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PROFESSOR JOHN DAVIS
Vol. 3, p. 1885

The history of educational development in Oklahoma becomes more
interesting in proportion to the recital of facts relating to the
contributions made by such men as Professor DAVIS, since the number
of individuals who may be counted as pioneers in the school history
of Oklahoma is small. It was twenty years ago that Professor Davis
began his activities in Oklahoma, becoming superintendent of the
Blackwell public schools in 1895. The year after statehood he was
called to the Central State Normal School at Edmond, and now for
several years has been head of the department of physics and
chemistry in that institution. His activities and influence both in
and out of the classroom have been an important feature in the
remarkable growth of the Central Normal.

John Davis was born in a plain rural Indiana community at Wolcott,
March 7, 1867, a son of Joseph W. and Nancy M. (JAMES) Davis. His
paternal grandfather was a first cousin of Jefferson Davis, President
of the Confederacy, and was born in 1800. The father was a farmer,
minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and about two years
before the birth of Professor Davis had come back from the war with
the rank of first lieutenant in an Indiana regiment. Professor Davis
has two brothers and four sisters: Reed Davis, a lumber dealer at
Grandfield, Oklahoma; Mrs. Harriet STOCKS, wife of a farmer at
Clinton, Oklahoma; Arthur Davis, agent for the Santa Fe Railway at
McPherson, Kansas; Mrs. Josie ERICKSON, wife of a stockman at Latham,
Kansas; Mrs. Cynthia PITTS, whose husband is a music dealer at
Lafayette, Indiana; and Mrs. Mary PIERCE, who lives with her daughter
at Yale, Oregon.

Professor Davis was educated in the public schools of Butler County,
Kansas, to which state his parents removed in a covered wagon in
1876. He was afterwards in the Kansas Agricultural College at
Manhattan and in the Kansas State Normal at Emporia. His life up to
the age of nineteen was spent on a farm, at which time he left home
to enter the agricultural college. He worked his way through that
school, graduating with the degree Bachelor of Science in 1890. He
then took professional work in the Kansas State Normal, graduating in
1892. For several years after that he was principal of several
important schools in Kansas, and in 1895 came to Oklahoma and was
elected superintendent of schools at Blackwell. In 1899 he became a
member of the faculty of the Northwestern State Normal School at
Alva, and during the following six years was the successful
instructor and guide of hundreds of prospective teachers. Following
that for two years he was superintendent of schools at Nowata, and in
1908 took the chair of physics and chemistry in the Central State
Normal at Edmond.

Some of the methods employed in his successful work as an instructor
have been reduced to book form, under the title, "A Laboratory Course
in Physics," which is now in use in the schools of Oklahoma and has
been adopted as a text book in twelve other states. An important
feature of his work in the Central State Normal School was the
development of a school of photography, the attendance upon which has
increased in a few years from 80 to 236. In this school are taught
the rudiments of the art and the scientific developing and finishing
of the pictures. This school does nearly all the photographic work
for the Central State Normal. Lantern slides made here are used in
advertising the Normal, and Professor Davis is assigned the duty each
year of traveling over the state in the interest of the school, using
his slides in illustrating the character of the work done there.

Professor Davis was married in Ponca City, Oklahoma, in 1896 to Miss
Lily REED, who since their marriage has been associated with her
husband in educational work. She has been critic teacher in the
Central State Normal School, and in 1915 taught a public school in
Harmon County. They have one daughter, Ruth, aged fourteen, and in
1915 a freshman student in the Central Normal.

Professor Davis is a member of the Presbyterian Church, and is
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Order of Yeomen. He is
well known in educational circles, is a member of the Oklahoma
Educational Association, the Central Oklahoma Educational
Association, and the Oklahoma Academy of Science. His motto is hard
work. He is devoted to the duties of his position, and spends a great
deal of time in advancing the education of students in overflowing
classes.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Dorothy M. Tenaza, July 20, 1999

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916)