Martin L. Davey, Governor of Ohio

Martin L. Davey, Sr., the only Kent native ever to be governor of Ohio, was prouder to be known as president of the Davey Tree Expert Company, founded by his father. John Davey, a native of England, started the science of tree care, by writing the book, The Tree Doctor. Martin. L. Davey was born in Kent, Ohio, July 25, 1884, the son of John Davey and Bertha (Reeves) Davey. He was graduated from the Kent High School in 1900 and attended Oberlin Academy and Oberlin College from 1904 to 1907, during which time he entered the tree surgery business with his father on a partnership basis. During 1906, 1907, and 1908, he operated in the vicinity of New York City. He returned to Kent in the fall of 1908 to incorporate the Davey Tree Expert Company and to start the Davey Institute of Tree Surgery.

Mr. Davey served as general manager of the Davey Tree Expert Company since its incorporation in 1909 and he was president of the company since the death of his father in 1923 until his own death in 1946. Under his direction the company expanded from an infant organization with less than a score of employees to an organization which has branch offices in the larger cities of the United States and Canada.

In 1910, Mr. Davey organized the Kent Board of Trade and was chairman of the organization meeting. In 1913, he was elected president of the body. In November, 1913, he was elected mayor of Kent; he was reelected in 1915 and again in 1917. During his administration the sanitary sewage system and disposal plant were planned and completed, as well as several miles of pavements and sidewalks; moreover, steps were taken which ultimately led to the purchase by the city of the waterworks

In November, 1918, he was elected to Congress as a representative from the Fourteenth Ohio District; he resigned as mayor and took office as a member of Congress December 1, 1918, to serve out the unexpired term and the next regular term. He was defeated for Congress in 1920 but was reelected in 1922 and in 1924 and again in 1926. In 1928, he was the Democratic nominee for governor of Ohio. Although he was defeated in the Hoover landslide, he received more votes than had ever before been given to a nominee for that office. In May, Davey was delegate-at-large to the Democratic National Convention. He was elected governor of Ohio in 1934 and again in 1936. One of the many high spots of his two terms was his proclamation in connection with the "little steel" strike in 1937 that, "The right to strike is sacred, but the right to work is equally sacred." The strike was soon settled.

Frank Lausche, who later served five terms as Ohio Governor, praised Davey's administration, saying, "Martin L. Davey was Governor of Ohio at a time when the finances of the state were at their lowest ebb and the demands of distressed people at their very height. How he managed to operate the government with the finances that were available is a mystery to me, as I have studied the relative revenues available to the different administrations of the last 16 years. He did a remarkable job with the finances he had."

Following a severe heart attack in 1941, Davey devoted his whole time to the able management that was needed to bring the Davey company through the difficult war years. Even so, and with health failing, he found time to successfully head six local war bond drives.

His son, Martin, Jr., gave an interview in which he pointed out some of the human side of his father. "He created quite a bit of controversy when he carried through on his promise to pave part of the downtown streets, and had the city buy considerable quantities of coal from the railroad because people were short of fuel. As a Congressman, he commuted back to Kent in a Pullman sleeper on weekends, living in a hotel during the week. He did not like Columbus, because, to the family, it was like living in a giant goldfish bowl. The family would drive back to Kent on weekends whenever possible. He was a businessman in a time when being on the side of labor was politically correct. He signed his 'death warrant' politically when he called out the National Guard to protect the Youngstown steel companies against union members who would have brought in weapons to fight the steel companies". As a conservative, Davey opposed Franklin D. Roosevelt. He made enemies in the press. He alienated both the Akron Beacon Journal and the Columbus Dispatch.

Martin L. Davey was married August 31, 1907, to Miss Berenice M. Chrisman, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Chrisman, of Kent. Governor Davey died March 31, 1946. He is buried at Standing Rock Cemetery in Kent. The Governor and Mrs. Davey had three children: Evangeline C., born May 30, 1911; Mary Berenice, born June 15, 1916, who died at the age of three, and Martin L. Davey, Jr., born February 7, 1918.