Davis was born in Dublin on the island of Ireland (the entirety of which was then part of the U.K.), where he attended private schools.
He was of an Anglo-Irish background, being of English and Welsh descent, and was part of the landowning Protestant Ascendancy.
He was an abolitionist and was against the real estate requirement for voting that Rhode Island imposed upon naturalized citizens.
[12] Following Eliza's death, he married abolitionist, suffragist, and educator Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis in 1849.
[15] This article incorporates public domain material from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress