In 1857 Joshua Davies established the Davies Iron Works in Muskegon, Michigan. Early products included hitching posts, spokeshaves and grain separators. Joshua obtained several patents, mainly for products manufactured by the Iron Works. He and his wife, Sarah, were co-inventors on an 1859 bread-slicer patent, and a year later Sarah obtained a solo patent for a clothes sprinkler; at this time patents awarded to woman were exceedingly uncommon.

By 1884 the product line of the Davies Iron Works encompassed stationary and marine steam engines plus sawmill machinery, including Lemieux's patent gang edger. Joshua Davies died unexpectedly in 1885, of a heart attack. His elder son, Squier, was already secretary and treasurer of the business even though he was only 25 years old. Upon his father's death he became vice president of the company, and his mother became president. Soon they pared down the company's product line to focus on hand trucks for sawmills and woodworking factories. Sarah Davies died in late 1895, and Squier died suddenly in late 1896. There was a younger Davies son, Reid Davies, but he was estranged from both mother and his brother who both wrote him out of their wills. In early 1897 the leaderless Davies Iron Works were placed into receivership. The company's stock, machinery and goodwill were acquired later that year by the Lansing Wheelbarrow Co. The former Davies Iron Works factory would house the Buss Machinery Co.

Information Sources

• Ad in 1884 Muskegon and Its Resources.
• 1893-09-23 The Age of Steel page 18.

  The Davies Iron Works, Muskegon, Mich., manufacturers of [hand] trucks of all descriptions, have a display in Section A, block 12, Transportation Building, at the World's Fair, comprising a full line of saw mill, planing mill and shingle mill tucks, and a complete line of furniture, box factory and small floor trucks. The exhibit is in the northwest part of the building, and will will be interesting to all the lumber and factory men who may visit it.

• 1897-03-20 Chicago Journal of Commerce and Metal Industries page 14.

  Lyman G. Mason has been appointed receiver for the Davies Iron Works, incorporated, at Muskegon, Michigan.

• 1897-05-25 Hardware page 33.

  The Lansing Wheelbarrow Co., Lansing, Mich., have bought the stock, machinery and good-will of the business of the Davies Iron Works, Muskegon, Mich., formerly manufacturers of warehouse trucks, and will continue the manufacture of their specialties.

• 1930 Marvyn Scudder Manual of Extinct Or Obsolete Companies, Volume 3, page 497, lists "Davies Iron Works, Muskegon, Michigan. Forfeited. Out of business April 12 1899."
• A Muskegon genealogy site has a page on the Joshua Davies family.

  Joshua Davies was born in 1818 in Sidney County, Maine... In 1857, the family moved to Muskegon, Michigan... He started the Davies Iron Works, a foundry and machine shop that made and repaired machinery and parts used in saw mills and later, marine and stationary engines. It was located on Western Avenue. Decades later, Lakey Foundry was established on the site. Joshua held many U.S. patents having to do with his business which was very profitable. In 1882, the annual product was valued at $40,000 ($1,038,733.33 in today’s money). Muskegon had no shortage of lumber mills. In fact, Joshua, along with his two sons bought the Major Chauncey Davis Mill (where Squire had worked for a time) and operated it under the name of the Davies Brothers Mill. During their ownership, a young man was injured (losing both his legs) and sued the Davies Brothers mill for negligence in the amount of $20,000. They sold the Mill not long after that. At one point, Joshua Davies owned the entire lakefront property at the end of Western Avenue once known as “Brewery Hill”. The family home was located on the corner of Fourth and Clay. Joshua died suddenly of a heart attack in 1885 in Muskegon at the age of 67...

• Findagrave.com entries for Joshua Davies and Squier Davies.