James Davis was the second son of James and Reliance (Cobb) Davis, and was born in Barnstable September 28, 1777.

He was a descendant of Robert Davis, who was living in Yarmouth in the year 1643, removing thence to Barnstable in 1650, where he died in 1693 at the age of seventy-one. Of him it is said that "he was not a man of wealth, nor distinguished in political life," but "his character for honesty and industry he transmitted to his posterity."[7]

Mr. James Davis, the subject of this sketch, was the third in descent of that name.

At the age of fourteen he was bound an apprentice to a Mr. Crocker,—who was also originally from Barnstable,—a pewterer, carrying on business at the "South End" in Boston, not far from where stood the mansion house of the late Mr. John D. Williams. Shortly after the apprenticeship of Mr. Davis began, Mr. Crocker secured the services of a Hessian,—supposed to be a deserter from the British army,—who understood and communicated the art of making castings of brass and copper. From this time and from this beginning, as Mr. Davis firmly believed, ships built in New England were fastened with bolts, spikes, etc., made of composition instead of iron as had formerly been the invariable practice. Mr. Crocker was a man of somewhat irregular habits, and not infrequently severe in his treatment of the apprentices, of whom, as was then quite a common custom, he always had several. At this time it happened that they all revolted and left him, save Mr. Davis, the youngest of the number. He remained alone to the end of his term, faithfully complying with every condition of his indenture.

In 1800 Mr. Davis, then twenty-three years of age, hired a shop on Union Street, and started in business for himself as a brass founder. He was in some way connected with Martin Gay, a proscribed and banished royalist of the American Revolution and an absentee from 1776 to 1792.[8] On the return of Mr. Gay in the last-named year he resumed his trade, of a coppersmith probably, on the property in Union Street, which had meanwhile been held and occupied by his wife Ruth, and whose dower therein had been set off to her by the Probate Court. Mr. Gay is thereafter denominated a founder, a designation it is thought he may have derived from his employment of, or association with, Mr. Davis. Mr. Gay subsequently proposed to Mr. Davis to sell to him the business, and further to aid him with such pecuniary assistance as he might require in its prosecution. This proposition was finally accepted, but not without some considerable hesitation on the part of Mr. Davis, as he had no security to offer for the indebtedness involved. No security was required, nor was any ever given, but the transaction was fully completed by a transfer, and by its ultimate payment without default. In 1807 the remainder of Mr. Gay's original interest in the real estate was conveyed by commissioners, under a special Act of the Legislature, to his wife, who had never swerved from her loyalty to the newly formed government. After Mr. Gay's death, in 1809, Mr. Davis bought the estate from the widow, and the property, as enlarged by several subsequent purchases, still remains in possession of his heirs.[9]

He occupied the entire premises with his foundry, shop, and residence, for many years; associated with himself his son, Mr. James Davis, Jr., as a partner, January 4, 1828, and finally merged the business into the Revere Copper Company, as already stated.

Upon the organization of the Company he was elected Treasurer, and held that office until January 22, 1843. He was also a Director until his death, which took place very suddenly at his house on Tremont Street, Boston, April 25, 1862.

He was persistently industrious, thrifty, and scrupulously upright in every transaction,—qualities transmitted to him from his ancestor Robert,—and generous withal to every proper claim upon him. He gloried in his early struggles to overcome adverse conditions, and was gratified to be numbered with those from his native town who had achieved honorable distinction in the various activities of life.

There was a ruggedness and sharpness of vigor about him which was lost sight of as he ripened and mellowed in a conspicuous manner under the influences of ampler means and advancing years. The simple tastes and quiet ways of his boyhood home were however to the end more attractive and satisfactory to him than the demands and restraints of an increasingly artificial life.

That he was wise and farsighted is abundantly shown by the fact that all his real estate investments are held intact to this day by his heirs.