Hunt, Herbert and Floyd C. Kaylor.  Washington: West of the 
Cascades.  Vol. II.  Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1917.  p. 
558-559.

	D. F. DAVIES: Death removed one of the most valued, 
substantial and prominent citizens of Centralia when D. F. Davies 
was called to his final rest.  He had long been most actively 
connected with the business interests of the city as vice president of 
the Eastern Railway and Lumber Company.  He possessed marked 
qualities as an executive, capable of controlling extensive interests, 
and yet his manifold and mammoth duties and consequent success 
never caused him to lose the common touch.  He stood as a man 
among men, full of human sympathy and straightforward and 
honorable in every relation.
	Born in Nova Scotia in 1862, Mr. Davies spent his youthful 
days in that country and acquired his education across the Canadian 
border.  However, when twenty years of age he became a resident 
of the United States and from the outset of his business career he 
made steady progress, continually advancing onward and upward.  
There were no spectacular phases in his career, his success being the 
result of steadfast purpose, unfaltering determination and 
persistency.  In early manhood he was with the Western Union 
Telegraph Company for eighteen years as an executive of the 
construction department.  Later he entered the employ of the 
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway Company in charge of 
the construction and maintenance of its telegraph lines.  After three 
years spent in that connection he became associated with the Santa 
Fe Railroad Company in a similar capacity and thus gained broad 
experience along lines which made his entrance into lumber circles a 
legitimate and logical step.  His broad experience in this connection 
made him an expert on cross arms and it was the possibility for their 
manufacture which brought him to Washington.  For a time he was 
connected with the old Rock Creek Lumber Company, now the 
Walville Lumber Company, but disposed of his interests in that 
business in 1902 and removed to Centralia. Here he became 
identified with the Eastern Railway and Lumber Company, owning 
the most important industrial plant of the city.  He was elected to the 
office of vice president and so continued until his death.  His 
previous railroad experience was of great value to him in this 
connection.  The company maintained a large cross arm department 
and Mr. Davies' former experience enabled him to develop this 
department to large and profitable proportions.  At the same time an 
extensive business is conducted in the manufacture of lumber and 
shingles, the plant constituting the largest industrial enterprise of 
Centralia.  Mr. Davies remained one of the executive heads and 
active managers of the business and his sound judgment, his keen 
sagacity and his unfaltering industry were valued and resultant 
features in connection therewith.
	In 1895 occurred the marriage of Mr. Davies and Miss Stella 
Stewart, a native of Ohio, the wedding being celebrated, however, 
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she was then residing.  They had 
one son, David S., who died in childhood, and on the 22d of 
January, 1915, Mr. Davies passed away at the age of fifty-three 
years.  He was in the very prime of his life and it seemed that he 
should have been spared for years to come. Throughout the period 
of his residence in Centralia he was deeply and helpfully interested 
in its upbuilding and was one of the active and helpful members of 
the Commercial Club.  He gave unstintedly of time, labor and 
money in furthering the interests of the city and he was most active 
in the movement for good roads.  He served for two terms as 
president of the Centralia Automobile Club and at the time of his 
death was president of the State Automobile Association.  He also 
belonged to the Southwest Washington Fair Association and the 
Southwest Washington Development League.  He belonged to the 
Masonic fraternity, in which he attained high rank, becoming a 
Knight Templar and thirty-second degree Mason and member of the 
Mystic Shrine.  When he became connected with any interest or 
movement he was ever a stalwart champion thereof and labored 
untiringly for its benefit.  Moreover, what he undertook he 
accomplished, brooking no obstacles that could be overcome by 
persistent and honest effort.  His home, with its beautiful adornment 
of trees and flowers, was the expression of another side of his 
nature--a side marked by keen appreciation of nature in its most 
attractive phases.  To his friends he was loyal, to his wife most 
devoted, and he had so endeared himself to his fellow townsmen 
that the deepest regret was felt at his passing.


Davies  Stewart
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Nova Scotia-CAN>Lewis-WA