David Griffiths Davis was born 24 August 1882 in a log cabin in Samaria, Idaho. It was the middle of the season for cutting grain and Tally Hughes was helping his father. They had to wait for their dinner until Dave made his appearance. Years later he often found himself cutting grain on his birthday.
His parents were David Price Davis and Elizabeth Griffiths. They were one of the first seven families to settle Samaria, Idaho. They were both emigrants from Wales. Their son David was the youngest of their seven children. Their first children were twin daughters, Lucy and Margaret. Margaret died shortly after birth. Their next three children were sons-Edward Henry, Owen Thomas and William Price. Then came another daughter-Elizabeth and then their youngest child-David Griffiths.
David Griffiths believed he was named after his uncle Dave Griffiths, although it is interesting to note that by each of his four wives his father had a son named David.
When David was two his parents moved to a house in Gwenford, Idaho, a short distance from Samaria. This home was by the grist mill. The house was a two room lumber cabin. They later added another room and a basement for use as a cellar. For a while they carried water from the spring in a bucket.
His mother died 8 September 1890 when David was just eight years old. She was 48 at this time and his father was 65. His mother died of dropsy. This left his eleven year old sister, Elizabeth to care for them and their home. His older sister, Lucy, was married at the time.
His father had been one of the first school teachers in Samaria but when David went to school, it was in James Thomas’s house and the teacher was Professor Evans. Later Dave had to quit school and help his father with the farm. His formal education ended in the eighth grade. At this time his brother Owen had been called to serve a mission and his brother William had poor health so his help was needed with the farm .
At the age of twelve David hauled grain from Malad to Collinston, Utah in a horse drawn wagon. At that time grain was selling for 35 to 50 cents a bushel. It took a day to get to collinston and a day back.
Living so close to the grist mill, David became acquainted with a great many people from Idaho Falls and Park Valley since they all came to Gwenford to have their grain ground into flour. Even the Washiki and The Bannock Indians came to the mill. Dave hauled grain until the railroad came to Malad about 1912.
Thomas Morgan and Dave, at ages 16 and 17 broke broncos for use by the Cavalry during the Boer War. When he was 18 he traveled to Missouri for a visit. All his life he said he wanted to go to Kansas and see if he could find his half brother, David.
His sister Elizabeth married Joseph Arbon when she was sixteen years old. From then on the three men made do with hired girls to help with the housekeeping.
His father, David Price Davis, died 12 November 1904 at age 79. David was 21 years old. It was at this time when he and his brother, Will, broke up housekeeping and each were on their own.
During the next few years, Dave traveled around a bit and had all kinds of jobs. He went to California and took part in the World’s Fair. He sheared sheep in Dairy Creek, Idaho and the Eastern part of Montana. He was also a sheep herder in Nevada at one time.
At age 35 he formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Joseph Arbon, on a 320 acre farm in Arbon Valley. Later he bought 320 acres of his own. They grew mostly grain.
As there was very little to do in Arbon in the winter, George Atkinson and Dave went to Los Angeles, California one winter. Since Dave needed something to do, he took a course in auto mechanics. Although he usually managed to get things to work, it was not his best talent.
John Cairns had a farm in Arbon, Idaho and this is where Dave met him. Mr. Cairns had originally come from England, and though he farmed in Arbon he lived in Salt Lake City, Utah at 44 Hillside Avenue. Dave went to visit him in Salt Lake City and Mr. Cairns introduced him to a young Scottish lady who later became his wife. She lived in the small apartment the Cairns had in their home. She stood four feet ten inches tall, had black hair and blue eyes and a natural Scottish accent. At this time Dave was 40 and Daisy Delvyn was 34 years old.
He took Daisy to Arbon on a visit before they were married to show her where her new home would be. It was a two room frame room and she teased him about the way he had the furniture arranged, saying it looked like a school room. There were six chairs standing against one wall.
They were married on 25 June 1924 in the Salt Lake Temple by Joseph Fielding Smith.
On the farm they had two dogs named Maggie and Jiggs. Whenever Dave worked in the fields and Daisy needed him, she would wave a towel and Maggie would go and get him. One winter the snow drifted over the doors of the house and they had to tunnel their way out. One summer for a week some skunks made their home under the house.
Now things seemed to start going wrong. They had just bought a new combine and Dave had been cutting grain when it caught on fire. There were eight horses hitched to it and they were going wild with fright when the wind changed and that saved them. A week later their car burned up.
