BIOGRAPHY: Thomas DAVIS, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 152-4
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THOMAS DAVIS, a real-estate agent of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, is of Welsh 
descent, his ancestors on both sides of the family having emigrated from Wales. 
He is a son of Richard and Elizabeth (Roberts) Davis. His grandfather, William 
Roberts, came to America about 1805, and landed in New York, where he married a 
Welsh lady. Shortly after his marriage he came to Cambria county, and settled in 
a wilderness about two miles southeast of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. He lived 
there for a number of years, and then moved about two miles farther out to the 
Pittsburg and Philadelphia pike, where he built a house and carried on a 
mercantile business for the remainder of his life, dying about 1833. He was a 
baptist, and very probably an old-line Whig.
     The father of Thomas Davis was born in North Wales, in 1791, and died in 
June, 1863. He came to America about 1812, and located in Ebensburg, where he 
remained for a number of years, then he moved to Cambria township, and 
established what is now the old Davis homestead. In 1833 he moved near to 
Ebensburg, where he remained eight years, when he moved into Jackson township, 
where he cleared another farm, built a home and died. He followed farming all 
his life. He was an old-line whig, and one of the foremost citizens of the 
county. He held various township offices, and was an exemplary member of the 
Congregational church. His family consisted of ten children, four boys and six 
girls: Elizabeth, wife of David W. Jones, now deceased; William and Hannah, who 
both died young; Catherine, also dead, was the wife of Edward Davis; Timothy R., 
formerly a prosperous lumberman, now living a retired and comfortable life in 
East Conemaugh township; Thomas Davis, our subject; Jane, wife of Milton Jones, 
of Ebensburg; Martha, wife of Jackson Ross, of Reynoldsville, Jefferson county, 
Pennsylvania; Mary, widow of Luther Stiles, and lives in Ebenburg; David, a 
resident of Johnstown, formerly engaged in the mercantile and insurance 
business.
     Thomas Davis was born in Cambria township, about two miles southeast of 
Ebensburg, October 7, 1831. On December 20, 1864, he married Susan Burkhart, a 
daughter of Joseph Burkhart, and to this union were born four children: 
Frederick W., who died November 29, 1893; Schuyler C., whose wife was Minnie 
Stough, and who is a resident of Ebensburg, Izora, wife of Lester Larmer, also 
residents of Ebensburg; Thomas S., who is private secretary of Congressman J. D. 
Hicks, and has his residence in Ebensburg.
     The subject of this sketch was educated in the common schools of his 
township. He commenced life as a farmer, but while a young man engaged in the 
lumbering business in Cambria county, and followed it from 1854 until the 
breaking out of the Civil War. Then, in common with the other brave men, he was 
inspired to do something for the cause of freedom. The work for the Union he 
began by recruiting one hundred and twenty men for the Nineteenth regiment, 
United States regulars, which had its headquarters in Indianapolis. Afterwards 
he was made first sergeant of company C, filling this position until after the 
battle of Chickamauga, when he was commissioned second lieutenant of the 
regiment. In about four months he was promoted to the first lieutenancy, and 
remained in the service in this capacity until the close of the war, serving in 
all three years, seven months and seventeen days, and taking part in thirty-two 
engagements. He was at Pittsburg Landing, Stone River, Resaca, Chickamauga and 
Lookout Mountain. But although in so many great battles he was never taken 
prisoner. He was with Sherman, too, at Atlanta and saw the city burned. He 
resigned from the service on account of ill health. About one year after he came 
from the war he farmed; a little later be engaged in the mercantile business 
with his brother, under the firm name of Davis Brothers. In 1887 he went out of 
business and lived in South Dakota for three years, in the hope of curing a bad 
asthma. At the end of this time he returned to Ebensburg and engaged in the 
real-estate business, which he has since followed. Politically he is a 
republican and has served as jury commissioner of Cambria county. In 1876 he 
accepted the nomination for the office of sheriff, and came within two hundred 
and eleven votes of being elected, the Democratic majority being twelve hundred 
and sixty-eight. His candidacy, as shown by this, was a very creditable one, Mr. 
Davis is also a member of the borough council.
     It was said at the beginning, that Mr. Davis is of Welsh descent. It may be 
said in conclusion, that in his unusual war record and in his public and private 
life, he has uniformly shown the reliance, energy and adaptation peculiar to his 
race.