WILLIAM M. DAVIS, farmer, P. O. Bloomville, was born January 18, 1819, in Perry County, Ohio. His father, John Davis, born in 1785, in Frederick County, Md., married, in 1816, Miss Hannah Kershner who was born in Franklin County, Penn., in 1790. After keeping the Harper's Ferry Hotel and ferry for two years they moved to Perry County, Ohio, where they lived until November, 1824, when they settled permanently on Section 8, Bloom Township, this county. They were thirteen days coming 126 miles. There were not fifty acres cleared in the township and there were more Indians than white people. Seneca John with a tribe of Indians camped close to the farm, and they would trade deer meat and skins for provisions. (John T. Reed, now a resident of Bloomville, taught the second school in the first schoolhouse in the township). Mr. Davis went to mill at Tiffin when there were but seven houses; hauled provisions to Toledo when there were not ten houses on the road. He saw the first train that ran through the county, Hogge being the engineer and Jesse Durbin, conductor, who afterward became a Methodist minister. John Davis and Russel Munsell built on that farm a sawmill, in 1826, which was rebuilt later and sold to John Shouts. This mill was for some time the only one on Honey Creek above Melmore, and was usually kept running day and night making lumber for the early settlers to use as flooring, etc.

John Davis was a very industrious man and led an active life. He was a Methodist and helped establish the first church in the township. He died in 1849. He was a man of generous disposition, always liberal to the poor. His wife a Presbyterian and an earnest Christian woman died in 1840. The children of this couple are William M.; Jonathan and Dr. Thomas W., of Wapella, Ill.; Mrs. Elizabeth Taylor, of Bloomington, Ill.; Milton R., of Mendota, Mo.; and Mrs. Sarah Stinchcomb of Bloom Township, this county. Milton R. was a soldier, enlisting in Illinois and serving in defense of his country during the late Rebellion. William M. Davis, married July 31. 1845, Sarah Lemmert, of Crawford County, Ohio, who died in 1872. The children born to this union are as follows: Mrs. Sarepta Corey, of Bulgoe, Ohio; John C.; Milton R., of Bairdsburgh, Iowa; Mrs. Virginia Howland (deceased); Bruce, and Charles F. Mr. Davis married, on second occasion, in 1877, Mrs. Louisa Super, born in Lancaster County, Penn., daughter of John Myers, a resident of Wayne County, Ohio. Mr. Davis is one of the oldest pioneers of Bloom Township. He is an upright man, highly respected by all.


Trancribed by Bonnie Walsh.
WARNER, BEERS & CO., 1886
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, Part IV, p.734-735
BLOOM TOWNSHIP