Timothy Davis (Iowa)

Timothy Davis (March 29, 1794 – April 27, 1872), a lawyer, was a one-term U.S. Representative from Iowa's 2nd congressional district. He was the only Iowa congressman born before 1800.

Born in Newark, New Jersey, Davis attended the public schools. He moved to Kentucky in 1816. After studying law, he was admitted to the bar and began to practice.

He moved to Missouri and engaged in the practice of law, and later, in 1837, moved to what is now Dubuque, Iowa (then in Wisconsin Territory), and continued the practice of law. He was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1848 to the Thirty-first Congress.

In 1856, the Republican Party's first year as a major political party, Davis became the party's nominee to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House. He was also considered "the Know-Nothing (Party's) fusion candidate."^[1] He won the November 1856 general election by defeating veteran ex-Congressman Shepherd Leffler, a Democrat who was the Second District's original representative.^[1] The same day, fellow Republican Samuel Curtis of Keokuk, Iowa, won the race in Iowa's only other district. Davis and Curtis were the first Iowans elected to Congress as Republicans. As a member of the Thirty-fifth Congress, Davis served from March 4, 1857 to March 3, 1859. At his party's 1858 district convention, he was not a candidate for renomination.^[2]

After completing his term, he resumed the practice of law and also engaged in business activities in Dubuque. He was also interested in merchant milling at Elkader, Iowa, Galesville, Wisconsin, and Pickwick, Minnesota. He died in Elkader, on April 27, 1872. He was interred in Elkader Cemetery.

References

• United States Congress. "Timothy Davis (id: D000140)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 

Members of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa
1st	W. Thompson Miller Henn A. Hall S. Curtis J. F. Wilson McCrary Stone McCoid B. Hall Gear Seerley Gear S. Clark Hedge Kennedy Kopp Eicher Martin Schwengel Schmidhauser Schwengel Mezvinsky Leach Nussle Braley Blum
2nd	Leffler L. Clark J. P. Cook Thorington Davis Vandever Price Smyth W. Wolf Cotton Tufts Price Farwell Murphy Hayes G. Curtis Lane Rumple Wade Dawson Pepper Vollmer Hull Letts B. Jacobsen W. Jacobsen Talle L. Wolf Bromwell Culver Blouin Tauke Nussle Leach Loebsack
3rd	Allison Donnan Ainsworth Burdick Updegraff Henderson Birdsall Pickett Connolly Sweet Robinson Willford Gwynne Gross Grassley Evans Nagle Lightfoot Boswell Latham Young
4th	Grinnell Loughridge Walden Pratt Deering Weller Fuller Sweney Butler Updegraff Haugen Biermann Talle Le Compte Carter Kyl Bandstra Kyl N. Smith Ganske Latham King
5th	Kasson G. Dodge Palmer J. Wilson R. Clark W. G. Thompson J. Wilson Frederick Kerr J. Hamilton Cousins Good Cole Thurston Le Compte Cunningham N. Smith Scherle Harkin Lightfoot Grandy Latham King
6th	A. Hubbard Pomeroy Orr Loughridge Sampson Weaver Cutts J. C. Cook Cutts J. C. Cook Weaver Lacey White Lacey D. Hamilton Kendall Kirkpatrick Ramseyer Dowell Utterback Dowell Goodwin Cunningham Gilchrist J. I. Dolliver Coad Hoeven Greigg Mayne Bedell Grandy
7th	Kasson Cummings E. Gillette Kasson H. Smith Conger Hays Hull Prouty Dowell Wearin Jensen Hansen Scherle
8th	McDill Sapp Hepburn Anderson Flick Hepburn Jamieson Towner Evans Thurston Gilchrist Hoeven
9th	Orr Oliver Carpenter Pusey Lyman Reed Bowman Hager McPherson W. Smith Green Vincent Swanson G. Gillette Harrington Narey
10th	Holmes J. P. Dolliver Conner Woods Dickinson Gilchrist
11th	Struble Perkins Thomas E. Hubbard Scott Steele Scott Boies Campbell
AL	Hastings and Leffler
Terr	Chapman A. Dodge

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress website http://bioguide.congress.gov.