Alexander Mathews DAVIS, Congress, VA (1833-1889)

DAVIS Alexander Mathews , a Representative from Virginia; born in Old Mount Airy, Wythe County, Va., January 17, 1833; attended the old field schools and was privately tutored; was graduated from Emory and Henry College, Emory, Va.; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1854 and commenced practice in Wytheville, Va.; moved to Independence, Grayson County, Va.; captain of Company C, Forty-fifth Virginia Infantry, Confederate Army, in 1861; major in 1862; lieutenant colonel in 1864; captured near the close of the war and held prisoner on Johnson's Island, Lake Erie; member of the State senate 1869-1871; presented credentials as a Democratic Member-elect to the Forty-third Congress and served from March 4, 1873, to March 5, 1874, when he was succeeded by Christopher Y. Thomas, who contested his election; resumed the practice of law; died in Independence, Grayson County, Va., September 25, 1889; interment in the Davis family burial ground.

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