Civil Engineering 1872-

JOSEPH BAKER DAVIS was born at Westport, Bristol County, Massachusetts, July 31, 1845, son of Ebenezer Hathaway and Mehitabel (Gifford) Davis. He attended various public schools of Massachusetts, including the Grammar and High Schools of New Bedford. In 1864 he entered the University of Michigan and was graduated Civil Engineer in 1868. His first practical work in his profession was in connection with the United States Lake Survey in 1867, when a survey was made of the Lake Superior shore line and of the portage entry base line, and for four years after graduation he continued in engineering work in the following relations: With the City Engineer of Detroit and with the Paving Contractor of that city in 1868; with the Missouri River, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad in 1868-1869; with the Owosso and Big Rapids Railroad as Location Engineer in 1869; with the Ann Arbor Railroad as Location Engineer in 1870; with the Jackson, Lansing, and Saginaw Railroad as Assistant Engineer, engaged chiefly on surveys and location, in 1870-1871. In 1872 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of Michigan and held that position continuously till 1891, when he became Professor of Geodesy and Surveying. Shortly after the death of Professor Greene in October, 1903, he was appointed Associate Dean of the Department of Engineering. He was Chief Engineer of the St. Clair Flats Survey for the State of Michigan from 1899 to 1902. He is a member of the Michigan Engineering Society, and has been its president several times. He is also a member of the American  Society of Civil Engineers. He was married July 10, 1872, to Mary Hubbard Baldwin, of Ann Arbor, and they have a son, Charles Baker (B.S. [C.E.] 1901).

Burke A. Hinsdale and Isaac Newton Demmon, History of the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1906), pp. 292-293.

JOSEPH BAKER DAVIS, C. E.

The Michigan Technic, 1891, Pages 1-5

By M. W. Harrington

Professor Davis is a true New England descent.  His ancestors were among the early settlers of Eastern Massachusetts.  His grandfather, Joseph Davis, was a blacksmith and master of his trade, and he taught the same trade to his son, Ebenezer H. the father of the subject of this sketch. Ebenezer became in time the person to whom was entrusted the tempering of tools always requires skill and experience, but in those days, now forth for more years ago, it was an especially difficult matter because of the imperfections of the steel.  The picks from this factory were taken to California soon after the discovery of gold there and they stood so well the hard usage they received that they became favorites with the miners, and the factory had to run day and night to supply the demands of the California market.  Ebenezer Davis afterwards became a ship-rigger at New Bedford, when this was the greatest whaling port in the world.  He became as much a maser of this business as he had been of the other and it was said of him that he could plan the rigging of the largest vessel so exactly that not a yard of rope would be left over.  In later life he retired to farm in North Dartmouth, Mass., and here he is still living at the age of seventy-five years.

Professor Davis was born in Westport, Mass., in 1845.  His mother was Mehitable C. Gifford Davis, who died when he was but seven months old.  Family tradition represents her as a woman of unusually amiable and attractive character.  The infant child was reared by a cousin of his grandfather, a maiden lady and member of the Society of Friends.  This was Miss Anstrus Baker, one of the calm, prudent Quaker type, whose steady character, unswerving devotion to duty and good deeds had given her judgment unusual weight in the family.  He had been named Joseph Davis, after his grandfather, but when he passed into the charge of Miss Baker her family name was added to his.  Her influence over him, acquired while he was very young, remained unchanged through her life.  After he left home he kept up a correspondence with her, and when she died, he traveled over a thousand miles to attend her funeral.  In her later years, her straight figure, her calm, pure face, her white hair, and her quaint and severe Quaker garb, made her an attractive and striking personage.

Mr. Davis’s childhood was spent in the surroundings of the respectable poverty of earlier New England. It was a poverty which was peculiarly wholesome for mind and body, and from which been derived much of the vigor and thrift of the nation.  He began his school life before the age of four.  The typical schoolhouse and teacher of the sterile farming districts of New England were so picturesque that their features have not escaped the writers of romance. A single room, abundance and variety of corporal punishment, the headlong sports of healthy and happy boys and girls, fresh air with no need of ventilating apparatus, woods and waters, form a picture which from time to time comes back to many of the middle-aged workers in office or classroom all over the country. To these there is to be added, for southeastern Massachusetts, visions of winding country roads, bits of fields hemmed in by stone walls, deciduous woods with an undergrowth like hair, or pine-woods, free open and fragrant, - brooks, old beaver-dams, ponds, cranberry marshes, huckleberry patches, mills turned by rock-channeled streams, abundance of spring flowers often very beautiful, sheltered skating nooks with rallying fires on the ice, and abundant other features, each in it season, all attractive to an active, healthy boy. Their very poverty added a charm to their lives for it held them nearer to Nature’s bosom. Homage to money was unknown and character was the only criterion for respect in these rural districts.  To these features we have to add, in this case two others.  The members of his family were Friends or closely associated with them, and his residence in or near New Bedford brought him into close contact with those occupied in marine pursuits.  In those days whale fishing was yet pursued with great activity, and the center of this activity was in southeastern Massachusetts.  Whale fishing is a picturesque and fascinating trade, and its influence on the imagination of a young boy must always be notable.  Mr. Davis’s reminiscences are always full of Pictures of whale fishing.   

