James Davis
by
Henry Robert Burke

Information taken from an 1890 Newspaper Article
written by Mr. Joseph J. Wheeler
for the Cleveland Plain Dealer

The first African-American born in the American North West
Territory, James Davis (1787-1862), was born at Fort Harmar (now part of Marietta, Ohio) on March 6, 1787. According to available records, James Davis was the first American child born in the United States Northwest Territory. This of course excludes Native Americans, who at that time were considered members of tribal nations (Delaware, Mingo, Shawnee Wyandotte and others).

Records furnished by Mrs. Madeline Norris of Dayton, Ohio, confirm that both Mr. James Davis and the father of Mr. Joseph J. Wheeler, were members of the Weslyan Methodist Church in Dayton.

A short sketch of his career may be interesting. He went to Dayton when he was quite a young man, and soon became a leader of colored people there. He was one of the leading hunters in Ohio, and had the credit of killing the largest bear of his day. He also was a leading violinist and barber in Dayton, and the founder and first president of the American Sons of Protection, the oldest benevolent (colored) society in this city, which he helped to organize in February, 1849. This society aided fugitive slaves from south of the Ohio River on the Underground Railroad trip to Canada.

November 6, 1811, he shaved General W.H. Harrison while the general sat upon a log. The next day the great battle of Tippecanoe was fought, and the red men of the great Shawnee chief -- Tecumseh -- killed upward of sixty men of Harrison's army and more than one hundred wounded.
Father Davis, as he was called, was born to be conspicuous, and was a highly esteemed member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. He died a devout Christian January 17, 1862. aged seventy-four years, ten months and twenty days. He was laid to rest in the beautiful Woodland Cemetery, where the remains of General Robert C. Schenek, the great Republican leader, and the remains of C. L. Vallandigham, the great Democratic leader, lie. The colored soldiers, and Ohio State and United States officials, the colored citizen and he white merchant are all sleeping their last long sleep peacefully together, waiting for the general resurrection. The colored and white citizens of Dayton always buried their dead together.
James Davis left Marietta around 1808, to became a frontier settler in western Ohio. Around 1815, he began his career on the Underground Railroad by helping a few fugitive slaves from Kentucky find their way across Ohio to Canada. As time progressed, James Davis became more involved as the Underground Railroad in Ohio expanded. Through the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he collected food, clothing and money to help fugitive slaves reach Canada. He was also dedicated to protecting "free" African-Americans in Ohio from being kidnapped into slavery.

As a member of the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, I requested a Historic Marker for James Davis. The Ohio Historical Society turned down my request because the determined that I did not have enough documentation. As a matter of fact, I followed Mr. Davis all the way to Dayton where he died in 1862. I also found some information about Mr. J.J. Wheeler, who wrote a newspaper article about James Davis in the Cleveland Plain Dealer during the 1890s. James Davis was a genuine Underground Railroad Conductor in Dayton. It is very significant since he was born where the Muskingum River flows into the Ohio River. The Muskingum River may well be the earliest identifiable Underground Railroad route running north to Canada! Combined with the early anti-slavery sentiments in Washington County, Ohio it seems a remarkable coincidence that James Davis happened to be born here. Hopefully I will someday be able to erect an Underground Railroad Historic Marker at this site.