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Samuel S. Davis
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(Illustration)

John Davis and wife, with their children, William, Samuel S., Joshua, and Joseph, emigrated from Montgomery county, Maryland, and settled in Ohio, in 1816.  While on their journey, and after they had arrived at Zanesville, they met Joseph Eaton, who had control of a large tract of land in Delaware county, and they were persuaded by him to go to his home, in Berlin township, that county and settle on his land.  They accordingly proceeded there, where they remained two years, but did not like the location, and made no purchase.  In 1817, Samuel and Joseph came to Perry township, Franklin county, where they built a hewed log house, into which the family moved in 1819.  Mr. Davis bought four hundred acres here, in the survey known as township two, the third quarter.  Here John Davis died, in 1832, at the age of seventy-one years; his wife died in 1851, aged eighty-six years.

Samuel S. Davis was born in Montgomery county, Maryland, September 13, 1798, and settled in Perry township, in 1818, where he made a home on his father's land.  June 16, 1825, he married Matilda Sells, a daughter of John Sells, who settled in Dublin, on the west bank of the Scioto river, in 1808.  Mrs. Matilda Davis was born in Kentucky, June 11, 1799.  Before his marriage, Mr. Davis built a frame house on land he had bought from his father, by the hard labor of his own hands.  Into this home he brought his bride, and here they entered upon the stern duties of life.  To Samuel S. Davis and his wife were born eight children, but three of whom lived to maturity.  With the joys they found in a home of their own, they also found sorrows in the loss of their children.  Those who survived were: Charles, Matilda, and Marilla.  Charles, the eldest, married Catharine Davis, and lives on the east part of the home farm.  Matilda married Abraham Arts, and lives in Dublin.  Marilla remains at home, and cares for her aged father.  Mrs. Matilda Davis, the wife of S. S. Davis, and mother of his children, died March 8, 1869, aged sixty-nine years.  Samuel S. Davis was elected as justice of the peace, in Perry township, in the spring of 1825, and served in this capacity twelve years.  In 1841, and again in 1844, he was elected county commissioner, and, with the other commissioners, had charge of the funds of the county received from the general government, which amounted to a considerable sum.  The control of this fund was afterwards taken in charge by the State.  The house now occupied by Mr. Davis and his family, was built in 1825, and has since been in constant use.  It is located on the east bank of the Scioto river, about a mile south of Dublin bridge, and is a well-prserved and commodious home.  Mr. Davis is now in the eighty-second year of his age, and is able to attend to all matters connected with his property, of which he has amassed a comfortable competence.



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