He remained in New Bedford until 1863, when his father purchased a farm a few miles out from this place. From here the farmer used to go into the city on business, and here young Davis spent the last year with his father’s family.

In 1864, he presented himself among the crowd of expectant freshmen asking admission to the University of Michigan. He was admitted, and graduated, in the class of 1868 – a class, which has left more of its members in the University faculty than any other class ever graduated there.  In his University course, Mr. Davis’s work was marked by the characteristics, which have marked his life since.  His sterling manliness and loyalty to his convictions gave him the thorough respect and confidence of his instructors and classmates.  His means were limited, and, in addition to the work, which he performed with his classmates, he had also to provide for his own subsistence.  This he did in such a way that his standing as a student did not suffer.  His genuine ability, his sturdy conscientiousness in his work, and his unremitting industry, overcame all obstacles, and kept him among the first in an unusually strong class. Meantime, in all matters of college or class politics, his fellow students were never in doubt as to where Davis would stand.  His strong common sense, with a tincture of Quakerism, was always his guide.  His classmates well remember the thickset, strong, good-natured, deep-voiced, and fair young man, plainly dressed, unpretentious, hearty in his bearing and loyal to his class and to his friends.  In those closely associated with him at this time, he aroused a feeling of affection, which was founded on a basis of respect and confidence.  There is no sentiment that is more enduring than affection built on such a foundation.  It can only be changed by the conviction that the foundation is unsafe.  In this case the sentiment has remained unchanged through the quarter of a century, which has elapsed since the sturdy young Davis used to occupy the seat of a student.

In the summer of 1867 and therefore while yet a student, Mr. Davis spent the summer on Lake Superior, in the employ of the United States Lake Survey.  The season was spent on the portage entry baseline, on a harbor survey at Chocolet River, on shoreline and inland surveys, and on soundings.  In those days, members of the senior class in the University finished their college work at class day, then a month earlier than commencement.  Mr. Davis did not wait during this month to enjoy his newfound ease but went at once to Detroit where he served in various capacities in the City Engineer’s office and as draftsman in an architect’s office.  Indoor work, however, did not agree with him and he soon accepted a position on the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf railroad.  He went to Kansas in the autumn of 1868 and was occupied with the preliminary surveys and location of this road.  He was here under the well-known engineer, Mr. Octave Chanute, who built the Kansas City bridge over the Missouri river, - a feat considered impossible not ten years before it was done.  Mr. Davis had the good fortune to obtain Mr. Chanute’s entire confidence and esteem.

In June 1869, he returned to Michigan and during the summer and autumn was occupied in running line from Owosso to Big Rapids, - a distance of about ninety miles.  On the completion of these surveys he returned to Massachusetts after an absence of six years.

In 1870, at the beginning of the second semester, Mr. Davis was invited to take a temporary position of instructor in the department of civil engineering.  At the end of the college year he accepted employment on the Toledo and Ann Arbor Railroad, and during the summer he made the location surveys for this line. This line was first straight from city to city but, a gad place having been found in its course, a small angle was introduced to avoid this. Later he was made chief assistant engineer for Northern extension of the Jackson, Lansing and Saginaw Railroad.  He made the exploratory surveys from Bay City to Gaylord, and the location surveys to Grayling.

In the autumn of 1871 he went to Swarthmore, Penn., to organize the Civil engineering course in the Friends’ college at that place.  In June 1872, he was made assistant professor of Civil engineering in the University of Michigan, and he has held that position to the present time with great satisfaction to the University and to his pupils.  In July 1872, he married Miss Mary Hubbard Baldwin, daughter of Deacon J. D. Baldwin, of Ann Arbor.  Three children have been born to them but only one survives.

A large part of Mr. Davis’s professional activity has been spent in teaching; in fact, with the exception of a year or so, he has been teaching ever since he graduated.  During this time a very large number have passed out fro under his instruction to their professional duties.  They look back with both respect and affection to their instructor, and with good reason; for, aside from those qualities of head and heart to which I have already referred, and which command these sentiments, he brought to his work as teacher a thorough knowledge of his subject and a conscientiousness and painstaking which would permit no member of his class to slur over his work, or to think himself well prepared when he was not.  Mr. Davis insists on a good, accurate, thorough, and honest work on the part of his pupils as he would perform himself, and he often calls their attention to what might be called the ethical side of the profession.  Lives and property depend on the honesty and knowledge of the engineer and architect, and an engineer who undertakes work for which he is not competent, betrays the confidence of his employers, and may be punished by law.  Thorough and conscientious work must always be done, and this wholesome lesson Mr. Davis especially impresses on his pupils.

