Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Henry T. Davis, M. D.
Henry T. Davis, M. D., Richmond, Ind., was born on the Island ot Nantucket, Mass., Sept. 29, 1836, the oldest son of Henry W. and Lydia Cartwright Davis. Born in rugged New England and reared on her stormy coast, he inherited a robust constitution and imbibed the energizing influence of his early surroundings. The subject of this sketch was educated under the public-school system of his native island. An apt scholar, he found no difficulty in maintaining his rank in his class; his special taste, however, was for mathematical studies, in which he excelled. Having completed his school life at the early age of seventeen, he commenced the study of medicine with William P. Cross, M. D., of Nantucket. For three years this was continued, during which time he attended two courses of lectures at the Cleveland Medical College, subsequently graduating at the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, St. Louis. During the year 1857 a few months were spent in the South, where, finding no satisfactory location, he again turned toward the New England States, but on his way was arrested by the thought that to return was no evidence of success. Suddenly he determined to try the West, and without any particular point in view he drifted to Richmond, Ind., his present residence, where the evidences of thrift and prosperity arrested his course and determined his future. The following year he was married to Louisa G. McDonald, of Oxford, Ohio, and to her rare endowments he attributes much of his subsequent success in life. Having no aspirations except to succeed in his profession, twenty years of fixed residence, with hardly a month's respite, have resulted in a competency that in satisfactory and a professional reputation that is unquestioned. Buoyant of disposition and of untiring energy, he has overridden many obstacles in life and resolved what would otherwise have been failures into success. Enthused with local pride he has served since 1869, except a brief interval, as a member of the City Council, and for a similar period as President of the Board of Health, sacrificing much time to promote the city's interests. He is a member of the Knights Templar and the Masonic Order. He is also a member of the Grace Methodist Episcopal Church. Of unblemished personal character, he still lives one among the many examples of what energy and application will accomplish.
Source:
History of Wayne County, Indiana. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Co. 1884. Volume 2