GABRIEL C. DAVIES, who has mercantile interests both at Mineral Ridge and at
Cornersburg, Ohio, was born at the former place, April 12, 1864, son of William Edward and Marie E. (Evans) Davis.  William E. Davis was born in Wales in 1821, came to the United States in 1856, and in this country spent the rest of his life, and died in 1873.  He was a coal miner and farmer by occupation, and his religious affiliations were with the
Saturday Saints.  The mother of our subject, also a native of Wales, landed in America a few months after her husband came here.  She is still living, and is now a resident of Girard, Ohio.  Gabriel C. Davis is one of a family of twelve children, the others being as follows:  Annie E., single, lives with her mother at Girard, Ohio;  John W., who married Annie E. Davis, lives in Salem, Oregon;  David S., married Rose Belle Beal, and lives in Long Valley, Boise County, Idaho;  Mary, wife of C. S. Maggs, residing at Paris, Clarke County, Ohio;  William E., who married Gwennie Morgan, resides in Crawford County, Kansas;  Jennie, deceased;  Benjamin E., who married Ida E Thrasher, lives in Cornersburg, where he has charge of our subject's store;  Henry and Edward, deceased;  Henry (2) who conducts a hardware business at Girard, and is a resident there; and Sarah, deceased.

Gabriel C. Davis attended the schools of his native town until he was nearly fifteen years of age, and at that time began clerking in a general store there for C. F. Whitney, remaining in his employ three years and three months.  At the end of that time, in partnership with his brother, Benjamin E., he opened a general merchandise store at Mineral Ridge, and this store they had conducted only four months, when both the building and stock went up in flames.  They had purchased some goods which had not yet been received at the time of the fire, and upon their arrival they rented a vacant house and in it opened up this stock.  Soon after this Gabriel C. accepted a situation as travelling salesman for B. Danne, Miller and Company, of Canton, Ohio, handling coffee and spices, and remaining with them ten months.  Then he opened up a stock of groceries at Mineral Ridge, and conducted a grocery business for two years and a half.  In the summer of 1887 he disposed of this establishment, and in the spring of the following year opened a grocery queen's-ware, flour and feed store in Girard, in partnership with his brother-in-law, Edmund Morgan, under the firm name of Morgan & Davis.  This firm continued for six months, when Mr. Davis bought his partner's interest and for about a year ran the store alone.  He then sold out and removed to the Pacific coast, and in Whatcom county, Washington, took up a pre-emption claim of 160 acres, eight miles from the British America line.  After spending six months on this claim, he went by vessel to Seattle, where he secured a clerkship in the commission store of H.R. Hammond & Co., and where he remained about seven months.  After that we find him back in Mineral Ridge, Ohio.  Here, March 15, 1890, he purchased J.D. Strouse's stock of general merchandise at Cornersburg, and April 1, of the same year, was appointed Postmaster of this place, being the present incumbent of that office.  In May, 1893, he bough property at Mineral Ridge, and in September opened up a stock of general merchandise.  He himself conducts the store at Mineral Ridge, while his brother has charge of the one at Cornersburg.

Mr. Davis was married, on the night of his twenty-third birthday at the bride's home in Mineral Ridge, Ohio to Miss Rhoda M. Morgan, who was born in Minersville, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, February 20, 1863, daughter of Daniel and Rhoda (Morris) Morgan.  Daniel Morgan was born in Wales in 1820, came to the United States when a young man, and has been a coal miner all his life.  His wife, also a native of Wales, was born in 1825.  They had a family of six children of who we record that their son, Edmond, who married Sarah A. Davis, lives in Youngstown, Ohio, where he is a member of the firm of Baldwin, Morgan & Co.; and that four of their children:  Leah, Mary J., and two infants are deceased.  Mr. and Mrs. Davis have two children:  Roy, born January 30, 1898, in Mineral Ridge, Ohio; and William Edward, born in Cornersburg, Ohio, April 3, 1892.