Professor Davis has written but little; he has been too busy.  Nor has he sought honors or employment, but has waited for them to come to him.  In addition to his duty as teacher, he has had as many professional labors as he could attend to, and he has kept up his practice as engineer and surveyor.  He was made City Engineer of Ann Arbor may years ago, without solicitation, and while seven hundred miles away; and, through all the vicissitudes of local politics, he retained this position for sixteen years when he resigned it and his assistant was made his successor.  During this time he fixed our levels and grades, set the necessary monuments and made records of them, attended to gutters, crossings and similar matters until the city is now one of the best cared for of its size in the country.  In 1874 he became a Junior in the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he remains in that grade to this day, probably the Junior of the longest standing on the list.  In 1883, he was made president of the Michigan Engineering Society, and held the position for three consecutive terms.  He has also been a consulting engineer for the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad and still holds this relation with the Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Michigan Railroad.  He was for two years vice-president of the “Council of Engineering Societies on National Public Works.”  He has interested himself especially in highway and railroad bridges and many have been built according to his designs.  He has also made a study of the problems of water works for cities, and those at Greenville, Michigan, built at a cost of $45,000, are a standing illustration of the effectiveness, thoroughness, and economy of his plans.  A somewhat similar history applies to the waterworks of Owosso.  He takes, apparently, especial interest in that difficult, time consuming and exasperating duty of surveyors, - that of finding missing corners, - and to this he brings to bear an amount of tact and experience rarely found elsewhere, and a willingness to expend more labor than most surveyors are willing to put on it.  The result is that with him lost corners are always found, if they are actually in existence, and with the finding of them comes the definite and authentic settlement of boundaries so necessary to the comfort of landowners.

JOSEPH BAKER DAVIS, C. E.

The Michigan Engineer, 1889, Pages 161-164

By M. W. Harrington

Prof. Davis was born in Westport, Massachusetts, in 1845.  His father was Ebenezer Davis, a ship rigger, whose skill in his trade was so great that it was said of him that he could plan the rigging of a large vessel so exactly that not a year of rope would be left over.  Mr. Davis’s mother died when he was but a few months old, and he was taken to live during his infancy with a Quaker maiden lady, the cousin of his grandfather.  This was Miss A. Baker, one of the calm, severe, prudent Quaker type, whose steady character, unswerving devotion to duty, and good deeds, had given her judgment unusual weight in the family.  Her influence over Mr. Davis, acquired while he was very young, remained unchanged through her life.  After he left home, he kept up a correspondence with her; and when she died, he traveled over a thousand miles to attend her funeral.  In her later years, her straight figure, her calm, pure face, her white hair, and her quaint and severe Quaker garb, made her an attractive and striking personage.

Mr. David remained with Miss Baker at “Westport until he was eight years of age, when he returned to the house of his father, who had in the meantime married again, and was living in New Bedford.  His father was also of Quaker tendencies, so that in Mr. Davis’s early life there were two especial and interesting features, - Quaker surroundings, and association with persons interested in marine matters.  In those days, whale fishing was yet pursued with great activity, and the center of this activity was about southeastern Massachusetts.  Whale fishing is a picturesque and fascinating trade, and its influence on the imagination of a young boy must always be notable.  Mr. Davis’s reminiscences are always full of pictures of whale fishing.

He remained in New Bedford until 1863, when his father purchased a farm a few miles out from New Bedford.  From here the father used to go into the city on business, and here young Davis spent the last year with his father’s family.

In 1864, he presented himself among the crowd of expectant freshmen asking admission to the University of Michigan.  He was admitted, and graduated in the class of 168, - a class, which has left more of its members in the University faculty than any other class over graduated there.  In his University course, Mr. Davis’s work was marked by the characteristics, which have marked his life since.  His sterling manliness and loyalty to his convictions gave him the thorough respect and confidence of his instructors and his classmates.  His means were limited, and in addition to the work, which he performed with his classmates, he had also to provide for his own subsistence.  This he did in such a way that his standing as a student did not suffer.  His sterling ability, his sturdy conscientiousness in his work and his unremitting industry, overcome all obstacles, and kept him among the first in an unusually strong class.  Meantime, in all matters of college or class politics, his fellow students were never in doubt as to where Davis would stand.  His strong common sense, with a tincture of Quakerism was always his guide.  His classmates well remember the thickset, strong, good-natured, and fair young man, plainly dressed, unpretentious, hearty in his bearing, and loyal to his class to his friends.  In those closely associated with him at this time, he aroused a feeling of affection, which was founded on a basis of respect and confidence. There is no sentiment that is more enduring than affection founded on such corner stones through the quarter of a century, which has elapsed since the sturdy young Davis used to occupy the seat of a student.

