Thomas Kirby Davis (1826 - 1918)

Born 11 Feb 1826 in Carlisle, Cumberland, Pennsylvania, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Hays (Proctor) Davis — married 14 Aug 1851 in Pennsylvania, USA

Descendants

Died 24 Dec 1918 at age 92 in Wooster, Wayne, Ohio, United States

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Biography

Name: Thomas Kirby Davis. ^{[1] [2]}

Born 11 FEB 1826. Carlisle, Cumberland, PA. ^{[1] [2]}

Died 24 DEC 1918. Wooster, Wayne, OH. ^{[1] [2]}

Residence 1870 Vermillion, Ashland, OH. ^[3] 1880 Wooster, Wayne, OH. 1900 ED 165 Wooster Township Wooster city Ward 2, Wayne, Ohio, United States. 1910 Wooster Ward 3, Wayne, OH. 1847 Connecticut ^[2] 1860 Lower Swatara, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, USA. Map: Latitude: N40.2333. Longitude: W76.7581. ^[2] 1 JUL 1863. Mechanicsburg, Cumberland, PA. ^[2] 1870 Vermillion, Ashland, Ohio, USA. Map: Latitude: N40.9661. Longitude: W82.3647. ^[2] 1900 Wooster Ward 2, Wayne, Ohio, USA. ^[2] Wooster, Wayne, OH. ^[2] Wooster, OH, U.S.A. ^[2] Chambersburg, Franklin, PA. ^[2]

Buried 27 DEC 1918. Wooster, Wayne, OH. ^{[1] [2]}

Notes

THE DAVIS FAMILY A History of the Descendants of William Davis and His Wife, Mary Means by Thomas Kirby Davis of Wooster, Ohio

Imprinted for the Family by The Plimpton Press Norwood, Massachusetts [1912]

p. 110

6. THOMAS KIRBY DAVIS, sixth child and second son of W. S. and J. K. Davis, was born February 11, 1826. He was a feeble child, and took a full course of the ailments to which young America was subject in those days. The family physician thought he would not live to reach manhood. But he has excellent health at the present time, 1911. He was sent to school from a very early age, and so had the misfortune never to have learned how to work. He believes thoroughly in the necessity and advantage of combining manual labor with intellectual pursuits. He was fitted for college, by his brother Vanlear, in the Chambersburg Academy, and, as a result, at the age of nineteen he was graduated with high honor from Yale College with the class of 1845. He united with the College Church in 1843, having been persuaded to give himself to Christ by his classmate, Henry Day, afterward an eminent Christian lawyer in New York. For one year after graduation he had charge of the Academy for boys in Bedford, Pa. He entered Princeton Theological Seminary in 1846 and left in 1849. He then taught in the Chambersburg Academy, and at the same time preached at Fayetteville, until he was called to the pastorate of the Bedford Church. His ordination occurred at Newville in 1850, and he was installed at Bedford and Schellsburg that same year.

On August 14, 1851, he married Mary Hays Proctor, of Carlisle, Pa. Her family was an excellent one. The father was an honored elder of the Second Presbyterian Church. The oldest son, Rev. John O. Proctor, was at that time a pastor in Maryland. The health of Mrs. Davis appearing to decline, and the call for more ministers on the Pacific coast being very urgent, Mr. Davis

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requested and received a release from his pastoral charge, and went with his wife and son to California, via the Isthmus of Panama. The railroad across the isthmus was quite new, and it required an entire day to make the forty miles from Aspinwall to Panama. He supplied the First Church of San Francisco for a few months, and then preached for a year in Los Angeles. He and two other ministers - a Methodist and a Baptist - who preached at El Monte, twelve miles from the “City of the Angels,” were the only Protestant ministers in the southern half of California. The First Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, worshiping in the public schoolhouse, numbered twelve members. There are now thirty Presbyterian churches in that city, one of them having more than two thousand members. Driven away by a serious disturbance on the part of the natives, which stopped all business, and closed the church and schools, he went to Stockton, where he preached for a year or more. The last Sabbath he spent in California he preached in Sacramento. On Monday morning a committee waited on him, and urged him to take charge of the church in that city. But the health of Mrs. Davis not having been benefited by the California climate, he deemed it his duty to return to the “States.” He settled at Middletown, Pa., where the manse which was built for them was beautifully located, with a most picturesque view of the Susquehanna and its islands. But malarial troubles for several seasons, and a threatened breakdown, rendered it necessary for him to seek a release from this pastorate. After resting for a year in Pittsburg, he preached in Mansfield, O., and labored in that growing young city between three and four years. He then asked for a release, in order to engage in working for the establishment of the Synod’s College at Wooster. While successfully engaged in that work he was tempted to accept a call to the church of Hayes-

