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| Mayor J.P.M. Davis |
LOT 14, Plot 2
James P. M. Davis, born in North Carolina in 1817, was part of the wave of Americans who migrated west during the mid-19th century, drawn by opportunity and the California Gold Rush. He first appears in records living in Mississippi in 1850, but by March 1853, he had arrived in San Francisco with a large extended family, including his wife, four children, mother, siblings, and their spouses. As Davis wrote in a letter dated June 26, 1855, the group had reunited in California over several years—his father and brothers arriving earlier, while his sister Susan remained behind in Mississippi with her husband, Mr. Armstrong.
By 1854, Davis had settled in Alameda County, where his youngest son was born. He quickly became involved in local civic affairs, and in 1855, he was elected Marshall of Oakland—a role akin to today’s Chief of Police. He served in that capacity for four years, from 1855 to 1859, during a time when Oakland was still transitioning from a frontier town to an organized municipality.
In 1860, Davis rose to the office of Mayor of Oakland, elected as a Democrat. His tenure was marked by his attempt to revive the contentious waterfront dispute, a legal and political battle over land rights along the city’s valuable shoreline. He pushed the case to the California Supreme Court, underscoring his willingness to challenge entrenched interests for what he believed was in the public’s or city's interest. [*see footnote]
Tragedy struck the Davis family in April 1875 when his 24-year-old son Johnny drowned after falling overboard from the ship Mary Bell Roberts en route to Valparaíso, Chile, where his mother and sister were then living. The Davis family was linked by marriage to other prominent local figures, including Judge S.B. McKee and W.H. Glascock.
J.P.M. Davis died in San Francisco in 1864. Though little is recorded about his later years, his contributions as an early civic leader in Oakland—particularly as the city’s Marshall and Mayor—left a mark on its formative political and legal battles.
Sources: Ancestry.com, Family records, Find a Grave, Wikipedia
* In the mid-19th century, Oakland’s waterfront was at the center of a legal feud over ownership and development rights. The dispute pitted the city and state against private landholders and railroad interests who claimed exclusive control of the valuable shoreline. Mayor J.P.M. Davis attempted to revive the city’s claims during his 1860 administration, taking the case to the California Supreme Court. The controversy foreshadowed decades of battles over public access, land use, and control of Oakland’s port—a key issue in shaping the city’s economic and physical future.
1 comment:
I know a good bit about him, actually. His brother-in-law was Sam Bell McKee, a lawyer in Oakland and later a justice of the California Supreme Court. He was a Southerner (from North Carolina) and a physician; his maternal uncle was the US Senator Willie P. Mangum. There's a letter that survives written from him to his uncle that's been published in his uncle's papers; see the following link: https://archive.org/details/papersofwilliepe1956mang/page/306/mode/2up/search/J.+P.+M.
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