Davis, John (Congressman)

Born: 1787-01-13 Northboro, Massachusetts

Died: 1854-04-19 Worcester, Massachusetts

Davis attended Leicester Academy. He graduated from Yale College in 1812. He studied law and earned admittance to the bar and started a practice in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1815. He married Eliza Bancroft in 1822, and they had five sons. Davis won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Whig, serving from 1825 until his resignation in 1834. He won election as governor of Massachusetts in 1833, was reelected in 1834, and served as governor until 1835. He became an Anti-Jacksonian and won election to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1835-41. Davis resigned his senate seat in 1841, after being elected again as governor of Massachusetts, a position he held until 1843. He won election back to the U.S. Senate in 1845, as a Whig, to fill a vacant seat. Davis won reelection in 1847, and served until he retired from politics in 1853. He is known as "Honest John" for his loyalty and stability. He was the father of Congressman Horace Davis and John Chandler Bancroft Davis, a diplomat.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 914; Gravestone, Worcester Rural Cemetery, Worcester, MA; Kinley Brauer, "Davis, John," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 6:206-08.