In the summer of 1867, and therefore while yet a student, Mr. Davis spent a season on Lake Superior, in the employ of the United States Lake Survey.  It was while he was here that he laid claim, with what seriousness may be seen by what follows, to a descent from an ancient Welsh family.  The chief of the party was though a civilian, strict in the enforcement of army etiquette, and his assistants, of whom Mr. Davis was one, found themselves treated very formally at the officer’s mess.  The chief had the lead in conversation at the first dinner table, and he took the opportunity to enlarge on his ancestry, tracing it back that day as far as the Winthrops of Massachusetts.  This continued day after day, and those who had been in his party before said it would continue all summer.  At last Mr. Davis put an end to it in some such way as this:

“May I be permitted to make a statement as to my ancestry, Mr. ______?”

“Certainly.”

“You remember that Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, applied to Henry III for protection from his own subjects?”

“Yes.”

“It is said that we are descended from Llewellyn!”

The chief stood – or rather sat – aghast.  He had been boasting of descent from various provincial governors; but there sat a descendant of the Welsh kings a relation, consequently, to the reigning English family through the Tudors. The rest of the party did not dare to even smile until out of sight of the chief, but the subject of his ancestry was not discussed further during that summer.

In those days, members of the senior class in the University of Michigan finished their college work at class-day, then a month earlier than commencement. Mr. Davis did not wait during this month to enjoy his newfound ease, but went at once into the city surveyor’s office in Detroit.  Office work did not, however agree with him, and he cheerfully accepted a position which was soon after offered him on the new Kansas, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad.  He went to Kansas, and was occupied there in laying out the road until the autumn of 1869, when he returned to Michigan, and took part in running a new line of railroad near Bog Rapids.  At the end of this job he returned to New Bedford, and spent a part of the winter of 1869-70 with his father.

In the spring of 1870, DeVolson Wood, professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Michigan, wished for assistance in his department, and could find no one more suitable than Mr. Davis.  He was consequently made assistant professor at this time, and he has been a teacher of civil engineering ever since.  In the following summer he acted a prospector on the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw road.  Before the college year of 1871-72 began, he was offered the professorship of civil engineering at Swarthmore College, near Philadelphia. At the end of this college year his alma mater required his services again, and he returned to Ann Arbor, again as assistant professor. Prof Wood left the University at this time, and was succeeded by Prof. Greene, and the department was re-organized.  Mr. Davis has retained his position from 1872 to the present day.

A large part of Mr. Davis’s professional activity has been spent in teaching; in fact with the exception of a year or so he has been teaching ever since he graduated. During this time, a very large number have passed out from under his instruction to their professional duties.  They look back with both respect and affection to their instructor, and with good reason; for, aside from those qualities of head and heart to which I have already referred, and, which command these sentiments, he brought to his work as teacher a thorough knowledge of his subject, combined with a conscientiousness and painstaking which would permit no member of his class to slur over his work, or to think himself well prepared when he was not.  Mr. Davis insists on as good, accurate, thorough, and honest work on the part of his pupils as he would perform himself, and he often calls their attention to what might be called the ethical side of the profession.  Lives and property depend on the honesty and knowledge of the engineer and architect, and an engineer who undertakes work for which he is not competent, betrays the confidence of his employers, and may be punished by law.  Thorough and conscientious work must always be done, and this wholesome lesson Mr. Davis especially impresses on his pupils.

In 1872 Mr. Davis married Miss Mary Hubbard Baldwin, daughter of Deacon J. D. Baldwin, one of Ann Arbor’s most beautiful and most highly esteemed young ladies.  They had been acquainted from the time that Mr. Davis was a student; and the happiness of their life together has been interrupted only by the afflictions, which Providence, with a wisdom that surpasses ours, has seen fit to bring on them.  They have lost two boys, the eldest and the youngest, and have one living.  The living son, Charles, was born in July 1875.  In 1879, they built a pretty and unique house, which they still occupy.

Prof. Davis has written but little; he has been too busy.  Nor has he sought honors or employment, but has waited for them to come to him. In addition to his duties as a teacher, he has had as many professional labors as he could attend to.  He was made city engineer of Ann Arbor ten or fifteen yours ago, without solicitation, and while seven hundred miles away; and through all the vicissitudes of local politics, he has retained this position.  During this time, the appearance of the city has been rendered much better, and many improvements have been introduced.  In 1874, he became a junior in the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he remains a junior to this day, probably the junior of the longest standing on the list. In 1883, he was made president of the Michigan Engineering Society, and held the position for three on consecutive terms. He has been for a long time a consulting engineer of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad, and of the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Railroad.  He was for two years vice-president of the “Council of Engineering Societies on National Public Works.”

