William Morris Davis (August 16, 1815August 5, 1891), was an

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, author and a

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

member of the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from

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, ...

. Among his friends were the New York sculptor

Henry Kirke Brown Henry Kirke Brown (February 24, 1814 in Leyden, Massachusetts – July 10, 1886 in Newburgh, New York) was an American sculptor. Life He began to paint portraits while still a boy, studied painting in Boston under Chester Harding, learned a lit ...

, and the lock inventor Linus Yale.

Biography

William Morris Davis was born in

Keene Valley, New York Keene is a town in central Essex County, New York, United States. It includes the hamlets of Keene, Keene Valley, and St. Huberts, with a total population of 1,144 as of the 2020 census The town is part of the Adirondack Park, and includes 15 ...

. He moved to Pennsylvania and became a sugar refiner in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

. Davis was elected as a Republican to the Thirty-seventh Congress. He was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1883. He died in Keene Valley in 1891. Interment in Friends Fair Hill Burial Ground in Germantown, Pennsylvania.

Works

*''Nimrod of the Sea'' or ''The American Whaleman'' – AOSTON (Harper & Bros., New York 1874)Nimrod of the Sea
/ref>

Sources

References

Bibliography

*''William Morris Davis (1815–1891) : the story of a nineteenth century American'' – Arthur M. Johnson (Washington DC, 1951)

External links

* Th
Davis, Brown, and Yale Families Correspondence
including personal letters from William Morris Davis, are available for research use at the

Historical Society of Pennsylvania The Historical Society of Pennsylvania is a long-established research facility, based in Philadelphia. It is a repository for millions of historic items ranging across rare books, scholarly monographs, family chronicles, maps, press reports and v ...

. 1815 births 1891 deaths Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 19th-century American politicians {{Pennsylvania-Representative-stub