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Webster Davis

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Webster Davis
30th Mayor of Kansas City
In office
1894–1896
Preceded byWilliam S. Cowherd
Succeeded byJames M. Jones
Personal details
BornJune 1, 1861
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedFebruary 22, 1923(1923-02-22) (aged 61)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Alma materUniversity of Michigan Law School

Webster Davis (June 1, 1861 – February 22, 1923) was a mayor of Kansas City, Missouri from 1894 to 1896 and was the Assistant Secretary of the Interior from 1897 to 1898.

Early life

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Davis was born on June 1, 1861, in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. In 1868 his family moved to a farm in Chillicothe, Missouri and then to Gallatin, Missouri where his father began a shoemaking operation. He worked on the farm, clerked in a store and worked in his shoemaking business.[1]

In 1881 Davis moved to Lake Forest, Illinois, where he was a lamplighter. He then returned to Gallatin, and resumed shoemaking and clerking.[1] In 1882 Davis became a copyist in the law office of Shanklin, Low & McDougal and studied law while he worked there.[1] In 1884 he attended the University of Kansas and became a lawyer initially practicing in Garden City, Kansas.[1]

Career

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Davis became active in the Republican Party.[citation needed] After graduating from the University of Michigan Law School he moved to Kansas City, Missouri where he unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 1892.[1]

Davis was elected as mayor of Kansas City in 1894. In 1897, Davis was appointed by President William McKinley as Assistant Secretary of the Interior.[1]

He was forced to resign after an 1898 visit to South Africa when he sympathized with the Boers. Unable to get a plank supporting them in the Republican Party platform, he switched to being a Democrat.[1][2] He wrote a book about the Boer War entitled John Bull's Crime: Or, Assaults on Republics which was published in 1901.[citation needed]

He died in Kansas City on February 22, 1923,[2] and is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.[3][4]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Creel, George; Slavens, John (1902). Men Who Are Making Kansas City. p. 34. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Webster Davis is Dead in K. C." Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. Kansas City. February 23, 1923. p. 13. Retrieved December 29, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Davis, U to Z
  4. ^ http://www.historickcelmwood.org/biosd.html#2
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Political offices
Preceded by Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri
1894–1896 		Succeeded by
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