Lester Rogers Davis was born near Shiloh, N. J., May 3, 1850, and died in Riverside, Cal., January 22, 1915.
He was the third of six children - three daughters and three sons - born to Jeremy and Keziah Davis Davis. His father had also two sons by a former marriage. Mrs. C. B. Hull, of Chicago, is the only surviving member of the family. When Lester was but a small child the family moved to Wisconsin and a few years later to Trenton, Freeborn Co., Minn. When thirteen years of age he was baptized by Rev. Joel C. West and united with the Trenton Seventh Day Baptist Church.
On July 4, 1873, he was united in holy wedlock to Eva A. Pierce, also of Trenton. To this union have been born six children, four of whom are living: Edna, wife of D. E. Furrow, of Los Olivos, Cal.; Lula, wife of Jessie Van Meter, of Riverside; and Charles and Eugene, who are still at home. These, with the widow, are left to mourn the loss of a kind and loving husband and father.
In the early eighties, Mr. Davis removed, with his family, to Cartwright, Wis., where they resided about seven years. While living there he was ordained by the Cartwright Seventh Day Baptist Church, not the New Auburn Church, to the office of deacon.
Mr. Davis and family were members of the colony of "our people" who settled in Mississippi about 1879. The church organized there was first called Beauregard Church, afterward changed to Hewitt Springs. The family also lived some years in Colorado, both at Calhan and Boulder, coming to Riverside about ten years ago from Milton, Wis.
As his pastor for a little over a year, I wish to express my grateful appreciation of the faithfulness and co-operation of Deacon Davis. He was deeply interested in all lines of church work and ready to do his part to the extent of his ability.
The following appeared in the Riverside Daily Enterprise:
"In the death of Lester Rogers Davis there passed away a man long connected with the cross and mission bells on the summit of Mt. Rubidoux. Funeral services for Mr. Davis were held Sabbath afternoon at 2:30 o'clock from the parlors of W. C. Clatworthy & Co., Rev. R. J. Severance officiating.
"The greater part of the past ten years Mr. Davis had been the official photographer on Mt. Rubidoux. Thousands of people from all parts of the earth had stood before his camera to have their photographs taken as they leaned against the cross or one of the bells.
"The deceased at the time of his death had been away from his post on top of the mountain three weeks. He had written and dedicated a poem to the old mountain, where he worked so many years. Mr. Davis was the inventor of the Marvel oven for gas, gasoline, and oil stoves. The oven is now manufactured by the Riverside Sheet Metal Works." R. J. S.
