John Davis (220)

John Davis (1737–13 December 1772) was an educator, a minister, and a member of the American Philosophical Society, elected in 1768. Born the son of a Baptist minister in New Castle County, Delaware, Davis would spend much of life trying to follow in his father’s footsteps. He studied first under Baptist minister Issac Eaton in Hopewell, New Jersey, before enrolling in the College of Philadelphia in 1760 where, again, he found guidance under Baptist minister Ebenezer Kinnersley. Davis made a good impression on his mentor which is the reason, days before graduating, the trustees offered him the position of usher in the English School in 1763. Shortly thereafter the trustees offered him the improved position of tutor in the Latin School which he accepted but within the year resigned. His next position of teaching mathematics at the Academy in Newark, Delaware also lasted only a few years before Davis left again to pursue ministry within the Baptist Church. He traveled to New England where, in 1770, was ordained and accepted a position at Boston’s Second Baptist Church. Again his stay proved brief. His failing health forced him to to leave only two years later and he sailed back to Philadelphia. Believing his health returned, Davis decided not to return to Boston and instead accompanied a group of Baptist settlers to the Ohio region before falling sick and dying near present day Moundsville, West Virginia. (PI)