He has interested himself especially in highway bridges, and many of the important ones in the State were built according to his designs.  He has also interested himself in city waterworks, and the works of Greenville, Mich., are a standing illustration of the effectiveness, thoroughness, and economy of his plans.  He takes, apparently, especial interest in that difficult, time-consuming, and exasperating duty of surveyors, - that of finding missing corners, - and to this he brings to bear an amount of tact and experience rarely found elsewhere, and a willingness to expend more labor than most surveyors are willing to put on it.  The result is that with him the lost corners are always found, and with the finding of them comes the definite and authentic settlement of boundaries so necessary to the comfort of landowners.

PROFESSOR JOSEPH BAKER, DAVIS, C. E.

The Michigan Technic, Year?, Pages 16-21

By Frederick Charles Wilson, ‘02

Professor Davis was born at Westport, Bristol County, Mass., on the 31st of July 1845. His ancestors were among the early settlers of Massachusetts. His grandfather, Joseph Davis, was a blacksmith and taught the same trade to his son Ebenezer H. Davis, the father of the Subject of this sketch. One thing, for which Professor Davis is noted, is the thorough and conscientious manner in which he does anything he undertakes; this trait he gets from his father, who was a thorough master of the finer points of his trade. Fifty years ago it was an especially difficult matter to temper tools, owing to the imperfections in the manufacture of steel. His father possessed the skill and experience in tempering to a high degree, and became in time the person to whom, was entrusted the tempering of farm tools factory of considerable size. Owing to the discovery of gold, in California the factory found a ready sale for picks among the miners. These picks stood the rough usage to which they were put so well that the brand soon became a favorite on the coast, and the factory had to run day and night to supply the demand from the Californian market. Ebenezer Davis turned from this business to that of ship-rigger, becoming a member of a gang of ship-riggers in New Bedford, Mass., popularly known as "Boss Cannon’s Gang." This was during the time when New *Bedford was the greatest whaling port in the world, and "Boss Cannon's Gang" was always called upon when a difficult piece of work had to be performed. He became as much a master of this business as he had been of the other, and in one particular case he planned the rigging of one of the largest of whaling vessels, and bought the stock with such care that all that remained when the vessel was ready for sailing was a yard of rope. Another illustration of the conscientious labor he put upon his work was in the splicing of a rope made for the Calumet and Hecla mines. He, with the assistance of one helper, spliced a twelve-inch patent rope, putting two and one-quarter days on the work, so well that while lying on the floor the eye could not detect the splice. In the summer of 1861 he bought a farm in North Dartmouth, Mass., about four miles out of New Bedford, residing there until his death in January 1894.

Professor Davis' mother, Mehitable C. Gifford Davis, was a woman of unusually amiable and attractive character; she died when he was but six months old: Miss, Anstrus Baker, a cousin of his grandfather, and a member of the Society of Friends, took the child. He was reared by her and her mother on a rocky and poor New England farm until the fall of 1853. He had been named Joseph after his grandfather, but when he passed into the charge Miss Baker, her family name was added. She was one of the calm, prudent, Quaker type, whose steady character, unswerving devotion to duty and good deeds had given her judgment unusual weight in the family.  Her influence over the boy, acquired while he was so young, remains unchanged. After he left home, he kept up a correspondence with her, and often visited her.  He was with her during her last sickness; and traveled over a thousand miles to attend her funeral.

Mr. Davis' childhood was spent in the surroundings of the respectable poverty of earlier New England. It was a peculiarly wholesome poverty for mind and body, and from which has been derived much of the vigor and thrift of the nation. He began his school life before the age of four. The typical schoolhouse and teacher of the sterile farming districts of New England were so picturesque that their features have not escaped the writers of romance. A single room, abundance and variety of corporal punishment, the headlong sports of healthy and happy boys and girls, fresh air with no need of ventilating apparatus, woods and waters, form a picture which from time to time comes back to the middle-aged workers in office or class-room all over the country. To these there is to be added, for southeastern Massachusetts, visions of winding country roads, bits of fields hemmed in by stone walls, deciduous woods with an undergrowth like hair, or pine woods free, open and fragrant, brooks, old beaver-dams, ponds, cranberry marshes, huckleberry patches, mills turned by rock channeled streams, abundance of spring flowers, often very beautiful, sheltered skating nooks with rallying fires on the ice, and abundant other features, each in its season, all attractive to an active, healthy boy. Their very poverty added a charm to their lives, for it held them nearer to Nature's bosom. Homage to money was unknown, and character was the only criterion for respect in these rural districts. To these features we have to add, in this case, two others. The members of his family were Friends, or closely associated with them, and his residence in or near New Bedford brought him into close contact with those occupied with marine pursuits. In those days, whale fishing was pursued with great activity, and the center of this activity was southeastern Massachusetts. Whale fishing is a picturesque and fascinating calling, and its influence on the imagination of a young boy must always be notable. Mr. Davis' reminiscences are always full of pictures of whale fishing.

