Hancock from 1894 to 1898. He was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1894. He was New York Attorney General from 1899 to 1902, elected at the

New York state election, 1898 The 1898 New York state election was held on November 8, 1898, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer and the state engineer, as well as all mem ...

, and re-elected at the

New York state election, 1900 The 1900 New York state election was held on November 6, 1900, to elect the governor, the lieutenant governor, the Secretary of State, the state comptroller, the attorney general, the state treasurer and the state engineer, as well as all membe ...

. He was a delegate to the

1900 Republican National Convention The 1900 Republican National Convention was held June 19 to June 21 in the Exposition Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Exposition Auditorium was located south of the University of Pennsylvania, and the later Convention Hall was constr ...

. In 1902, he was the Republican candidate for Justice of the

New York Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the trial-level court of general jurisdiction in the New York State Unified Court System. (Its Appellate Division is also the highest intermediate appellate court.) It is vested with unlimited civ ...

in the heavily Republican Fifth Judicial District, but was defeated in a landslide by Democrat Watson M. Rogers. Even his party fellows had accused him of incompetence, and had favored the nomination of an independent candidate. In 1905, he was appointed a Commissioner of the State Board on Gas and Electricity (State Lighting Commission) by Governor

Frank W. Higgins Frank Wayland Higgins (August 18, 1856February 12, 1907) was an American politician who served as the 35th Governor of New York. Early life Higgins was born in Rushford, New York on August 18, 1856. He was the son of Orrin Thrall Higgins (1826 ...

.''NAMES ANTI-ODELL MEN FOR NEW STATE BOARD''
in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' on June 6, 1905 He died on January 10, 1925, in

Camden, New York Camden is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 4,934 at the 2010 census. The town of Camden contains a village also called Camden. The town is in the northwestern part of Oneida County and is northwest of the Ci ...

. Congressman John C. Davies II (1920–2002) was his grandson.

Sources

1857 births 1925 deaths New York State Attorneys General Politicians from Utica, New York Members of the New York State Assembly Hamilton College (New York) alumni {{NewYork-NYAssembly-stub