Carson City
Hon. Samuel P. Davis
Biography
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Nevada Genealogy Trails Carson City Hon. Samuel P. Davis Biography |
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HON. SAMUEL P. DAVIS, controller of Nevada, came to the state some thirty years ago under engagement to write on the Virginia Chronicle then owned by Dennis McCarthy. He was born in Branford, Connecticut, April 4, 1850. He comes of Welsh ancestry, but several generations of the family have resided in New England. His father, Rev. Geo. R. Davis, an Episcopal clergyman, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, where he married Sylvia Nichols, a native of Maine. He came to Nevada in 1875 and spent a long and useful career in the ministry, but is now retired and resides in Carson City, a man revered and beloved by all who have the honor of his acquaintance. Four children were born to him: Robert, now on the editorial staff of the New York World; William, a writer on the Stockton Mail; Mrs. H. G. Shaw, of San Francisco; and the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Davis received his education at Racine College, Wisconsin, and since that time has devoted himself to journalism, having been connected with the Chicago Times, Omaha Herald, Marysville Appeal. Chronicle, Examiner and Argonaut, of San Francisco, Virginia Chronicle and Salt Lake Tribune. For more than twenty years he has been the editor and publisher of the Carson Appeal, the oldest paper to be published continuously in the state, and now one of the leading fusion organs.
Mr. Davis has been in active politics since young manhood, and for a number of years was an ardent Republican. In January, 1890, he startled the politicians of the state by hoisting the flag of revolt against the party and called upon those who did not believe that Nevada was benefited by a high tariff and the demonetization of silver, to join in the formation of a new party. He was derided by his late political associates and read out of the party, but a few years later had the satisfaction of seeing, not only his own state but the whole west, fighting on the same political lines.
In 1889 he was nominated for controller by acclamation by the silver party and elected. Immediately upon assuming the duties of his office, he in conjunction with Governor Sadler, made a tour of the state in the interests of a reorganization of the revenue system, and opened an aggressive war upon the interests which were escaping a just proportion of taxation. The result of this agitation was the passage of what is known as the Pitt revenue bill, and other revenue legislation tending to raise valuations and lower tax rates. Mr. Davis has made a thorough study of revenue matters not only in Nevada but taxation in other states, and is regarded as authority upon all questions connected with taxation and revenue. During his administration the system of equal taxation, based upon high valuations and low rates, has been featured systematically, and as a result Nevada has added many millions each year to its assessment roll, and outside capital has flowed in to further distribute and equalize the burdens of taxation under which Nevada staggered for a long time. In the administration of his office he has treated the rich and the poor impartially, the corporation and the cabin-owner being upon the same footing.
He has always been an advocate of state development, and was the first to import thoroughbred Holstein cattle to the state. He still maintains a breeding farm two miles from Carson City. In 1880 he married Nellie V. Mighels, widow of Harry R. Mighels and sister of Professor Addison Verrill. of Yale College, one of the leading zoologists of America. Two lovely daughters have been born to them, Lucy and Ethel.
For years past Mr. Davis has enjoyed a national reputation as a writer, and contributed to the leading magazines and periodicals of the United States. His best story, one which has been translated into several languages and republished and revamped more than any of his works, is "The First Piano in Camp."
As a public speaker he is regarded as at his best when called upon after the wine and walnuts at a public function. He generally sets the table in a roar, and a contemporaneous writer has said of him that his oratory is governed by the brand of wine on the menu. A stem-winding effort from "Sam." as he his affectionately called by his friends, means the best brand in the market. The best of these efforts and a piece of word painting which will always live, is his glittering oratorical tribute to electricity at the banquet given in honor of the introduction of cheap power on the Comstock.
In political campaigns he delights in being in the thick of the fight, and his off-hand talks to a political audience are noteworthy for their entire absence of any attempt at eloquence and the abundance of hard slugging which characterizes them. He calls a spade a spade, and his talks are regarded as vote-getters for" the party.
Only when the entire fire of the opposition can be concentrated upon himself does he consider that he is doing his duty by his associates upon the ticket.
In 1885 he published a book of "Short Stories and Poems" which met with a very cordial reception from the critics of the country.
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