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About John Davey |
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When John was born in Somersetshire, England, on June 6, 1846, it is highly probable that the birth of a child was celebrated because it meant that there would soon be another set of hands to help with the farm work. And help with the farm work he did, at his father’s side, absorbing a work ethic and fount of agricultural knowledge from the senior Davey. The iconic message he received from his father, “do it right or not at all,” became a guide for the conduct of his business, and his drive to understand plants was most likely rooted in the soil that he worked alongside his father.
In his teen years, Davey moved from his home to do an apprenticeship in greenhouse management and used the time to learn to read and write. He associated himself with a church congregation, and through it became adept at public speaking. He quickly earned the respect of people who were in a position to help him, and in his early twenties might have chosen a career in the clergy or a similarly respectable profession.
Instead, at the age of 27 he immigrated to the United States and followed a course that paralleled that of many other immigrants: menial work, continuing education, a slightly better job and finally his own business. Along the way he married and started a family, expanded the geographic and service reach of his business, and became a noted lecturer and pamphleteer.
He didn’t confine his energies to the tree business only, however. He campaigned for women’s suffrage and against alcohol. He wrote tracts on politics, religion, birds and farm problems. But always central was his crusade to improve the care of trees.
The story of John Davey is one of a man who through a commanding intelligence, great strength of character and a passionate dedication to tree preservation created a company that is still going strong more than a century after he founded it.
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