Jacob Marens Davis

The paper trail for Jacob’s family tree, what little there is, is entangled with another family of the same name. What is known about Jacob’s formative years is that his father was most likely a farmer on land north of the Pennsylvania-Delaware border.  It seems that books caught the boy’s attention more than planting and harvesting. And it was not a passion to read them but the process of printing them.

From the first press in 1685, Philadelphia was home to a vibrant printing industry, so that’s where Jacob’s story begins. It’s also where, in 1854, he met and married Mary Jane Weir, whose father, Charles, was a bookbinder. He not only worked for him, her family became his. The young couple lived with them at 1031 Frankford Avenue, and that’s where Jacob remained for another 66 years. (Today that patch of land lies beneath an abutment for Interstate 95.)

The Davis family included two sons listed in the 1860 census, Charles (1856-1888) and Jacob Jr. (1858-1923). With the outbreak of the Civil War, Alfred was born (1861-1866) and at the end of the war came their fourth son, Harman (1865-1931). He was named after Jacob’s friend, Harmanus Neff, who was a fellow printer and a colonel in the war. The boys were all baptized at Emmanuel Episcopal Church where the Weirs were active members.

Jacob was interested in another venture that had its roots in Philadelphia, which is today known as the National Guard. An association of citizen-soldiers was first organized by Benjamin Franklin in 1747 and formally approved eight years later by the Pennsylvania Assembly. In 1856 Jacob joined the 2nd Regiment, 1st Brigade, First Division of the Pennsylvania Militia, a decision that shaped the rest of his life.

His experience was helpful after the South rebelled and seceded from the Union in 1861. He held the rank of 1st lieutenant when he and others from the militia assembled that year as the 19th Pennsylvania Infantry for a three-month term. After that, the former militia members began a recruitment drive in the fall to reorganize as the 90th Infantry Regiment. Nine companies of 100 men each were enrolled by the end of the year, with Jacob as captain of Company B.

During the Second Battle of Bull Run in August, 1862 the unit lost 200 men, followed by 98 more less than a month later at Antietam. At Gettysburg from July 1-3, 1863, there were 55 that were either killed or wounded. This monument was erected in 1888 by the 90th Pennsylvania Survivors Association, in which Jacob served many years as either vice president or president.

A promotion to major came in early 1864 and the regiment engaged in the Overland Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg. In August at Globe Tavern (or the Second Battle of Weldon Railroad) Jacob and 90 others were captured and held at Libby Prison in Richmond. Fortunately, he was paroled two months later and then discharged in December when his term of service expired.

But the war wasn’t over, so he wasn’t done. He signed up again, this time as lieutenant colonel with the 213th Infantry in early 1865. He took three companies to guard the Baltimore and Ohio railroad in Frederick, Maryland until the war was over, then the entire regiment participated in dismantling the fortifications around the District of Columbia. The fighting among soldiers may have ceased but the spread of sickness did not; disease took the lives of 18 men in the 213th during those few months until they disbanded in November.

Jacob returned to printing, probably inheriting his father-in-law’s business in 1870. His namesake son became a machinist and then a mechanical engineer while Harman lived as a house painter in a town near Atlantic City, New Jersey with the idyllic-sounding name of Pleasantville. 

Life as a printer was certainly more pleasant, as he took his place beside his wife at church and in regularly meeting with his former comrades from the war. They held annual reunions of the “Old Guard,” referring to their militia that became the 90th Pennsylvania Volunteers. The photo above of Jacob was taken at a 1905 reunion.

The survivors arranged at least two trips to Gettysburg to visit their monument. The letters “NG” in this logo honors their heritage as a predecessor of the National Guard and includes their motto, non sibi sed patriae, meaning “not for self, but for country.” 

Jacob lost the love of his life in February of 1909. Mary Jane was honored with this tribute for her own service during the war. It was just two months later that the colonel presided over the last of the reunions, with only 33 survivors remaining. 

Jacob outlived all of them. He remained in the same house on Frankford Avenue with Jacob Jr. until moving to Pleasantville to live the last few months of his life with Harmon’s family.

This modest stone marks the grave of the colonel and his wife, to be joined later by his son and wife Agnes.