Davis, Robert W.
Born: 1825-10-23 Bond County, Illinois
Died: 1872-04-06 Hillsboro, Illinois
Flourished: Hillsboro, Illinois
Robert W. Davis was a soldier, banker, court clerk, lawyer, and Democrat. During the Mexican War, he served at the rank of private in Company C of the Third Illinois Infantry. A long-time resident of Hillsboro, Illinois, he organized a private banking institution called the Haskill, Davis & Company Bank of Hillsboro sometime early in that town's history. Although he pursued other vocations over time, he retained his interest in the bank until after the Civil War. In 1848, voters in Montgomery County, Illinois, elected him clerk of the Montgomery County Circuit Court. In September 1849 he married Amanda Jane Shirley, with whom he eventually had at least three children. In 1852, Montgomery County voters once again elected him clerk of the Montgomery County Circuit Court, and he held this position until 1860. His personal fortunes improved substantially over time: in 1850, he owned $1,000 in real estate; by 1860, he owned $25,000 in real estate and another $15,000 in personal property. Davis supported Stephen A. Douglas in the 1858 Federal Election and helped organize a pro-Douglas campaign event in Hillsboro in August of that year.
Illinois Mexican War Veterans, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Jacob L. Traylor, Past and Present of Montgomery County Illinois (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1904), 762; Illinois Journal (Springfield), 13 September 1848, 2:4; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Montgomery County, 7 September 1849, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Montgomery County, IL, 127; Illinois Daily Journal (Springfield), 9 November 1852, 2:2; Daily Illinois State Journal (Springfield), 6 August 1858, 2:2; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Hillsboro, Montgomery County, IL, 5; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds., Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Montgomery County, ed. by Alexander T. Strange (Chicago: Munsell, 1918), 2:694; Gravestone, Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsboro, IL.