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Joseph E. Davies
Rev. Rachel Davies
1955
(06
25) Joseph E. Davies, the 78-year-old Watertown-born diplomat and international
lawyer, has made his will and has set aside his palatial estate in Washington,
D.C., for the federal government to be used either as a future official
residence for United States Vice Presidents or as a graduate school for
students of international affairs. Davies disclosed these facts at his home in
Washington Saturday night and the news was carried in press dispatches in
Sunday's newspapers. He recently visited in Watertown, meeting many of his old
friends and classmates. The estate includes a 20-room mansion in which he has
entertained some of the world's most noted personages during his residence in
Washington. He has occupied the home for the past 20 years.
1956
09 27 1956
Joseph
E. Davies, Watertown-born former U.S. ambassador to Russia, has sent a check to
the sisters who operate St. Joseph's Home for the
Aged in Watertown. Mrs. Bertha Voss,
a resident at the home, said she read an article in the Times some months ago
about Mr. Davies' plans to turn over his Washington estate to the Federal
government as an official residence for vice presidents and that this inspired
her to write to Mr. Davies. She
suggested that if he wished he could do some good by helping the “good sisters
who operate this home in Watertown.” He
wrote back asking to whom he has to make out the check and Mrs. Voss replied to
his inquiry and today the check was received.
1958
05 09 1958
Joseph
E. Davies, 81, Watertown-born former ambassador to Russia and international
conference maker for three Presidents, died at his home in Washington, 3029
Klingle Road, early this morning. He
passed away in his sleep, having been gravely ill for some months. He suffered from low blood pressure and
recently had been confined to bed with around the clock nursing care. In addition to serving as United States
ambassador to Russia from 1936 to 1938, he served as ambassador to Belgium and
minister to Luxembourg from 1938 to 1939.
Rev. Rachel Davies
1847 - 1915
Rev. Rachel Davies
was reportedly the first woman minister ordained in the state of Wisconsin,
serving the Welch Congregational Church in Ixonia for several years and resided
in Watertown. In some circles, she might be better known as the mother of Joseph Davies, the U.S.
Ambassador to the Soviet Union under President Roosevelt.
1915
LAST
SAD RITES PERFORMED TODAY
Body of
Mrs. Rachel Davies Laid to Rest In Oak Hill
BROUGHT
HERE FROM WASHINGTON
Mrs.
Davies Spent a Busy Life As An Evangelist and Missionary Worker
Was
Greatly Loved by Her People
The
body of Mrs. Rachel Davies was laid to rest beside those of her husband and
daughter in Oak
Hill Cemetery this afternoon, with all the honors due the memory of a noble
woman whose life was one of active service from her earliest years until her
declining years forced a retirement from active work.
The
pall bearers were Edward Davies, Chicago; John L. Davies, Dix, Illinois; Morgan
Lloyd Davies, Daniel S. Throne, Chicago; Morgan S. Throne, Cleveland; Victor M.
Stamm, Milwaukee. There were ten
honorary pall bearers as follows: C. A.
Skinner, Dr. F. C. Werner, Owain T. Hughes, W. D. Sproesser, James W. Moore,
William F. Voss, Frank E. Woodard, Ellis G. Humphrey, Oconomowoc; David Evans,
Milwaukee.
Among
those here from out of town to attend the funeral were Postmaster Devine, John
A. Aylward, Mr. and Mrs. William Westerman, Miss Marian Davies and Mr. Ponny,
Madison; Mrs. H. E. Evans, Clark Knight, Ashland; Percy M. Cochran, Elkhart,
Indiana; Postmaster Frank Schultz, Mrs. H. E. Evans and Mr. Sawyer, Milwaukee;
Mrs. J. R. McGlade, Princeton, Illinois; and Postmaster Cunningham, Janesville.
There
were many beautiful floral designs, the offerings of friends. Two large but simply designed casket pieces
of purple and white crysanthemums, which covered the top of the casket, were
the gifts of President Woodrow Wilson and his daughter, Miss Margaret
Wilson. A large wreath was the gift of
Mr. Davies’ fellow members on the federal trade commission.
Rahel
o’ Fon, as Mrs. Davies was known among the Welsh people, was for many years
recognized as one of the most powerful of woman evangelists. Rahel o’ Fon is the Welsh name for “Rachel of
Anglesey”. And Anglesey is an island
close to the coast of North Wales where Mrs. Davies was born, and where she
began her evangelistic work.
The
island is also the birth place of Owain T. Hughes of this city, who though a
few years younger than Mrs. Davies, watched her career with interest form the
time she first became interested in religious work, at which time she was about
fourteen years of age. When she was
seventeen years of age, Mrs. Hughes heard her preach before one of the largest
audiences every gathered in a religious assemblage on the island. The largest church on the island was placed
at her disposal for the meeting and the young girl’s sermon was most
impressive. Not only had she a fine
voice and presence, but great dramatic ability, which she used with effect. Her meetings in Wales and other parts of the
British Isles were uniformly successful, Mr. Hughes declares.
The
young evangelist was greatly influenced in early life by one of the greatest of
Welsh preachers of that day, the Rev. Henry Reese, from whom she received
religious instruction while a student at Liverpool.
Her
work in America was also wonderfully successful. From the eastern coast to California she
traveled to every large and small settlement of Welsh people. She was a delegate to nearly all religious
conventions of the Welsh people, and even in her later years, when she was
widowed and burdened with a growing family, she freely answered calls to the
pulpit wherever she was needed. She
often spoke at the little Welsh church in
She
was renowned for her works of charity, even though but few of her charitable
acts became public. An exception was the
presentation of a church building to a small and struggling congregation at
Niles, Ohio, the congregation being too poor to build. Their gratitude was expressed in the
dedication of the church in her honor.
As
Mrs. John Throne, her niece by marriage, pointed out, Mrs. Davies was alone in
this country, having no immediate relatives here. But she won the hearts of all her husband’s
people, who accepted her and loved has as one of themselves. A fact evidenced by the fact that all of them
who could possibly come were here to attend the last sad rites, many of them
traveling from distant points.
Her
religious work, which included effective temperance work, was carried on almost
entirely among the Welsh people, who she loved as if united by ties of
blood. It was only on rare occasions
that she would consent to speak in the English language – it was always in the
Welsh tongue that she preferred to state her message.