It was while they were living in Arbon that their first daughter, Lorene, was born. They stayed in Arbon until it was almost time for the birth of Lorene but then went to stay with Dave’s brother, Owen. She made her appearance on 24 January 1926, weighing 5 pounds and 6 ounces.
They spent some happy years in Arbon but left just before their second child was born. Della was born on 18 January 1931 and weighed 5 pounds and 6 ounces. She was born when Dave was 48 years old and just before Daisy’s 43rd birthday. She was the last of their children.
Dave rented a farm in Pleasantview, Idaho. It was a five room frame house. They lived in Pleasantview Ward. They had horses, cows, chickens and grew some of their own fruits and vegetables. It was mainly an alfalfa farm. While living there, Dave caught typhoid fever. He was under quarantine and confined to his bed. It was at this time that he got acquainted with his two year old daughter, Della. When Daisy went out to do the work around the farm that she was able to do, she put Della in his room and shut the door so she would know where she was. Dave could not take care of his hay crop that year, but 15 Elders from the Ward came and did it for him. He sat on the porch and watched and the tears ran down his cheeks. They couldn’t even invite them in for dinner.
A couple of years later he borrowed some money from Daisy’s niece and bought an International Truck and went into the business of hauling sheep and cattle. During all this time he was in the business he only had one accident and that was with a load of sheep but none were hurt.
In 1935 Dave moved his family to Malad. They lived in the First Ward and Junius Crowther was the bishop. The depression was in full swing and Dave was poor as were many others who had lost their money in the banks and on their Liberty Bonds. He never trusted banks after that experience. He sometimes did not know where the next rent money was coming from. His niece, Mary, and her husband, Bud Williams and their family had moved in next door. When the WPA, a government sponsored work program, came to Malad, both Dave and Bud were able to get work with them. The first morning they went to work, both families were out to see them off. It was a very happy morning.
Dave bought a 160 dry land wheat farm in Deep Creek at the foot of the Oxford Mountain. He raised hay and grain. The grain fields were at the foot of the mountain. They raised a large vegetable garden and had two large raspberry patches, red currants, gooseberries, blue damson and Potawatomi plums. They had horses for work and a cow to furnish their milk supply and chickens for eggs. They sold or traded eggs and some of the fruits to the grocery store in town for supplies they could not raise.
Dave was still trucking and one winter sent to Oregon and brought back a truckload of apples to sell. They were Roman Beauty and Delicious and were some of the best apples we had ever eaten.
He could turn his hand to anything to do with farming. He helped deliver calves when the cow got into trouble. He slaughtered his own meat for the table whether it was beef, pork or mutton. He trained his own work horses.
When slicing meat one day his knife slipped and cut clear through his thumb nail. He couldn’t have gotten to a doctor if he had wanted to. It was the middle of winter and they were snowed in. Daisy bandaged it up and they took care of it the best they could. It was painful for a long time and it left him with a bumpy thumb nail for years. They were snowed in that winter until the snow plows had cleared the highways and were able to plow the farm houses out.
Their closest neighbors were Morgan Tovey and Perry Jones. They lived in the Third Ward but were rarely able to get to church. They still had a kneeling family prayer and Dave gave beautiful prayers when he was called upon.
It was getting harder to make a go of it. WWII was in progress and they had been sending food packages to Daisy’s sister, Jesse, who lived in Scotland. The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. Defense plants were opening all over the United States. Things were getting so bad on the farm that it was about to be foreclosed. Dave decided to move his family to Ogden, Utah and go to work in one of the Defense Plants.
In May, 1943, Dave moved with his family to Ogden. He had gone ahead and got a job at the Ogden Arsenal. Apartments were almost impossible to find so for the first couple of weeks they stayed with Dave’s brother, Owen and his wife at 1947 Van Buren. Each day Daisy would look for an apartment and finally she was successful. They rented the top floor of the Belnap home at 2149 Madison Ave. They now lived in the Fourth Ward and Edward Saunders was the Bishop.
For a few years Dave’s stomach had been giving him problems. At this time he went on a diet of baby food. Three doctors had been unable to find his trouble. This went on for a while. He finally had to quit his job because he was in so much pain. Finally he went to a clinic in Salt Lake City to see a Dr. Cannon. He took one look at his yellow skin and put him in the hospital. The doctor found a donor for a needed transfusion and operated on him for bleeding ulcers. It took a little while to find a donor because Dave was RH negative. He was up walking around the first day. It was the first time he had been in a hospital since he was 24 when he had to get his appendix out. When he was released he stayed with the next door neighbors, Cora and Orville Stimpson until he could climb the stairs to his apartment.
