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John Brazier Davis

Gender:
Male
Born:
October 16, 1798
Died:
December 17, 1832
Home Town:
MA
Later Residences:
Cambridge, MA
Salem, MA
Boston, MA
Marriage(s):
Laura Gay Davis (October 25, 1826)
Biographical Notes:
John Brazier Davis was the son of Lieutenant Ezra and Mary (Brazer) Davis. He was the first of their thirteen children. He attended Exeter Academy and then Harvard graduating second in his class in 1815. He attended the Litchfield Law School that same year. Before working as a lawyer, Davis worked as a teacher. He worked briefly as a tutor at Harvard and then as a teacher in Salem, MA. In 1822, David also worked as the editor of the Boston Chronicle and Patriot. After he was admitted to the bar in Boston, Davis spent the rest of his life as a lawyer and jounalist in that city. He also worked as a state representative for five years. He died only six years after his marriage to Laura Matilda Gay. His only child had died before him and his wife died by suicide two years later at McLean Asylum in Charlestown, MA.
Education
Years at LLS:
1815
Other Education:
Graduated from Harvard College in 1815.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Educator; Lawyer; Editor; Journalist; Political Office
Admitted To Bar:
Boston, MA in 1823
Training with Other Lawyers:
He studied with William Prescott of Boston, MA.
State Posts:
State Representative (MA)
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1849), 13.
Secondary Sources:
Davis, George L. comp. Samuel Davis & Joseph Davis. North Andover, MA: Private Printing, 1884.
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