avis, the first teacher of Booker T.
Washington, who a few years before had come from Halesford, Virginia,
to Malden.

Mr. Davis's career is more than interesting. He was born in Columbus,
Ohio, November 27, 1848, remained there until his thirteenth year,
spending parts of the years 1861, 1862, 1863 in Chillicothe. During
these years he mastered the fundamentals of an English education. He
moved back to Columbus in the fall of 1863. On December 18th of that
year Mr. Davis enlisted in the Union "Light Guard," called "Lincoln's
Body Guard," at Columbus. He served in the army eighteen months and
was discharged at Camp Todd Barracks, Washington, D. C., June 24,
1865. He then returned to Columbus and after remaining there about a
month went to Cincinnati, from which he proceeded to run on a boat
from Gallipolis to Charleston for about a month.

About this time the people of Malden, under the wise guidance of Lewis
Rice, a beloved pioneer minister, better known among the early Negroes
of the State as Father Rice because of his persistent efforts in
behalf of religion and education, had decided to establish a school
for the education of their children. Mr. William Davis thereupon
abandoned his work on the boat and became the teacher of this private
school, established at Malden in the home of Father Rice, in 1865. As
the school had to be conducted in the very bed-room of this
philanthropist, it was necessary for him to take down his bed in the
morning and bring in the benches, which would be replaced in the
evening by the bed in its turn. The school was next held in the same
church thereafter constructed, and finally in the schoolroom provided
at public expense, as one of the schools of the county.

About the only white person who seemed to give any encouragement to
the education of Negroes at Malden was General Lewis Ruffner. It
seems, however, that his interest was not sufficient to provide those
facilities necessary to ease the burden of this pioneer teacher. When
we think, however, that out of this school came such useful teachers
as William T. McKinney, H. B. Rice, and one of the world's greatest
educators, Booker T. Washington, we must conclude that it was a
success.

Mr. Davis's worth as a teacher rapidly extended through the Kanawha
Valley. He was chosen by the authorities of Charleston to take charge
of their Negro schools in 1871, when it was just a two-room affair. In
this field, however, Mr. Davis had been pre