Davis Elkins

Davis Elkins
United States Senator from West Virginia
In office January 9, 1911 – January 31, 1911
Preceded by	Stephen B. Elkins
Succeeded by	Clarence W. Watson
In office March 4, 1919 – March 4, 1925
Preceded by	Nathan Goff, Jr.
Succeeded by	Guy D. Goff
Personal details
Born	January 24, 1876 Washington, D.C.
Died	January 5, 1959 (aged 82) Richmond, Virginia
Political party	Republican

Davis Elkins (January 24, 1876 – January 5, 1959) was a United States Senator from West Virginia.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., he attended the Lawrenceville School, Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts and Harvard University. During the Spanish–American War he enlisted as a private in the First West Virginia Volunteer Infantry, becoming assistant adjutant general in 1898.

Elkins was an industrialist with interests in railroads, banking, utilities, and coal mining; he was appointed as a Republican to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his father, Stephen B. Elkins, and served from January 9 to January 31, 1911, when a successor was elected. During the First World War he served in the United States Army in France, 1917–18. He was then elected to the U.S. Senate and served from March 4, 1919, to March 4, 1925; he was not a candidate for renomination in 1924. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Commerce (Sixty-sixth Congress).

From 1936 to 1956 he was owner of the Washington and Old Dominion Railroad Company. Davis Elkins died in Richmond, Virginia in 1959; interment was in Maplewood Cemetery, Elkins, West Virginia.

Davis Elkins was a son of Stephen Benton Elkins and a grandson of Henry Gassaway Davis, both U.S. Senators from West Virginia. His sister Katherine Hallie "Kitty" Elkins (Jan. 14, 1886 – Sept. 3, 1936) was engaged for some time to Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (1873–1933), a cousin of the king of Italy.

References

• United States Congress. "Davis Elkins (id: E000109)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-04-04