John Wesley Davis

Infobox Congressman
honorific-prefix =
name = John W. Davis
honorific-suffix =


imagesize = 200 px
small

caption = Davis as painted by W.D. Murphy, 1911.
office = Indiana House Representative
term_start = 1831
term_end = 1833
1841 - 1843
1851 - 1852
1857 - 1857
preceded =
succeeded =
office2 = 5^th Governor of Oregon Territory
term_start2 = 14 May, 1853
term_end2 = 1 August, 1854
president2 = James K. Polk
lieutenant2 =
predecessor2 = George Law Curry
successor2 = George Law Curry
office3 = Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives
term_start3 = 3 December, 1832
term_end3 = 4 February, 1833
6 December, 1841- 31 January 1842
1 December, 1851 - 21 June, 1852
predecessor3 = Harbin H. Moore
Samuel Judah
Ebenezer Dumont
successor3 = Nathan B. Palmer
Thomas Jefferson Henley
William Hayden English
office4 = 3^rd United States Commissioner to the Great Qing Empire
term_start4 = 3 January, 1848
term_end4 = 25 May, 1850
order5 = 21^st
office5 = Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
term_start5 = December 1, 1845
term_end5 = March 4, 1847
president5 = James K. Polk
predecessor5 = John W. Jones
successor5 = Robert C. Winthrop
state6 = Indiana
district6 = 6^th
term_start6 = March 4, 1843
term_end6 = March 3, 1847
preceded6 = David Wallace
succeeded6 = George G. Dunn
state7 = Indiana
district7 = 2^nd
term_start7 = March 4, 1835
term_end7 = March 3, 1837
March 4, 1839 – March 3, 1841
preceded7 = John Ewing
John Ewing
succeeded7 = John Ewing
Richard W. Thompson
office8 = Indiana State court judge
term_start8 = 1829
term_end8 = 1831
nominator8 =
appointer8 =
predecessor8 =
successor8 =
birth_date = birth date|1799|04|16
birth_place = New Holland, Pennsylvania, USA
death_date = death date and age|1859|08|22|1799|04|16
death_place = Carlisle, Indiana, USA
restingplace = City Cemetery
restingplacecoordinates =
birthname = John Wesley Davis
nationality = American
party = Democratic
otherparty = Jacksonian
spouse =
partner =
relations =
children =
residence =
alma_mater = UMB
occupation = Doctor
profession = Medical
net worth =
cabinet =
committees = Committee on Public Lands
portfolio =
religion =


website =
footnotes =

John Wesley Davis (April 16, 1799–August 22, 1859) was a doctor and a prominent U.S. politician during the 1840s.

Early life and education

Davis was born in New Holland, Pennsylvania on April 161799 and later moved to Shippensburg, Pennsylvania with his parents.cite web |url=http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis5.html |title=The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Davis, J. |publisher=The Political Graveyard |accessdate=2007-10-31] [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=D000120 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: DAVIS, John Wesley] ] Davis graduated from Baltimore Medical College in 1821, then moved to Carlisle, Indiana in 1823 and practiced medicine there.

Political career

tate politics

Davis started his political career as an unsuccessfull candidate for the Indiana Senate in 1828. He instead became a state court judge in Indiana from 1829 to 1831. He was elected a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1831-1833, 1841-43, 1851-52, and in 1857. He was Speaker of the Indiana House from 1832-33, 1841-42, 1851-52.

National politics

He served as a U.S. Representative from Indiana in the 24th, 26th, 28th and 29th Congresses and was Speaker of the U.S. House in the 29th Congress. From 1848-1850 he was U.S. Diplomatic Commissioner to China. In 1852 he was a delegate to Democratic National Convention from Indiana.

Governership

He was appointed to the office of Governor of the Oregon Territory from in 1853 by President Franklin Pierce, his appointment was not welcomed by Oregonians however and he left office just over a year later back in the hands of Curry.

Death

Davis died in Carlisle, Indiana on August 22 1859. He was buried at City Cemetery in Carlisle.

References

External links

*Find A Grave|id=11962|name=John Wesley Davis
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/davis5.html#R9M0IUHP2 Davis, John Wesley] politicalgraveyard.com
* [http://www.osl.state.or.us/home/lib/governors/jwd.htm| Oregon State Library - Governors of Oregon Photographs] - Short biography and photograph.