DAVIS, James Harvey (Cyclone), Congress, TX (1853-1940)

DAVIS, James Harvey (Cyclone), a Representative from Texas; born near Walhalla, Pickens District, S.C., December 24, 1853; moved to Texas with his parents, who settled in Wood County, near Winnsboro, in 1857; attended the common schools; taught school from 1875 to 1878; elected judge of Franklin County in 1878; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1882 and commenced practice in Mount Vernon, Tex.; lecturer for the Farmers’ Alliance for three years; engaged in the newspaper-publishing business; president of the Texas Press Association 1886-1888; unsuccessful Populist candidate for attorney general of Texas in 1892; was influential in the formation of the Populist Party and served as organizer and committeeman from 1892 to 1900; unsuccessful Populist candidate for election in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; declined the appointment as superintendent of agriculture for the Philippine Islands in 1914; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-fourth Congress (March 4, 1915-March 3, 1917); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1916 to the Sixty-fifth Congress; returned to his home in Sulphur Springs, Hopkins County, Tex., and engaged in agricultural pursuits and Chautauqua work; moved to Kaufman, Tex., in 1935, where he died on January 31, 1940; interment in the City Cemetery, Sulphur Springs, Tex.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present