Like many other successful young men of Pomona Valley, the career of Walter T. Davis began amidst the orange groves of the Valley.
He is one of the many sons of Missouri who have ventured farther west in their quest for a livelihood and have met with the well deserved success that belongs as a rightful heritage to habits of industry and thrift. He was born in Berry County, Mo., April 25, 1881, and came to Pomona in 1892, when eleven years of age, with his adopted father, T. B. Copeland. Finishing his education in the Pomona public schools, he was engaged for three years on the Charles Loud ranch and an additional three years in the Packard Orange Grove Tract. He assisted in planting and budding many trees and helped set out two-thirds of the Loud ranch. Forming a partnership with Edward Levengood, they conducted the Pioneer Livery Stable in Pomona for two years. Later he sold his interest to his partner and engaged in buying and selling horses, conducting sales and livery stables very successfully. In 1913 he bought his present orange grove on North Weber Avenue, at Pomona, where he is now the owner of a thirteen-acre grove of Navel and Valencia orange trees that are prolific yielders for twenty-year-old trees, averaging from five acres 3000 boxes of fruit yearly.
In his choice of a helpmate he selected Miss Jessie Beck, with whom he was united in marriage in 1900. She is the daughter of J. C. Beck, one of the early settlers at Covina, Cal., and they are the parents of three children: Ross O., Howard L. and Clarabell.
More than two decades have elapsed since his lot was first cast in Pomona Valley, and Mr. Davis has witnessed many changes in Pomona in that time. He is full of interesting reminiscences relating to experiences among the orange groves of early days. Fraternally he is identified with the Loyal Order of Moose.
History of Pomona Valley, California, with Biographical Sketches
of The Leading Men and Women of the Valley Who Have Been
Identified With Its Growth and Development from the Early Days
to the Present
Published in Los Angeles, Cal., by the Historic Record Company
1920
Transcribed by Linda Jackson 12/14/08, Page 723
Los Angeles County Biographies ~ Archive Biography Index ~ Archive Index
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