Georgia and Georgians - the Digital Library of Georgia

V,»," GEORGIA AND .GEOKGIANS 2849the Georgia State.Medical Society and the American Medical Association, andhis fraternal connections include membership in the local lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Order of Eed Men. Heis unmarried.DORSET T. DAVIS. Close study, indefatigable application and steadfastpurpose have significantly characterized the career of this representativeyounger member of the bar of Franklin County, and his success and prestigehave been gained entirely through his own efforts and well recognized ability.He is engaged in active general practice at Lavonia, has one of the best lawlibraries in the county, the same being approximately valued at fully $2,000,and his work as art advocate at the bar and as a counselor has fully attestedhis broad and exact knowledge of the science of jurisprudence as well as hispurposeful ambition to achieve the greatest possible precedence in an exactingprofession that demands of its votaries undivided fealty.Mr. Davis was born in Banks County, Georgia, on the 14th of June, 1881,and is a son of James P. and Frances Serepta (Wells) Davis, both likewisenatives of Georgia, where the father still continues a substantial farmer andhighly esteemed citizen of Banks County; he has attained to the age of sixtythreeyears, and his wife died in 1893, at the age of forty-eight years,the subject of this review having been the seventh in order of birth of theirten children. The paternal grandfather, Eobert Davis, passed his entire lifein Stephens County, this state, and the maiden name of his wife was Manton.The maternal grandfather, Samuel Wells, was a substantial agriculturist inBanks County, where he and his wife continued to reside until their death, thefamily name of the latter having been Scales.Depending almost entirely upon his own resources in defraying the expensesof higher education, Dorsey T. Davis acquired his early scholastic disciplinein the schools of his native county. Diligent attention to his studies gave himproper fortification for more advanced work, and he finally was enabled toenter Mercer University, in the City of Macon. There he pursued both academic and technical studies, and in 1909 he was graduated in the law department of the university, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. Virtually coincident with graduation was his admission to the bar of his native state, and hehas been from the beginning engaged in the general practice of his professionat Lavonia. He is an appreciative and popular member of the Franklin CountyBar Association, is an effective and unwavering advocate of the principles ofthe democratic party, and is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and theIndependent Order of Odd Fellows, in the latter of which he has passed thevarious official chairs in the lodge at Lavonia.On the 16th of February, 1911, Mr. Davis married Miss Ruby Lester,daughter of Newton A. and Lula (Wages) Lester, the former of whom passedthe closing years of his life in the City of Athens, this state, where his widowstill maintains her home, his vocation during his active career having been thatof farming. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children, Dorsey T., Jr., who wasborn January 29, 1912, and Miriam, who was born February 28, 1915. Mr.Davis owns his attractive residence property in Lavonia and also has otherreal estate investments.IJAMES AUSTIN MEBSHON. The present superintendent of the city schoolsystem of Gainesville is an educator of broad and interesting experience andhas many of the best qualifications for his profession. He began the work' of the schoolroom when a young man, and one special feature of his experiencewas his work in establishing and organizing mission schools under the Methodist Conference on the Island of Cuba, following the occupation of thatisland by the American forces during the Spanish-American war.James Austin Mershon was born in Taliaferro County, Georgia, May 3,