He worked for a short time as a guard at Utah General Depot, then Earl Paul, a contractor. He then worked as a custodian at the Central Junior High School until after Della’s marriage. He then worked for Hill Air Force Base until his retirement at age 72.
A couple of years after moving to Ogden, he bought a home at 2754 Liberty which put them in Fifth Ward. A few years later he bought the home across the street as income property. He took care of both places until his death.
David Griffith Davis was a proud, stubborn Welshman. Perhaps he came by it naturally since both of his parents were Welsh. He stood 5 feet, 10 inches tall, was usually 180 pounds, had dark brown hair, blue eyes and a very Welsh nose. His posture was ramrod straight whether walking or riding a horse. He was left-handed and his penmanship was beautiful. He wrote straight up and down, not with his hand curved around as ost left handers do. He wore glasses and a hat, which was tipped forward. He always had a full head of hair. He loved to visit with people and was good to those that needed help. He also was outspoken and his temper was sometimes on a short fuse and then he could turn the air blue.
He always had a short nap after lunch. He was basically a quiet man and a hard worker. He was 61 years old when they moved to Ogen and he started a new life. He was very blunt. If he offered you something and you couldn’t make up your mind, you didn’t get it. It made him happy when he thought he was doing something to please you. He loved his children and was proud of their accomplishments.
About the time Dave left Arbon, he had a disagreement with his brother-in-law, Joseph Arbon. Dave never spoke of what the problem was or who was to blame. They didn’t speak to each other for 40 years. (Did I say stubborn?) At a family reunion in Pocatello, Idaho when they were both in their 80s, somehow they ended up sitting across the table from each other and the ice was broken and they started speaking to each other again. It mus have bothered Dave for years because he commented on the way home how good it felt to be talking to Joe again.
In 1945, his daughter, Lorene married Abel Grant Weaver. They presented Dave, over the years, with three granddaughters-Lynne, Terry and Debra. His granddaughter Lynne, presented him with three great-grandchildren-Jeffrey, Kristi, and Cindy, who was born two days after his death.
His daughter, Della married Gordon Rollo Orme in 1949. They presented him with three grandsons and another granddaughter-Bill, Karen, Corey and Jason.
Religion did not play a great role in his life. Perhaps, if his mother had lived longer, it would have had more meaning for him. Most of his life he smoked and had an occasional beer. He did quite long enough to marry in the temple, but again took up his habits. Three months before his daughter, Della, married he decided smoking was a dirty habit and decided to quit. So he did. He had already quite drinking beer. He did not quit soon enough to see either of his daughters married in the temple although he did get his temple recommend back and was able to go to the temple again. In fact, he and Daisy spent three winters in Mesa, Arizona attending the temple. He also went on some of the temple trips organized in the Fifth Ward by Jake Lambert.
He had a cataract operation on his eyes and had to lay in his hospital bed with sandbags on each side of his head. It’s a wonder they didn’t have to tie him down to keep him still.
He was a High Priest in Fifth Ward, and a home teacher for 20 years with an old and dear friend, Tom Hawkins. He had known him from boyhood. When Tom died, Dave gave up home teaching; he was over 80 years old.
In his last years, he was troubled with arthritis in one knee. The last year of his life, his memory started to fail. He always gave his grandchildren money for a malt and was pleased to see them so he could make a fuss over them.
He got up during the early morning hours of Sunday, January 12, 1969 and fell on his way back to bed. He hit his head but managed to get back in bed. In the morning Daisy could not rouse him. She finally called Lorene and when she could not wake him, she called an ambulance. He was taken to the Dee Hospital. He never came out of the coma the week he was in the hospital. He got quick pneumonia and started having convulsions. He died at 11:15 pm on 18 January, on his daughter Della’s birthday. He was buried 22 January 1969 on his son-in-law’s (Grant Weaver) birthday in the Washington Heights Memorial Park in Ogden, Weber, Utah at age 86.
He was the last of his brothers and sisters to pass away. Daisy’s daily prayer was that she would live as long as Dave needed her. Her prayer was answered.