Cpl Co A 4th Mo Inf Vol. Civil War


Below is an excerpt from the Special Edition that focused on many of the prominent citizens of Carthage, Missouri in 1905.


SPECIAL EDITION OF THE CARTHAGE PRESS
MAY 1905

HON. J. W. DAVIS, PROBATE JUDGE

Whose Chiefest Ambition is to Deal Justly With All

When in 1902, the Republican party elected James W. Davis as its nominee for Probate Judge, it was with the full assurance of his constituents that honest judgment would certainly rule the probate bench. The nomination was entirely unsolicited and expected, the affair being sprung on him at a moment's notice. His duty to the party demanded his acceptance. This faith has been fully justified by succeeding events.
His chiefest ambition is to judge justly and legally, and to this end his energies are bent. The son of Thomas and Sallie Woolen Davis he had been made a carpenter, became contractor, postmaster, school director and justice of the peace and then judge. Judge Davis married in 1857 Sarah Andrews who was his honored helpmate for twenty-one years and then passed beyond the veil. In 1879 he married Mrs. Katherine Gott, a widow with two small children. These he gave the same share of his love and care received by his own children and they today look on him with all an own child's affection , one of them Miss V. Mae Gott acting in the capacity of clerk of his court. He has six living children. Of these one is now an attorney at Lamar, having been for a time superintendent of schools at Carterville. Three have taught and two are now teaching, one in the Carthage High School and the other in a graded school at Joplin. The family attends the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and resides at 324 South McGregor street. Its members are all ornaments to society, earnests of good citizenship and a natural pride to the judge, who is himself one of the most honored and honorable of Jasper county citizens.

JAMES W. DAVIS passed away in Springfield, Greene county, Missouri at the age of 84 years, 8 months & 12 days of tuberculosis. As mentioned above, he was the son of Thomas W. and Sallie Woolen Davis, both born in Virginia.

The death certificate can be viewed at Missouri Digital Archives/death certificates online website.