Joseph Davis was born in Ogelthorpe county, Georgia, and was a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of that state. He completed a course of study in a medical college at Milledgeville, Georgia, and as a young man he removed to Roanoke, Randolph county, Alabama, where he achieved much success and distinction in his chosen profession, to which he there devoted his attention until the close of his life, save for the period of service in the Union cause during the Civil war. He died August 25, 1878, at the age of sixty years. He was a slaveholder prior to the war between the states but was so opposed to secession that when the war was precipitated he espoused the cause of the Union and served as a surgeon in its army, in which he attained the rank of captain. After the close of the war he did all in his power to bring about the rehabilitation of the south under the new conditions, and was loyal to the people of the section in which he had been reared and in which his interests were ever centered. His service in the Union ranks did not lose to him the confidence and esteem of the people of his home state, as is shown in the fact that, as candidate on the Democratic ticket, he was elected to represent his county in the state legislature. He was a man of broad mental ken, positive views and distinct individuality, and thus [was well fortified for leadership in thought and action. He was an effective public speaker and versatile writer, and as his intellectuality was of high order and reinforced by wide and varied experience, his services were much in requisition as a speaker at political, educational and other public assemblages, besides which he was a frequent and valued contributor to the secular press and to the periodical literature of his profession. He was one of the most honored and influential citizens of Randolph and Chambers counties, Alabama, at the time of his death, and there his name is held in gracious memory. Dr. Joseph H. Davis was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Dr. Joseph H. Davis was twice married. He first wedded Miss Harriet McBryde, who died when about thirty-nine years of age. and concerning their children the following brief record is entered: Judge David L., who served twelve years on the bench of the county court of Randolph county, Alabama, died in Morris county. Texas, in 1891; Joseph H. Jr. was one of the prominent and influential citizens of Morris county. Texas, at the time of his death in i907, and had been called upon to serve in various county offices in Randolph county, Alabama: Dr. James L., who died at Lafayette, Alabama, in 1909, was a leading physician and surgeon of that section; Dr. Samuel J. is successfully engaged in the practice of medicine at Albertville, Alabama; and Moriah Redding was the wife of Joseph C. Robinson, of Morris county, Texas. For his second wife Dr. Joseph H. Davis married Miss Mary E. Gillespie, who was born in Carroll county, Georgia, and who is a daughter of the late John P. Gillespie, who passed the closing years of his life in the city of Houston. Texas. She was a sister of Rev. C. C. Gillespie, first editor of the Christian Advocate, published at Galveston, and during the Civil war was colonel of the Twenty-fifth Texas Regiment. Mary Gillespie Davis possessed the family characteristics of strength of mind and heart. Mrs. Davis now maintains her home in Lafayette, Alabama, and the following data are given concerning her children: Dr. Clayton C. is the immediate subject of this sketch; Walter G. is identified with business interests at Hogansville, Georgia; Robert S. is engaged in farming in Morris county, Texas; Stephen A. is president of the Merchants & Planters' Bank of Hogansville, Georgia: Harriet A. is the wife of William T. Harris, of Lafayette, Alabama; Martha C. is the wife of Robert L. Schuessler, of Lafayette, Alabama; and Mary E. is the wife of Robert L. Gaines, of Dotham, Alabama. (Source: A History of Central and Western Texas, Volume 2, by Capt. B. B. Paddock, Lewis Publishing Company, 1911)