[p. 579] one of Mahoning Township's most respected citizens, residing on his excellent farm of eighty-five acres, was born December 15, 1831, in Mahoning Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Elijah and Mary Davis, and a grandson of David Davis.
The Davis family is of Welsh extraction, but has been American for several generations. Elijah Davis came in early days to the vicinity of Hillsville, building a log house in the woods on a large tract of wild land he had acquired. Later, he erected a comfortable frame dwelling, in which he continued to reside and there his death took place on March 9, 1846, when in his fifty-first year.
Robert Davis was reared to man's estate on the above pioneer farm and assisted his father to clear and cultivate it. He was trained to be a farmer and thoroughly understands every method of agriculture, in later years adopting many of the methods and much of the machinery which were unknown in his early manhood. For some twenty-five years he followed threshing, being in partnership with his brother, the late William Davis. Mr. Davis was married (first) to Eliza J. Cramer, who was born in Lawrence County. He was married (second) to Laura Cadwallader, who was born in Mahoning Township, and is a daughter of Milton Cadwallader, of Welsh extraction, once a prominent man in this section. Septimus Cadwallader and Sarah Dallas, his wife, came from Redstone Pa., in 1803, and settled a large tract of land at what is now called Quakertown, and ran a tannery and comb factory. They were Quakers. Septimus Cadwallader was the father of Joseph Cadwallader, and the latter the father of Milton Cadwallader, the father of Laura Cadwallader, the wife of Robert Davis. Septimus Cadwallader built a stone house in Quakertown in 1805, which is in good preservation to this time, 1908. Mr. Davis is a representative member of the Baptist Church at Hillsville, having been a deacon in that body for many years. He belongs to the Prohibition party.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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