Jerome C. Davis

Jerome C. Davis (1822—1881) was an American agriculturalist for whom the city of Davis, California (formerly Davisville) is named.[1] Davis was born in Perry County, Ohio, where his father Isaac Davis and his mother Rachael Manley had a family farm. He also had a brother, Franklin B., and a sister, Elnora.

Jerome C. Davis
Photo portrait
Born1822
Died1881 (age 58-59)
NationalityAmerican
Known forThe namesake of Davis, California

Davis was one of the early pioneers to arrive in what is now California. In 1845, at the age of 23, Davis joined Captain John C. Fremont on his third expedition to the West and was with Fremont for 32 months.[2] In June 1846, Davis was one of thirty-three members of the Bear Flag Party, which traveled to Sonoma and captured the Mexican Fort under the command of Mexican General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo. It was then that Davis and his thirty-two colleagues, popularly known in history as the “Bear Flag Party” raised the Bear Flag, and proclaimed California's independence from Mexico.[3]

Jerome got his start in California as a ferry operator on the Sacramento River with his father-in-law, and later become a prominent landowner with 12,000 acres of farmland.[4] 773 acres of his farm was purchased to be part of the newly formed University of California, Davis.[1] Davis served as the president of the State Agricultural Society (predecessor to California Exposition), and opened the 8th annual California State Fair in 1861.[5]

References
  1. Albert G. Pickerell; May Dornin (1968), The University of California: A Pictorial History, University of California Press, p. 131
  2. "Sacramento Union". Forty Years Ago Today. No. Vol. 204, No. 26, , Pg. 4, Col. 3. September 26, 1918. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  3. "Sacramento Daily Union". No. Vol. 14, No. 40, Pg 3, Col. 3. October 6, 1881. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  4. Judith M. Taylor (1 March 2004), The Olive in California: History of an Immigrant Tree, Ten Speed Press, p. 35, ISBN 978-1-58008-131-3
  5. California State Agricultural Society (1905), Report of the California State Agricultural Society, retrieved 21 September 2013


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