Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania Edited by A. J. Davis Pub. D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y. - 1887 [p. 647-648] DAVIS, A. J. - Professor DAVIS is probably more fully identi- fied with the educational interest of the county than any other man. He was born in the county June 21, 1847, attended the pub- lic schools until fifteen years of age, and then a term at the Clarion Collegiate Institute at Rimersburg. In 1863 he was em- ployed as a farm hand at six dollars per month, working from early morn to evening twilight. On the 20th of February, 1864, he enlisted as a private in the Civil War, and was assigned to Battery B, Third Pennsylvania Artillery, One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers; was attached to the "Naval Brigade," and did gun- boat service in Eastern Virginia and Eastern North Carolina; was with the armies of the James and the Potomac during the siege of Richmond and Petersburg. On his discharge, in July, 1865, he returned home and again took up his studies at the school in Rimersburg; then taught the public schools of the county, alternately teaching and attending schools, among others the State Normal School, until the summer of 1869, when he took charge as principal of the West Freedom Academy, which position he held for three years, conducting the institution with marked success. In 1874 MR. DAVIS was elected principal of the Clarion Col- legiate Institute, where he remained until chosen superinten- dent of public schools of Clarion county, May, 1875. He entered upon the duties of his office with a degree of energy, persever- ance and tact, that merited the two re-elections to the same position that followed in succession, and during the eight years and fifteen days that he remained superintendent it is safe to say that no other county in the State experienced a more rapid advancement in the grade of her common schools or in the pro- ficiency of her teachers. While at West Freedom PROFESSOR DAVIS organized the first company of the National Guard of Pennsylvania in the county, and was elected captain of the same. In May, 1876, he was elected major of the Seventeenth Regiment National Guard of Pennsylvania, and in 1877 was appointed judge advocate of the Seventh Division on the staff of GENERAL HUIDEKOPER. He was married December 23, 1875, to Miss ANNA M. KERR. In March, 1883, he was tendered a position as statistic clerk in the department of public instruction, which he accepted after some deliberation, and was appointed April 1st. During the incumbency of this clerkship he was sent to Alaska under the joint auspices of the National Bureau of Education and the Board of Home Missions of the Presbyterian Church, and spent several months in that territory, organizing indus- trial and training schools for native children at Sitka. On his return he resumed his position in the department of public instruction, and continued to hold the same until February, 1887, when he resigned, having accepted the position of princi- pal of the State Normal School at Clarion, Pa. He is a regular graduate of Edinboro State Normal School, and holds an honorary diploma from the National Normal Uni- versity of Lebanon, Ohio. In 1886 he was tendered the nomi- nation for Congress in his district, which he declined. ===============================================================================