California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives 
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


ELONZO P. DAVIS. The present city marshal of Bakersfield is eminently qualified for his 
responsible position, having firmness, tact, strength of character, and broad and liberal ten- 
dencies. He is one of the pioneers of this section, and well understands the various human 
elements which comprise its varied, strenuous life. He was born in Arkansas September 22, 1853, 
and from his father, Isham T. Davis, inherits the courage and personal influence felt by all asso- 
ciated with him in whatsoever capacity. The elder Davis was born in Tennessee, as was also his 
wife, formerly Mary Farley, the latter of Scotch extraction. He was a man of iron will and a nat- 
ural soldier, the beating of a drum or the passing of martial music arousing in him the spirit of 
tented field and the rush of opposing forces. He shouldered a musket in the Mexican war, the 
Seminole and all the other Indian wars, and seemed to be protected by the very strength of 
his courage and daring in the face of danger. He was perfectly at home on the frontier, and as a 
pioneer of Kern county, where he lived for some years, and where he died after, an exceptionally 
active and useful life. He reared a family of four sons and four daughters. 

Bakersfield was a small town when Elonzo P. Davis, the present marshal, arrived in its midst, 
and at that time he started the livery business with which his name and activity has since been 
associated. From a small beginning his business has grown with the development of the city. Mr. 
Davis has been one of the stanch advocates of good horses in this section of the country. In 
years past he has raised many blooded horses, and still has on hand several valuable animals. 
His livery equipment is modern and complete, and his name has stood at the head of enter- 
prises of the kind for many years. He has taken a keen interest in Democratic politics, under- 
standing only too well the prejudices and animosities with which the politician in this sec- 
tion has to deal. After an unusually riotous campaign he was elected marshal of Bakersfield 
in 1903, but the ballots were destroyed by fire, and through a miscount his opponent assumed 
the office. Mr. Davis, however, contested his right in the superior court, a ruling in his favor 
being secured in January, 1904, backed by the approval of the board of city trustees, who main- 
tained that his election has been eminently fair. Thereupon he took up the duties of the office, 
and has since proved his ability to maintain order in a district noted for its reluctance to give up 
the old-time frontier methods. January 4, 1882, Mr. Davis married Maggie Hope Taylor, a  
native of Virginia. They have five children, Myrtle, Elonzo, Pearl, Marvin and Erma.