Thomas Aspinwall Davis

{{Short description|American mayor and silversmith}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = '''Thomas Aspinwall Davis''' | image = Thomas A . Davis 1 5210004 015 010 (3x4a).jpg | caption = | office =Mayor of Boston | term_start = February 27, 1845<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p235">{{Cite journal | title = A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822–1908, Roxbury, 1846–1867, Charlestown 1847–1873 and of The Selectmen of Boston, 1634–1822 also of Various Other Town and Municipal officers | page = 235| publisher = City of Boston Printing Department | location = Boston, MA | year = 1909 }}</ref><ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p45">{{Cite journal | title = A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822–1908, Roxbury, 1846–1867, Charlestown 1847–1873 and of The Selectmen of Boston, 1634–1822 also of Various Other Town and Municipal officers | page = 45| publisher = City of Boston Printing Department | location = Boston, MA | year = 1909 }}</ref> | term_end =November 22, 1845<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p45"/> | deputy = | lieutenant = | succeeding = | predecessor = Martin Brimmer | successor = Josiah Quincy Jr. | constituency = | birth_date = December 11, 1798 | birth_place = Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|1845|11|22|1798|12|11}} | death_place = | birth_name = Thomas Aspinwall Davis | party = Native American Party | other_party =  | partner =  | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Businessman, politician | profession = | cabinet = | committees = | portfolio = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }}

'''Thomas Aspinwall Davis''' (December 11, 1798 – November 22, 1845) was a silversmith and businessman who served as mayor of Boston for nine months in 1845.

==Early life== Davis was born on December 11, 1798, in Brookline, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer Davis III and Lucy Aspinwall.<ref name="books.google.com">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PY8qAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22Thomas+Aspinwall+davis%22&pg=PA8 |title=The Boston Directory |date=1851 |publisher=George Adams |language=en}}</ref> Both the Davis and Aspinwall families were longtime residents of Brookline.<ref> {{cite journal |title=The Old Burying Ground |first=E. W. |last=Baker |journal=Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society |date=January 24, 1906 |pages=19–36 |url=http://www.cemetery.highstreethill.org/history/history1901.html |access-date=8 February 2008 }} </ref> Thomas' elder brother Increase Sumner Davis became a Congregational minister.<ref> {{cite book |title=An Address at the Opening of the Town Hall, in Brookline: On Tuesday, 14 October 1845 |year=1846 |publisher=White & Potter |location=Boston, MA |page=Appendix, p.44 (Notes XXXII to p.24) |url=https://archive.org/details/anaddressatopen00piergoog|first=John |last=Pierce }} </ref> Thomas grew up on Harrison Place (now Kent Street), and began work in a jeweler's shop in Boston at age 14.<ref name="brookline"> {{cite web |url=http://www.brooklinehistoricalsociety.org/history/presComm/linden.asp |title=The Lindens |publisher=Brookline Historical Society |access-date=8 February 2008 }} </ref>

==Business career== By 1820, he was in partnership with Thomas N. Morong. He had his own business 1825–34, and was a partner of Julius Palmer and Josiah Bachelder from 1838.<ref name="silversmiths"> {{cite web |url=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~silversmiths/makers/silversmiths/140495.htm |access-date=8 February 2008 |title=American Silversmiths: Thomas Aspinwall Davis }} </ref> The firm was successful, after his death known as Palmer, Bachelder & Co.<ref> {{cite book |first=M. |last=King |edition=7th |year= 1885 |chapter-url=http://www.helloboston.com/BookFiles/CH_18_BACKBONE_OF_THE_CITY1.pdf |access-date=8 February 2008 |pages=352 |chapter =The Backbone of the City |title=King's Handbook of Boston |publisher=helloboston.com }} </ref><ref> {{cite web |title=Trophies and Treasures |url=http://antiquesandthearts.com/archive/shreve.htm |quote= Palmer, Bachelder & Co (1817–1888), Shreve's greatest competitors |access-date=8 February 2008 |publisher=antiquesandthearts.com }}</ref> By 1843 he had acquired, by inheritance and purchase, farmland around his father's house, which he subdivided to create ''The Lindens'', a prestigious suburban residential development designed by Alexander Wadsworth and John F. Edwards.<ref name="brookline"/> Davis' own house was at the head of Linden Park, until it was moved to 29 Linden Place in 1906.<ref name="brookline"/> In 1985 it was added to the List of Registered Historic Places in Brookline.

