Texas Legislators: Past & Present

William Owen Davis

Full Name: William Owen "Will" Davis
Birth date: February 26, 1847
Death date: December 5, 1941

Terms of Service

Senate, 19th ⁽²⁾ & 18th ⁽⁵⁾ ⁽⁶⁾ Legislatures
1/9/1883 - 1/11/1887
Democrat
Senate, 17th ⁽¹⁾ ⁽³⁾ ⁽⁴⁾ Legislature
4/6/1882 - 1/9/1883
Democrat

(1) 2-year term; entire Senate went up for reelection in 1882 due to redistricting. Act passed May 3, 1882, 17th Legislature, C.S., ch. 13, Apportionment Laws of Texas, 1836-1950 1950.
(2) Democrat, p. 163. Burke's Texas Almanac and Immigrants' Handbook for 1885 1885.
(3) No record of party affiliation. Assumed democrat due to affiliation in other sessions, service in the Confederate Army, convention attendance, or information included in biographical sketches. Legislative Reference Library .
(4) William O. Davis, sworn 4/6/1882, succeeded J.M. Martin, died 3/9/1882. Members of the Texas Congress 1836-1845; Members of the Texas Legislature 1846-2004 2005.
(5) Democrat. Pocket Directory of the Eighteenth Legislature of Texas 1883.
(6) 18th Legislature, Regular Session - All Senators except District 3 and 21 are listed in Roll Call as taking the oath of office, 1/9/1883, p. 2; resolution by Sen. Gooch that the Senators shall now be divided by lot into two classes, 1/10/1883, pp. 5-6; drew term of 4 years. Senate Journal . January 9, 1883
January 10, 1883

Biographical Notes and Resources

Photographs

Photograph. W.O. Davis, State Preservation Board
Photograph. W.O. Davis, State Preservation Board

Other Resources

Mentioned in biographical sketch of Hon. Alvin C. Owsley, pp. 651-652. "He [Owsley] at once entered into the practice and was thrown into competition with the ablest lawyers of the State, among them . . . Hon. T.J. Brown . . . Hon. W.O. Davis." Biographical Souvenir of the State of Texas, Containing Biographical Sketches of the Representative Public, and Many Early Settled Families 1889.
William Owen Davis, birth date 2/25/1847 in Georgia; death date 12/5/1941 in Gainesville, Cooke County; lawyer. FamilySearch Texas Deaths, 1890-1976 .
William Owen Davis (1847-1941), burial in Fairview Cemetery, Gainesville, Cooke County. Includes historical marker photo (William Owen Davis, birth date 2/26/1847, death date 12/5/1941). Find a Grave .
Account of altercation on the floor of the Senate between Senators Davis and Houston, "Statesman Enraged: a Stormy Scene in the Senate Chamber," 5/15/1885, p. 1. Galveston Daily News .
Biographical sketch, W.O. Davis, p. 77. Born 2/26/1848 in Heard County, Georgia. Personnel of the Texas State Government for 1885, 19th Legislature 1885.
Memorial, January-February 1942, p. 24. Texas Bar Journal .
Confederate States Army, Company K, 5th Infantry. Memorial, January-February 1942, p. 24. Texas Bar Journal .
Historical marker, William Owen Davis, Fairview Cemetery, Gainesville, Cooke County. Texas Historic Sites Atlas (Texas Historical Commission) .
Biographical sketch, William Owen Davis, p. 242. Born 2/26/1848. Term expires November, 1886. Texas Legislative Manual, 1882-83 1883.
Family group sheet. The Davis Family .
"Though the freshman senators of the Seventeenth Legislature generally were Democrats . . . No fewer than eleven had fought for the Confederacy," [among them Browne, McLane, McDonald, and Davis,] p. 280. The Texas Senate: Volume II, Civil War to the Eve of Reform, 1861-1889 1999.