Sources:

1. http://ncpedia.org/biography/davis-junius

2. Fanny Davis Diehl's Pedigree Chart, prepared by Sam Munsen, a professional genealogist

3. "Biographical History of North Carolina, Volume 2", by Samuel A. Ashe, 1905, pages 82-88. 3. "Presentation of the Portrait of Platt Dickinson Walker", April 20, 1926: Address by E.T. Cansler (from a legal journal, pages 839-851).

4. Family stories.

Junius Davis was born June 17, 1845 in Wilmington, North Carolina, the oldest child of the Hon. George Davis (Confederate Senator and later, CSA Attorney General) and his first wife, Mary Adelaide Polk Davis. His early schooling was in Wilmington, but at the age of 12, he was sent to the "celebrated" Bingham School at the Oaks near Mebanville in Orange County, North Carolina, and he stayed there for four years. When the Civil War broke out, Junius was just under 16, and his father moved the family, including Junius, to Charlotte. In 1863, when he was 17, he enlisted as a private in Moore's Battery (artillery), which was Company E of the 10th North Carolina Regiment. He saw action at New Bern, North Carolina, at the battle of Drury's Bluff in Virginia -- shortly after which he was promoted to corporal, at the time his battery was attached to a battalion commanded by Major Moseley -- at Bermuda Hundreds, and then around Richmond, and in the trenches at Petersburg. He also participated in the battle of the Crater on July 30, 1864 and in the assault on Fort Harrison. His only wound throughout the war was a slight one in the neck on his last day in the trenches.

Junius Davis was also present during the last of the fighting of the Civil War at Appomattox. Samuel Ashe describes (Source #3, page 85) how he and his companions heard about the end of the war: "The squad of men of which Corporal Davis was a part dashed into the neighboring woods, and before going a hundred yards their own guns were turned upon them, but fortunately they escaped. They penetrated the woods about a mile, and being uncertain of the situation, remained there at night. Early in the morning they met with an officer of McGregor's Mounted Battery, who informed them that he had it from the best authority that General Lee was about to surrender. The information could not be credited, and Corporal Davis and the two men who were with him could not fully understand how such a calamity could happen; but on being assured that General Lee was about to surrender the army, they realized the terrible situation, and with heavy hearts, overwhelmed with distress, they determined to make the best of their way out."

After that, Corporal Junius Davis and some companions made their way along the Norfolk & Western Railroad until they reached Greensboro, where they had the intention of joining General Johnston's forces, but instead they learned that General Johnston had surrendered the last of the Confederate armies, and therefore in Greensboro, Junius Davis surrendered himself to the Federal provost-marshall, and he was then paroled. He then returned to Charlotte, looking for work, which was very scarce at that time. He finally found a job accompanying carloads of cotton, which was being hauled on open flat cars, from Charlotte to New Bern, to keep it from being damaged or stolen. [Samuel Ashe reports that at that time, cotton was selling for $1 in gold per pound, and gold was worth more than 50 cents premium on the dollar.] After several months of this work, he returned to Wilmington in the fall of 1865, and found employment as a clerk in the dry goods store of Weil & Rosenthal. After his father was released on parole and was able to resume the practice of law in Wilmington, in 1867, his business was remunerative enough for Junius, who was then 22 years old, to quit his job as a clerk and start studying law. He was able to obtain his law license the following year and then became a partner with his father, an association which lasted until the latter's death in 1896.

Besides his work as a lawyer, Junius Davis was also a businessman and held the position of president of the Wilmington Railroad Bridge Company. Although he did not seek public office, in politics he was a "zealous worker" for the Democratic party. On January 19, 1874, when he was 28, he married Mary Orme Walker, a daughter of Thomas Davis Walker and Mary Vance Dickinson, and a granddaughter of Platt Ketchum Dickinson (often referred to as "P.K." Dickinson), a businessman and industrialist originally from Long Island, New York, who was instrumental in the establishment of the railroad in Wilmington. She was born on January 19, 1847 in Wilmington. They had seven children, two girls and five boys. She died on October 16, 1888, at the age of 41. Junius Davis got married for the second time on November 6, 1893, at the age of 48, to Mary W. Cowan, a first cousin of Mary Orme Walker Davis, Junius's first wife. She was born on September 8, 1859, and was the daughter of Col. Robert H. Cowan (CSA) and Elizabeth Jane Dickinson, who was the sister of Mary Vance Dickinson. She was 34 when she married Junius Davis. They had three children, a boy and two girls, and Mary Cowan Davis also helped raise the younger children from her husband's first marriage, who remembered her with great fondness. Junius Davis died in Wilmington on April 11, 1916, at the age of 75. He is buried in Oakdale Cemetery in Wilmington. Mary Cowan Davis died in 1931.