==1844–45 mayoral election== {{main|1844–45 Boston mayoral election}}

In the runup to the 1844 election Davis was nominated for mayor at a convention chaired by the showman Moses Kimball, who was best known for exhibiting a stuffed mermaid with P.T. Barnum.<ref>''The New England Historical and Genealogical Register'', vol. 56 (1902), p. 337.</ref> At this time a candidate for mayor needed a majority to be elected, and if no candidate received a majority of the vote a new election was held. A candidate did not have to have run in the previous round, and previous candidates did not necessarily run in subsequent elections. In the first vote held on December 9, 1844, in addition to Davis, the candidates were Josiah Quincy Jr., who led in the first round of balloting, and Adam W. Thaxter, Jr., who placed a weak third behind Davis. Quincy received 4,457 votes,<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50">{{Cite journal | title = A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822–1908, Roxbury, 1846–1867, Charlestown 1847–1873 and of The Selectmen of Boston, 1634–1822 also of Various Other Town and Municipal officers | page = 50| publisher = City of Boston Printing Department | location = Boston, MA | year = 1909 }}</ref> Davis 4,017<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/> and Thaxter 2,115,<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/> with a scattering of 232 votes going to others.<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/> Because none of the candidates had received a majority of the 10,821 votes cast<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/> no one was elected mayor. Quincy, the Whig candidate, and Thaxter, a Democrat, dropped out after the first round, with Thomas Wetmore and Charles G. Greene, the editor of the Boston Post, taking their places in the next round of balloting. Well, known Bostonians like former mayor Samuel A. Eliot entered the lists in ensuing rounds, but nothing could break the three-way deadlock. In each of the next six elections held between December 23, 1844,<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/> and February 12, 1845, there were at least three major candidates in contention for the mayoralty, and no one candidate received a majority of the vote. Davis led with a plurality on every round after the first.<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p51"/><ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p50"/>

In the eighth and final election held on February 21, 1845<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p51"/> there were only two candidates, Davis and William Parker, a Whig who had become acting mayor on January 6 when the previous mayor's term expired. In that election Davis received 4,865 votes, Parker received 4,366 and there was a scattering of 322 votes. Davis defeated Parker by 499 votes and receiving a majority of the 9,553 votes cast.<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p51">{{Cite journal | title = A Catalogue of the City Councils of Boston, 1822–1908, Roxbury, 1846–1867, Charlestown 1847–1873 and of The Selectmen of Boston, 1634–1822 also of Various Other Town and Municipal officers | page = 51| publisher = City of Boston Printing Department | location = Boston, MA | year = 1909 }}</ref>

==Mayoralty and death in office==

It was Davis' third attempt as a candidate representing the Native American Party, which had split from the Whigs the previous year. He was sworn in on February 27, 1845. His term of office was uneventful, the main issue of the day being badly needed improvements to Boston's inadequate water supply. He tendered his resignation on October 6 owing to ill health, and he died on November 22, 1845.<ref name="books.google.com"/><ref name="bostonia-blog"> {{cite web |url=https://bostonia.blogspot.com/2005/02/long-election.html |title=The Long Election |publisher=Bostonia blog |date=February 21, 2005 |access-date=8 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708025539/https://bostonia.blogspot.com/2005/02/long-election.html |archive-date=8 July 2011}} </ref> His resignation was not accepted, and thus he died in office. John Pierce delivered an address at his funeral in Central Church on November 25.

In records published by the city of Boston list Davis' term is cited as ending on November 22, 1845.<ref name="ACatofCityofBos1909p45"/> Benson Leavitt, a Whig, took over as acting mayor until new elections could be held.

==Personal life== He married Sarah Jackson, the niece of abolitionist Francis Jackson, on November 11, 1824, in Newton, Massachusetts.<ref name="silversmiths"/>

==See also== * Timeline of Boston, 1840s

==References== {{reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | before = Martin Brimmer<br>William Parker (acting) | title = Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts | years= February 21, 1845 – November 22, 1845 | after = Benson Leavitt (acting)<br>Josiah Quincy Jr.}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Thomas A.}} Category:1798 births Category:1845 deaths Category:19th-century mayors of places in Massachusetts Category:19th-century American jewellers Category:Mayors of Boston Category:Politicians from Brookline, Massachusetts Category:American businesspeople in the real estate industry Category:American silversmiths Category:Massachusetts Know Nothings Category:19th-century American businesspeople