Oscar F. Davis

Oscar F. Davis, born in 1855, and William I. Davis, born in 1857, attended public and private schools in Milwaukee during boyhood, and when about sixteen years old were taken into their father's shop to learn the business. After he had worked for one year in the shop, Oscar was transferred to the office, but William remained in the manufacturing department, gaining a thorough knowledge of all branches of the work. When the business was sold in 1890 they established their present works at Nos. 576 and 584 Clinton Street, Milwaukee, the plant being in readiness within three months after the sale of the Marine Boiler Works. They began with a force of fifty men, and their business has enlarged so rapidly that they employ at times as many as one hundred hands. They have a large business as general boiler makers, but lately they have given attention to a special line of work to meet the requirements of the breweries. The firm is known as Davis Bros. Manufacturing Company, and the father's reputation, together with the good will of the former customers, has been a potent factor in the enterprise, although the two brothers are just the sort of young men who would make their way to the front even under difficulties. They are both Republicans in politics, but do not take an active share in partisan works. Socially they are prominent, and William is a member of the Masonic fraternity. Oscar F. married Miss Emma Bastian, of Milwaukee, and has two children: Pearl and Ethel. William I. married Miss Emma Krueger, of the same city, and their family consists of the following children: Maud, Richard, Irving, Nora and Oak.

Return to Home Port

Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.