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ville, and to the chair of languages in Vermilion Institute, with a view to the education of his growing family.

While thus engaged, he organized a live and prosperous little church at McKay, which he supplied while he remained in Hayesville. Being again called into the service of Wooster University, he moved to Wooster, where he has resided to the present time. For a few years he traveled over the state as fiscal secretary of the University. In 1876 he was made one of its Trustees, and secretary of the Board, and also of the Executive Committee. Since 1877 he has been librarian of the University. In connection with this work he has served the churches at Mt. Gilead, Loudonville, Perryville, Lexington, and other places.

Foreseeing the great “falling away” that would inevitably follow from the substitution in education of human reasoning, in place of faith in the revelation contained in Holy Scripture, he has been very much devoted to helping the good men who were endeavoring to build up in Ohio a college that would be truly and out-and-out Christian.

He has been a frequent contributor to periodical literature, and in 1880 received the degree of D.D. from Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg, and from Parsons College at Fairfield, Iowa.

Mary Proctor Davis had a good education, for her day. Had she enjoyed such advantages as young women now have, at our higher institutions, she would have taken first rank in scholarship. For she had a fine mind. Her piety gave her character, and made her studious; and her natural ability would have enabled her to make the best possible use of her attainments. She would have made a fine teacher and head of a woman’s college. She was a Mary Lyon sort of woman. Always feeble in health, and lacking in physical strength, she had such

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an indomitable spirit, and so much energy, that she reared a large family with eminent success, and ordered her household with the wisdom of the good woman described in the thirty-first of Proverbs. I have no hesitation in saying that but for her faith and prayers, and her good practical common sense, we might have been swamped in the storm and stress of life.

March 28, 1908, was the coronation day of Mrs. Davis; [Mrs. Davis was greatly interested in the Missionary Work of the Church, and in the Temperance Reform of our day. Her health was sadly impaired by the active part she took in the Woman’s Crusade of 1874, and by her exposure to severe weather in the trying experiences of that memorable winter.] but her sudden and painless translation from earth to heaven was a sad loss to those for whom she had lived and sacrificed so much.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis had the following children: 1. WILLIAM S., 2. MARY O., 3. MIRIAM M., 4. JANET M., 5. JOHN P., 6. GERTRUDE S., 7. ROBERT S., 8. ELIZABETH R., 9. ALICE S.

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"The History of Wayne County, Ohio" published in 1910 by B. E. Bowen & Co.

Thomas Kirby Davis, D. D.