In the fall of 1853 he went to New Bedford to live with his father, and attended the public schools and high school until the fall of 1862, when he went to live with his father on the farm purchased the summer before in North Dartmouth. From here the father used to go into New Bedford on business, and here young Davis spent the last year with his father's family. He left high school nine months before graduation, and during the winter of 1862 cut cordwood and lived at home. During the spring of 1863 he went to work on the Round Hill farm on the west shore of Buzzard's Bay.

Wm. J. Waters, a friend and playmate, who was the protégé of a wealthy woman, was encouraged by her to obtain a college education. On consultation with her cousin, who had been to Ann Arbor, Mr. Waters decided to go there, and not wishing to go alone, picked young Davis as a chum. Mr. Waters visited Davis at the above farm and endeavored to persuade him to go to Ann Arbor. This he succeeded in doing provided Mr. Davis could obtain his father's consent. He-Davis-went to his father, and said he would like to do one of two things, enlist in the army, where he had a brother and a half-brother, or go to college. Having received his father's encouragement to go to Ann Arbor in preference to war, he returned to his work on Round Hill farm, keeping up a correspondence with Mr. Waters who, however, soon decided to go elsewhere for a time. Subsequently his friend went to Ann Arbor, and graduated with two degrees. Mr. Davis made no alteration in his plans, on account of the failure of his friend to go, and on September 8th, 1863, he left New Bedford for the West, reaching Detroit early in the morning of September 11th. He had scarcely anything in his pockets, and what little he had he paid to a man to find him employment, which he obtained before the day was over, on the Brady farm, near Detroit, now a part of the D. M. Ferry seed farm. He remained there one, month, and then went to work for a man who owned a sawmill nearby, staying with him during the fall of 1863. From there he went to live with and work for a Mr. Arnold in the township of Redford, on the north bank of the Rouge River. Here he cut cordwood and worked for the neighbors until the following April. He visited Ann Arbor in March, and went to Ann Arbor to stay permanently in April 1864. Here he worked in David DeForest's lumberyards until September. At that time he took the examinations for entrance to the University, and was admitted with high standing, his work in English and mathematics being especially recommended.

He graduated in the class of 1868 - a class that has probably left more of its members in the University faculty than any other ever graduated there. In his University course, Mr. Davis' work was marked by the characteristics, which since has marked his life. His sterling manliness and loyalty to his convictions gave him the thorough respect and convictions of his instructors and classmates. His, means were limited, and in addition to the work which he- performed with his classmates, he had also to provide for his own subsistence. This he did in such a way that his standing as a student did not suffer. His genuine ability, his sturdy conscientiousness in his work, and his unremitting industry overcame all obstacles, and kept him among the first in an unusually strong class. Meanwhile, in all matters of college or class politics, his fellow students were never in doubt as to where Davis would stand. His strong common sense, with a tincture of Quakerism, was always-his guide. His classmates well remember the thick-set, strong, good-natured, deep-voiced, and fair young man, plainly dressed, unpretentious, hearty in his bearing, and loyal to his class and to his friends. In those closely associated with him at this time, he aroused a feeling of affection, which was founded on a basis of respect and confidence. There is no sentiment that is more enduring than affection built on such a foundation. It can only be changed by the conviction that the foundation is unsafe. In this case the sentiment has remained unchanged through the thirty-six years, which have elapsed since the sturdy young Davis used to occupy the seat of a student.

In the season of 1867, and therefore while yet a student, Mr. Davis spent the summer on Lake Superior in the employ of the United States Lake Survey. The season was spent on soundings, on shoreline and inland surveys, on a harbor survey at Chocolet River and on the Portage entry baseline. In those days, members of the senior class in the University finished their course at class-day, then a month earlier than, commencement. Mr. Davis did not wait during this month to enjoy his newfound ease, but went at once to Detroit, where he served in various capacities in the City Engineer's office and as draftsman in an architect's office.  Indoor work, however, did not agree with him, and he soon accepted a position on the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad. He went to Kansas in the autumn of 1868, and was occupied with the preliminary surveys and location of the north end of this road, or of that part which is within the State of Kansas. He was here under the well-known engineer, Mr. Octave Chanute, who built the Kansas City Bridge over the Missouri river, a feat considered impossible not ten years before it was done. Mr. Davis had the good fortune to, obtain Mr. Chanute's entire confidence and esteem. In June 1869, he returned to Michigan, and during the summer and autumn was occupied in running, a railroad line from Owosso to Big Rapids, a distance of eighty-nine miles. By this fall he had also succeeded in repaying a rather large debt, together with the interest, incurred in obtaining his collegiate education. On the completion of these surveys he returned to Massachusetts for a visit after an absence of six years. People around his old home during those days considered a college graduate as more or less of a dude; so in order to remove that impression and to show that he was still one of them, and had not forgotten old ways and habits, he took a contract to clear a piece of forest land and split the trees into cordwood. My own recollection of how cleverly and forcibly Professor Davis can swing an axe, as seen by me during the summer camp of the Junior Civil Engineers in 1901, leads me to think that he must have thoroughly convinced the natives that he was still their peer, or better, with the axe.

