Winfield J. Davis

Candidate Biography:

Born: December 5, 1851 in Utica, New York
Married: Maude M. Cameron (m. 1875)
Children: Winfield Ashley and Duncan Cameron
Died: August 3, 1909 in Marysville, CA

1874-188?: Official Reporter of the Sixth District Court

• LEGISLATIVE HISTORIAN: Davis was a member of the California Historical Society and Historian of the Sacramento Society of California Pioneers. He wrote a number of highly organized and detailed books that provide much of the biographic data that we have on the early California legislators. These works include;
  History of Political Conventions in California, 1849-1892, (1893)
  An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California, (1890)
  A section on California history in the 1889 Government Roster of the State of California, which was later used as the foundation of the California Blue Books for the next hundred years.
  An article in the San Francisco Call (February 25, 1900; Page 10) about the history of US Senate elections in California that provided a great deal of information.  
• The beginning of the California State Library’s "California Information File" began when Davis passed away and the library hired Mrs. Davis to convert the entries to card stock. Supposedly she was paid a penny a card.