This venerable and highly esteemed exponent of the life of the lowly Nazarene has led a life that is worthy of commendation and emulation by the youth standing at the parting of the ways, for it has been one of unselfish service and of unswerving rectitude, self-sacrifice and devotion to the higher duty. Thomas Kirby Davis was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1826. He prepared for college at the Chambersburg Academy, entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1845; studied theology at Princeton Seminary, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the Presbytery of Carlisle 1850. His pastoral charges in his early Ministry included Bedford, Schellsburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania; Mansfield, and Hayesville, Ohio. At the latter place he was also professor of languages in the Vermilion Institute. He was stated supply of the First Presbyterian church of San Francisco, California, of the First Presbyterian church of Los Angeles, California, and also of the First church at Stockton, that state; also of many other churches during the years he has been residing in Wooster. He was a member and secretary of the board of trustees of Vermilion Institute. At the first meeting of the board of trustees of the University of Wooster, held in December, 1866, Doctor Davis was appointed one of a committee of three whose duty it was to go over the state of Ohio and ascertain if the Presbyterian churches of the state were ready to endow a Presbyterian college. Doctor Davis accordingly resigned his charge at Mansfield and began to work for the University of Wooster on the first of January, 1867. After laboring very successfully for nearly a year, he resigned to accept a call to Hayesville and Vermilion Institute. In the year 1871 Mr. Davis was called to Wooster as financial secretary and he has lived here, working for the university ever since. He was a member of the board of trustees of this institution from 1876 to 1899 and secretary of the board from 1876 to 1908. He was made librarian of the university in 1877 and has held that position to the present time (1910). He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1880 by Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and by Parsons College, at Fairfield, Iowa. Doctor Davis was married on August 14, 1851, to Mary H. Proctor, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She was born in that city, the daughter of an elder in the Presbyterian church. Her mother's maiden name was Mary Officer, of an old and well-known family of Carlisle. After a long and beautiful life of Christian service, Mrs. Davis was called to her rest on March 28, 1908. To this union the following children were born: William Stewart, connected with the Standard Publishing Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Miriam M., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who holds an important position in the reference department of the public library there; Janet M. is the wife of Dr. James Wallace, who for twenty years was president of Macalester College at St. Paul; he was then on leave of absence three years as professor of New Testament Greek in Doctor White's Bible School, New York City. He then returned to Macalester College and has charge of the Bible department. John Proctor is a Presbyterian minister, at present pastor of a church at Austin, Minnesota; Elizabeth R. is at home with her father; Alice S. has a responsible position in the Ohio state library at Columbus. These children have all been well educated and the wholesome home environment in which they were reared is clearly reflected in their daily lives. Doctor Davis has given his heart and the greater part of his life and service to the founding and building up of an institution of learning that would be so broad and comprehensive in its scope as to include the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ as the most vitally important and necessary part of its curriculum and influence. He has accomplished much toward ameliorating the condition of his fellow men, often laboring with disregard for his own welfare thereby he might attain the object he sought--to make some one better and happier. Such a life is an incentive to the youth whose fortunes and records are matters for the future to determine, for his life has been singularly free from all that is deteriorating or paltry, his influence at all times uplifting, and thousands of people have been made better for having known him; however, he has never sought public praise or the plaudits of men, preferring to reap the rewards of a clear conscience and the approval of the Heavenly Father.