It was while engaged upon this contract that Mr. Davis received a letter from Mr. DeVolson Wood, at that time Professor of Civil Engineering asking him to take a temporary position as instructor in the Civil Department or the second semester of 1869-70. At the end of the college year he left the teaching force and accepted employment on the Toledo & Ann Arbor Railroad, and during the summer he made three different sets of preliminary surveys. The road was first laid out as a straight line from city to city, but a bad place having been found in its course - a large ridge near the middle of the line - an angle was introduced to avoid this. The third preliminary survey was made by way of Saline, but with no serious object in view, simply for general information for the company. However, none of these surveys were used in the final location of the line, a large detour having been decided upon instead of the straight-line route. In the fall of 1870 he was engaged by the Jackson, Lansing & Saginaw Railroad to make the preliminary and location surveys for the northern extension of that line. His value in this class of work was so quickly appreciated by the Chief Engineer that his salary was raised three times in the first three months, at the end of which time he was made the Assistant Chief Engineer in charge of location. He made the exploratory surveys from West Bay City to Gaylord and the location surveys nearly to Grayling. In the autumn of 1871 he went to Swarthmore, Penn., to organized the Civil Engineering course in the Friend's College at that place. In June 1872, he was made Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering in the University of Michigan, which position he held until 1891, when he was appointed to the chair he now occupies, Professor of Geodesy and Surveying. In January of the present year he was appointed Associate Dean of the Engineering Department, sharing with Professor Cooley the responsibilities of shaping the policy of the school, which position was so ably filled by our late and respected leader, Professor Charles E. Greene.

In July 1872, he married Miss Mary Hubbard Baldwin, daughter of Deacon J. D. Baldwin, of Ann Arbor. Three children have been born to them, but only one, Charles, lived. Charles Davis followed his father's footsteps, going through the University and graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, with the class of 1901. He has since then married, was assistant to his father in the surveying work one semester, and is now located in Pratt City, Jefferson Co., Ala., where a bright future seems to be in store for him. The same energy and exactness, which characterize the father, are to be observed in the son, who is ably capable of carrying on his father's work in the outer sphere of usefulness.

As a teacher Professor Davis is pre-eminently successful. He has always been able to arouse the dormant desire for investigation in his students, and they have handed in many valuable papers upon subjects not often touched upon in engineering work. He is as frank and loyal in his relations with his students now as he was with his fellow students when an undergraduate, and these qualities have endeared him to all who have passed under his instruction. He is a natural leader, and has that faculty, of bringing out all that is best in a student, which is the proof of a natural and successful teacher. Professor Davis would not hurt anyone's feelings if he could possibly avoid doing so. It hurts him far more than it does his hearer to have to tell a student that he is not qualified to follow up his work; 'yet when such an occasion arises, he is always one of the first to so notify the student, giving him advice as to what course could best be followed, and gently advising him, if necessary, that engineering is not that student's forte without wounding the sensibilities of his hearer. Being an exact, careful and conscientious worker himself, Professor Davis insists that his students be equally so. He will not countenance rough or careless work, and will patiently spend his time impressing his pupils with the fact that exactness in work, and carefulness in design or execution are the most important things an engineer must acquire. Simple ideas, which must always be observed in surveying work, ire usually conveyed with a story with a point to it; and the story always sticks, consequently the idea. For instance, while he was talking about use and care of instruments he may call attention to the fact that careless carrying frequently injures instruments. To give pointed ness to the talk, he told in one class of a young man who carried an axe and a transit over one shoulder; while telling it he settled back in his chair with a smile all over his face, and wound up as follows: "The axe probably cost $2oo.oo, the transit maybe $1:00--The axe wasn't hurt any." After hearing it one never forgets if an instrument is to be carried to make sure to carry only that on his shoulder. As another illustration, we may tell how he impresses upon the student to always take his readings upon permanent objects. Relating his own experience upon one occasion, when he had set up and read upon a large white rock across a valley and carefully recorded the same, only to find out when he started to measure an angle from it that "the cow had moved!"

