Thomas Kirby Davis, D.D.
This venerable and highly esteemed exponent of the life of the lowly Nazarene has led a life that is worthy of commendation and emulation by the youth standing at the parting of the ways, for it has been one of unselfish service and of unswerving rectitude, self-sacrifice and devotion to the higher duty. Thomas Kirby Davis was born in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, February 11, 1826. He prepared for college at the Chambersburg Academy, entered Yale College, from which he was graduated in 1845; studied theology at Princeton Seminary, and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister by the Presbytery of Carlisle 1850. His pastoral charges in his early Ministry included Bedford, Schellsburg, Middletown, Pennsylvania; Mansfield, and Hayesville, Ohio. At the latter place he was also professor of languages in the Vermilion Institute. He was stated supply of the First Presbyterian church of San Francisco, California, of the First Presbyterian church of Los Angeles, California, and also of the First church at Stockton, that state; also of many other churches during the years he has been residing in Wooster. He was a member and secretary of the board of trustees of Vermilion Institute. At the first meeting of the board of trustees of the University of Wooster, held in December, 1866, Doctor Davis was appointed one of a committee of three whose duty it was to go over the state of Ohio and ascertain if the Presbyterian churches of the state were ready to endow a Presbyterian college. Doctor Davis accordingly resigned his charge at Mansfield and began to work for the University of Wooster on the first of January, 1867. After laboring very successfully for nearly a year, he resigned to accept a call to Hayesville and Vermilion Institute.
In the year 1871 Mr. Davis was called to Wooster as financial secretary and he has lived here, working for the university ever since. He was a member of the board of trustees of this institution from 1876 to 1899 and secretary of the board from 1876 to 1908. He was made librarian of the university in 1877 and has held that position to the present time (1910). He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1880 by Pennsylvania College, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and by Parsons College, at Fairfield, Iowa.
Doctor Davis was married on August 14, 1851, to Mary H. Proctor, of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She was born in that city, the daughter of an elder in the Presbyterian church. Her mother's maiden name was Mary Officer, of an old and well-known family of Carlisle. After a long and beautiful life of Christian service, Mrs. Davis was called to her rest on March 28, 1908. To this union the following children were born: William Stewart, connected with the Standard Publishing Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio; Miriam M., of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who holds an important position in the reference department of the public library there; Janet M. is the wife of Dr. James Wallace, who for twenty years was president of Macalester College at St. Paul; he was then on leave of absence three years as professor of New Testament Greek in Doctor White's Bible School, New York City. He then returned to Macalester College and has charge of the Bible department. John Proctor is a Presbyterian minister, at present pastor of a church at Austin, Minnesota; Elizabeth R. is at home with her father; Alice S. has a responsible position in the Ohio state library at Columbus. These children have all been well educated and the wholesome home environment in which they were reared is clearly reflected in their daily lives.
Doctor Davis has given his heart and the greater part of his life and service to the founding and building up of an institution of learning that would be so broad and comprehensive in its scope as to include the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ as the most vitally important and necessary part of its curriculum and influence. He has accomplished much toward ameliorating the condition of his fellow men, often laboring with disregard for his own welfare thereby he might attain the object he sought--to make some one better and happier. Such a life is an incentive to the youth whose fortunes and records are matters for the future to determine, for his life has been singularly free from all that is deteriorating or paltry, his influence at all times uplifting, and thousands of people have been made better for having known him; however, he has never sought public praise or the plaudits of men, preferring to reap the rewards of a clear conscience and the approval of the Heavenly Father.
From The History of Wayne County, Ohio, B. E. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, 1910