Obituary of Charles Davies (1798-1876) reprinted from the Fishkill Standard.

Death of Charles Davies, LL.D. --- In the death of Prof. Davies, one of our most eminent citizens has passed away. Few names are better or more widely known in America. For many years he has lived in our community, and every one was familiar with his form, and knew his affable manners. He had a kind heart, and there was a kind word for all. He mingled but very little with others in business ways. He loved deeply his own mathematical studies, and was absorbed in them, so that often in passing he did not see his best friends. But one thing chiefly interested him, and that was the cause of education. He was for some years one of the trustees of our village public school, and took a deep interest in its welfare, taking part in its management, visiting it, and contributing to it books. It was only when he felt he could not attend to the duties of a trustee, that he would no longer consent to act.

He had a genius for mathematics, and was unquestionably great. His mathematical works are probably better known than those of any other author in America. He was a graduate of West Point, and we think one of two, if not the only one, of the oldest living graduates, and year after year he has been chosen to deliver an address, but the present year he was unable to do so. His address last year, on the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of Bunker Hill, is regarded as one of the finest efforts of the kind. His studious habits just fitted him for such an historical effort. His style was easy, and he was fluent in expression, making him quite an effective speaker. He was not born a military man. With his mathematical genius he might have planned, but we think he would not have excelled in the field. But he amply repaid his Alma Mater for her invaluable aid to him, when seated in one of her professors’ chairs. He was a master, a chieftian [sic], in his favorite science, and his many students in different parts of our country, some of whom have achieved distinguished eminence in the arts of war, will mourn his departure, for they bore toward him no ordinary love. He could sympathize with the struggling, and cheer them on, for he himself had struggled. He has told us with delight of his own early years upon the home farm, when as a boy he drove the oxen, and hauled wood, and how he afterward went to West Point, when a brighter world opened before him, and his divine faculties were permitted to unfold. Other sons, too, went out from that loved home to attain respect and eminence. He is gone! We shall see no more his familiar presence, and hear his kind cheering words, but he has left behind a rich legacy in him memory, so that in the years to come it will be pleasing to relate that we knew the eminent mathematician Charles Davies, to whom we were under many obligations in our mathematics in the earlier days. We shall think of the warm welcome that he gave us in his charming residence, which stands in full view of the Hudson that he loved, and where he could almost see the loved old haunts in the Military Academy. We shall remember the ardent love he had for his studies, and the delight it gave him to have the puzzled student come to him to make clear some difficult problem. We shall not forget the man who feared God, loved his country, and won the respect of his fellow men.

In the beautiful Matteawan Cemetery his remains on Wednesday were laid away by his old comrades and friends, and his spirit has gone back to his Maker.  Requiescat in pace. --- Fishkill Standard.

The cover sheet for this clipping is marked “Fred M. Allan. Scrap Book No. 2. Montclair, NJ.”

Fishkill Landing, Matteawan (named for an Indian sub-tribe) and Glenham all became the city of Beacon in 1913. 

Page created January 2001. 
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