Professor Davis has written very little. A paper once in a while, to be read before some society, or perhaps a pamphlet for class use. He has been too busy both in schoolwork and in outside professional work to put much time on writing for publication. He has always been a very busy man, and has always kept up his practice as an engineer and surveyor, often being obliged to turn away work for want of time to give to it. Years ago he was appointed City Engineer of Ann Arbor, and held that office for sixteen years. Professor Davis' record of monuments is in the most complete and compact form. In 1874 he became a junior in the American Society of Civil Engineers, and was probably the junior of longest standing in the society when he became a member in 1897; his advance to standing as a Member having been made at his own request. He has always taken a prominent part in the Michigan Engineering Society, and in 1883 was made its President, and held the position for three consecutive terms. He has held that position also in recent years. He was for two years Vice-President of the "Council of Engineering Societies in National Public Works;" he has been a Consulting Engineer for the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad, and held a like position with the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan Railroad until 1894. He has patented a solar attachment for transits, to be used for determining the direction of a line, and thence a meridian if desired. This is manufactured by C. L. Berger & Sons, makers of surveying and scientific instruments. Professor Davis' specialty is, of course, surveying in all its branches, but he has taken great interest and activity in other branches of civil engineering, particularly highway construction and bridgework. Many such have been built according to his designs and specifications. The water works problem has also come in for his close attention. He was consulted during the construction of the system of water supply at Owosso, Mich. The water works at Greenville, Mich, which he built at a cost of $45,000, are a standing illustration of the effectiveness, thoroughness, and economy of his plans. He takes especial interest in that exasperating duty of surveyors - that of finding missing corners, - and never gives up until tact, experience, time and labor have all been exhausted in the hope of relocating them.

Professor Davis' most noted piece of work is the St. Clair Flats survey. The difficulties, under which the work was carried on were enough to stagger any engineer, yet were met and overcome by him with characteristic energy and skill. One of the Government junior engineers, at present with the Detroit River Improvement corps, has stated at the resourcefulness shown by the Chief Engineer upon the St. Clair Flats survey is the greatest tribute he can give the man. It took three years to complete the work, the survey covering Sp miles. The total cost to the State was $52,545.27, or cost per mile, $97.30, which considering the difficulties met with is an object lesson for others to attain.  In closing this sketch, I append a paragraph from Professor Davis' report to the Commissioners of the State Land Office. – “I began preparations for this work within four days after receiving my commission.  Information was gathered and the Flats visited. I soon found that everything required for this survey would have to be taken there from elsewhere, --even to stake timber and kindling wood. The exceptional characteristics of the Flats, the nature

of the claims there, and the requirements of the statute, made necessary a survey of an unusual kind.  Shelter and subsistence had to be provided, and office accommodations as well. Quarter boats were used, which are described in the report of the Resident Engineer. Instruments had to be set up, and measurements made, as frequently as in laying out lots for a subdivision in a city. The work was to be carried on over lands that were firm lands at the upper end of the Flats, and that were six feet under water at the Lake St. Clair front, with every stage of wetness between.  The hundreds of lots were to be spread over forty or fifty miles of frontage or widely separated channels. The lots were to be of any shape. There were miles and miles of water not over two feet deep. There were square miles of marsh vegetation through which unnumbered lines must be run.  There were winds of great severity. Special tools and equipment had to be devised and made to meet the requirements of the case."

Note. - The author of this article desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Professor M. W. Harrington, a close, personal friend and classmate of Professor Davis. That part of Mr. Harrington's article on Professor Davis, which deals with his youthful environments and schoolwork, in the 1891 TECHNIC, has been largely drawn upon, since his knowledge of the early Davis was founded on long, personal association.

Quotations from Letters of Professor J. B. Davis

The Michigan Engineer, March 1926, Pages 61-63

Vol. XLIV, Issue 1

“Nothing educates but experience.”

“Beware of a little mortar-mixing, a little iron-pounding, a little soap-boiling a little transit-squinting.  That was lied danger of failure.”

“Now what is good for Engineers?  Mathematics, language (with its use), natural and physical sciences, morals, manners. Then what?  Enough drawing and technical work (work, mind you, not dawdling attendance on classed) to give the student an idea of what he is ‘up against’, so he can quit if he wants to.”

“And what the soldier learns of a technical nature is an nothing to the lessons in life a college should teach. The best things the soldier learns are not in the practice of the military art but those ‘unseen’ things that come to more him more of a man.  How does he learn that part?  HE WORKS.  There is the answer.  Let the college never forget it.”

“Such catch-words as ‘vocational training’ and ‘efficiency’ and ‘production engineering’ and the ‘Taylor System’ all mean dollars, and more dollars and yet more dollars.  As you know, some of the leading manufacturers in this country have found it more profitable to cut loose from all devices and engage in ‘making men,’ – and those men do the rest; and do it better; and do more of it that was ever done before.  Can the college learn this ‘practical’ lesson from the practical demonstration of these practical men?  A teacher should go to school to everything, especially ‘life’.”

“Let the college never forget to make men and women, and good citizens.”

“Crank-turners can never make men out of boys, - it requires en to be their teachers.  To get MEN teachers is not the easy – the lazy – way.  It takes work to find and employ MEN who are also teachers.  Any gump can ‘hire’ a human animal as a teacher, at any time, anywhere, the same as said gump can buy a pair of suspenders.  What we want is character, not mere ability.  Maybe if we all had the character we would know when a boy knew enough of a subject to receive credit for it without requiring one-seventh of his time to find out in. May be if we all had the character we would not need reams of rules for grinding out graduates.”

“Get what you can of the immortal, imperishable, ‘Unseen’ things.”

“I hope to so live that my friends can always defend me and never have to.”