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Below is a family biography included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company; Elwood Roberts, Editor.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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GEORGE G. DAVIS, of Welsh descent, for thirty years a prominent undertaker and well known as a successful business man, is a native of Upper Dublin township, Montgomery county, where he was born June 25, 1845. His parents lived at Puff’s Corner.

He was reared to farm pursuits, and attended the public schools during the winter months, assisting in farm labor at other seasons of the year. He is the son of John and Jane S. (Gamble) Davis, she a native of Upper Dublin township, he born in Wales. The grandfather of the subject of this sketch died in Wales, and his widow brought the family to America. They settled in Montgomery county, and she kept the family together, her son John (father) learning the trade of a wheelwright. When he had completed his apprenticeship he settled at Puff’s Corner, and carried on the wheelwright business. The mother affiliated with the German Baptist church. There were two sons-Samuel, also a wheelwright, and John.

John Davis remained at Puff’s Corner until his death, which occurred March 20, 1850, and was only a middle-aged man at the time of his death. He was a Baptist in religious faith. He married Jane S. Gamble, a daughter of John and Mary (Service) Gamble, natives of Ireland, who emigrated to America and settled in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, about 1835. He was a carpenter by occupation, and about 1840 located in Upper Dublin township, near Fort Washington. He purchased a home with about two acres of land, built a shop, and later became a contractor and builder, doing much work in this line, and still later added undertaking to his business, in which he became very successful, so that he finally abandoned carpentry and devoted his entire attention to undertaking. In 1860 he added fourteen acres of land to his previous purchase, and died in 1877. He was a Democrat in politics, and in religious faith a member of the German Baptist church. His wife died in 1868. Their children: Jane (mother); John S. Gamble, a farmer in Bucks county until 1876, when he abandoned farming and engaged in the coal business at Willow Grove, dying at Fox Chase, and leaving four sons and three daughters; Margaret, Mrs. W. J. Scheetz.

The children of John and Jane Davis: Anna (Mrs. A. McAfee); George G., subject of this sketch; Margaret (Mrs. R. Buchanan); John G., a carpenter residing near the borough of Ambler.

George G. Davis remained with his mother until 1861, when he was sixteen years of age, and then went to his grandfather Gamble’s, where he learned the trades of carpenter and undertaker, and has ever since continued in the business, succeeding his grandfather at his death in 1874. He is a graduate of the Champion College of Embalming, and is a master of the art of caring for the dead and giving attention to their burial, and has all the necessary equipment for carrying it on successfully.

Mr. Davis married, February 6, 1866, Miss Lydia Freas, a native of Montgomery county, where she was born in 1844. She is a daughter of Jesse Freas, whose wife was a Miss Keifer, both families being of German descent, although the Freas family have been long settled in Montgomery county. Jesse Freas resided in Upper Hanover township, where he was a justice of the peace, and a widely known and highly respected citizen. The family were Lutherans. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Freas; Anna, wife of B. F. Sill, of Barto, Berks county; Mary (Mrs. William Bishop); Kate (Mrs. R. Sliker); Lydia, wife of Mr. George Davis; Susan (Mrs. A. Freed). Both parents of Mrs. Davis are deceased.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. George G. Davis: Margaret, wife of Frank Potts, a farmer; Jesse F., his father’s assistant in his business, and resides at Ambler; I. May, wife of F. S. Arnold, a butcher; Anna C. and Bessie, unmarried. Mr. and Mrs. Davis are members of the Reformed church. Mr. Davis is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the Junior Order of United American Mechanics, and of the Masonic fraternity.

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This family biography is one of more than 1,000 biographies included in the Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania published in 1904 by T. S. Benham & Company and The Lewis Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: Biographical Annals of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania

View additional Montgomery County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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