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NECROLOGICAL REPORT

Princeton Theological Seminary 1919

.574

ALUMNI

Thomas Kirby Davis, D.D.,

Son of William Stewart and Joanna (Kirby) Davis, was born Feb. 11, 1826, in Chambersburg, Pa. He made a public confession of his faith in the College Church of Yale University at the age of seventeen. His preparatory studies were pursued in Franklin Academy, Chambersburg, Pa., and he graduated from Yale University in 1845, being the valedictorian of his class. He spent the following year teaching in the Academy at Bedford, Pa. He entered the Seminary at Princeton in 1846 but remained only three months. He returned to the Seminary as a Junior the year following and remained two years. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Carlisle, June 13, 1849, and ordained by the same Presbytery, Oct. 2, 1850. He was stated supply of the church at Fayetteville, Pa., from 1849 to 1850, engaging at the same time in teaching in Chambersburg, Pa. He was pastor of the churches of Bedford and Schellsburg, Pa., from Nov. 8, 1850, to June 12, 1855; stated supply of the First Church of San Francisco, Cal., from July to August 1855; engaged in missionary work at Los Angeles, Cal., 1855-56; stated supply at Stockton, Cal., 1856-57; stated supply of the church at Middletown, Pa., from March 1858 until installed its pastor Nov. 10, 1859, this relation being dissolved April 9, 1862; stated supply at Minersville, Pa., 1862-63; stated supply at Mansfield, O., from July 1863 until installed its pastor, Sept. 21, 1865, this relation being dissolved May 9, 1867; professor of languages in the Vermilion Institute of Hayesville, O., 1867-71; stated supply of the churches of Hayesville and McKay, O., from October 1867 until installed their pastor Nov. 7, 1868, this relation being dissolved Sept. 13, 1871; he was financial secretary of Wooster University from 1871 to 1875; stated supply of the church at Mt. Gilead, O., 1875-76; stated supply of the Loudonville and Perrysville churches, O., 1875-79; pastor of the Westminster Church, Wooster, O., 1879-80; stated supply of the church at Lexington, O., 1880-83; stated supply of the church at West Salem, O., 1885, and stated supply of the church at Nashville, O., 1885-86. He was librarian and professor of Bibliography of Wooster University from 1877 to 1904, when he was made librarian emeritus. After this time he was in daily attendance at his desk in the library until 1913. He died Dec. 24, 1918, in Wooster, of heart failure, in the 93rd year of his age. He was the oldest living alumnus of the Seminary at the time of his death. He was buried at Wooster, O. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Pennsylvania College, Gettysburg, Pa, in 1880, and in the same year from Parsons College, Fairfield, O. [pencil correction: IA] He was a trustee of the Vermilion Institute and secretary of the Board from 1867 to 1871; a trustee of Wooster University from 1877 to 1900, and secretary of this Board from 1877 to 1908. Among his publications were The Perpetuity of Literature, 1845; Our National Literature, 1845; Scripture and Logic-Which?, 1890; Woman’s Mind and Mission, 1893; Socialism, 1898; The Calvinistic System, 1900; The Future Life, 1907; The Davis Family, 1912, and Mind and Spirit: a study in psychology, 1914. He also wrote many pamphlets and articles for magazines and newspapers. He was a commissioner to the General Assembly of 1918, being the oldest member of that body.

He was married Aug. 14, 1851, in Carlisle, Pa., to Mary Hayes Proctor, who died March 28, 1908. Two sons and three daughters survive him.

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The Herald and Presbyter Jan 15, 1919

DAVIS-Rev. Thomas Kirby Davis, D.D. died at his home in Wooster, O., Dec. 24, 1918, in his ninety-third year. Dr. Davis has been ill but two weeks and his sudden death from heart failure was unexpected. He preserved all his faculties to the end and his interest in church problems and public affairs. He was born Feb. 11, 1826, in Chambersburg, Pa., was educated at the academy in that place and at Yale College, graduating in 1845, being the youngest in a class of seventy-four members, but being class orator and secretary of Phi Beta. After teaching for a year he entered Princeton Theological Seminary. A tutorship at Yale was offered him in 1848 but he preferred to continue his theological studies. Ordained in 1850, he spent five years as pastor of Bedford Springs, Pa. During this period he married Mary Hays Proctor, of Carlisle, Pa. The health of Mrs. Davis declining and the call for ministers on the Pacific coast being very urgent, he went to California for home missionary work. He preached in San Francisco in the absence of the pastor, then organized a Presbyterian church in Los Angeles. At that time he and two others were the only Protestant ministers in the southern half of California. In 1856, “civil commotion” arising between the “native” Mexicans and the “foreign” Americans, he fled to Stockton, where he labored. But on account of the health of Mrs. Davis he returned to the East, where he became pastor in Middletown, Pa., During the darkest days of the Civil War he accepted a call to Mansfield, O. The influence of this church was very helpful to the national cause in this region. A sermon preached on a fast day in 1864 greatly encouraged the hearts of multitudes and its publication was requested by Senator Sherman and others. This pamphlet was used as a campaign document in the most critical and decisive election ever held in the state. Christian education held a warm place in his heart, and ever since 1867 he has been connected with educational institutions. He worked for the endowment of the projected University of Wooster and for its establishment at that place. He filled the chair of languages in Vermilion Institute in Hayesville for the sake of educating his children, and was also pastor of the Presbyterian church there. From the early seventies he resided in Wooster, being connected with the college he loved so much and for which he labored so long, first as financial secretary, then as librarian, since 1877, being in his latter years librarian-emeritus. During a long period he was a member of the board, and its secretary for many years. During these strenuous years he also supplied many pulpits in various places. Latterly he has written for periodicals and published a family history and a volume entitled “Mind and Spirit.” For over fifty years he was a member of the presbytery in which he died, and for many years was its oldest member. :Last May he received quite an ovation when he was commissioner to the General Assembly, meeting in Columbus, O. The Church at large has lost a wise and faithful minister, the College of Wooster, with which he had always been identified, has lost a faithful counselor and a loyal friend. A very large circle of friends mourn his departure and feel that they have lost a strong, true friend, “over eighty summers young, without a single winter in his heart.” His brother, Mr. Robert S. Davis, of Pittsburgh, his three daughters and two sons, and all who knew him, will miss his winning smile, his gentle ways and his genial presence. The world will be the poorer without his helpful prayers. In thinking of the Christlike character of Dr. Davis and of his unusual spirituality we are reminded of the Psalmist’s words, “Mark the perfect man and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.”

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The Ohio Teacher January 1919 W. B. Chancellor, Professor at W. U.

In Memoriam THOMAS KIRBY DAVIS, D.D.,

Rev. Dr. Thomas K. Davis, librarian emeritus of the College of Wooster, died December 24, 1918, being 92 years, 10 months and 7 days of age. He was the working organizer of the College from the first years of its planning, helped raise the funds, advised as to the selection of the site, and until his death was successively financial agent, field secretary, teacher, trustee, trustee secretary, librarian and librarian emeritus. A record of forty-nine years of unbroken service to cause of higher education. Only a month before his death, he offered public prayer from the pulpit of the college chapel.

Dr. Davis was an uncommonly impressive pulpit orator all his life. He had been orator for his class at Yale, -seventy years ago. The best known of all lifelong Wooster supporters, a devout theologian, author of several religious books, blessed with many children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, he was the patriarch, the “grand old man,” of the college; and his passing marks an epoch in its history. There comes a day in the development of every endowed institution with an independent charter when its trustees and faculty come generally of its own graduates, and the influence of other institutions becomes secondary. Therefore, its course is self-determined. Gradually but positively, the College of Wooster, hitherto so largely influenced by Princeton and Yale and Beloit, is finding its own soul. In helping Wooster to become self-reliant, a very important contribution was being constantly made by Doctor Davis in public speech and in private counsel. He desired a college centered upon religious instruction, devoted to philosophy and literature and pure science, a college of the humanities, with the Bible as the main source of inspiration-a college of prayer and philanthropic service with a mission to shine in the world by the light of divine truth.

Thoroughly alive to the issues of the world-war, nonagenarian though he was, this preacher of an elder age was unapproached in influence and popularity among the best elements of the college student body throughout this critical time. Only a few days before his death, he took his usual walk of two miles as a constitutional and saw and talked with friends upon present day themes. His sudden death was due to the heart failure characteristic of old age.-W. E. C.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Source: #S328 Record for Thomas Kirby Davis Link: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=60525&h=180696945&indiv=try
2. ↑ ^{2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11} Source: #S335 Record for Thomas Kirby Davis Link: http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=1030&h=392278049198&indiv=try
3. ↑ Source: #S33 Database online. Year: 1870; Census Place: Vermillion, Ashland, Ohio; Roll: M593_; Page: ; Image: . Record for Thomas K Davis

• https://archive.org/stream/davisfamilyhisto00indavi/davisfamilyhisto00indavi_djvu.txt Full text of "The Davis family; a history of the descendants of William Davis, and his wife Mary Means" by Thomas Kirby Davis.

• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/216450241/thomas-kirby-davis : accessed 25 April 2022), memorial page for Thomas Kirby Davis (11 Feb 1826–24 Dec 1918), Find a Grave Memorial ID 216450241, citing Wooster Cemetery, Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio, USA ; Maintained by Christopher Gadsen (contributor 49576146) .