This firm began as Davis & Brother sometime after the US Civil—roughly 1864—as a partnership of brothers George P. Davis and Charles A. Davis to make dental supplies. They reportedly succeeded the firm of Walter & Field. Five years later, local dentist Maurice Leyden joined the firm and Charles took on a reduced role; the name changed to Davis & Leyden. Under that name they made a small dental lathe.

In 1886 Leyden retired from the business and Davis continued the business on his own for several years, operating as the Rochester Dental Manufactory and as Geo. P. Davis. We do not know if any lathes were ever produced under either of these names.

Information Sources

• Davis & Leyden published the Odontographic Journal (Volume 6, Volumes 16-17), which has numerous ads and articles with images and information related to their lathes. Unfortunately, archive.org's collection of Odontographic Journal does not include the ads.
• Another website has a picture of a Davis & Leyden lathe.
• We first learned of this maker from a posting to an owwm.org forum.
• Boyd's Business Directory of Over One Hundred Cities and Villages in New York State, 1872-3, lists "Dental Stock and Instruments. Davis & Leyden, 91 and 93 State, Rochester".
• Gazetteer and Business Directory of Monroe County, N. Y. for 1869-70 lists "Davis & Leyden (George P. Davis and Maurice Leyden), dental depot, over 91 and 93 State."
• Boyd's Business Directory of Over One Hundred Cities and Villages in New York State, 1869-1870, lists "Davis, Leyden & Co. (G. P. Davis, M. Leyden and Charles A. Davis), dental stock, &c., 54 State."
• From History of Rochester and Monroe County, New York, by William F. Peck, 1908:

  In the history of Rochester's successful men, whose honorable records reflect credit upon the city, is numbered Major Maurice Leyden, whose life work was of value to the home community and of far-reaching effect in its influences. His death occurred August 1-5, 1906. but the true measure of his life cannot be ascertained until the interests which he established have reached their full fruition as factors in the commercial and financial upbuilding of the city.

  Major Leyden was a native of Onondaga county, New York, born in Collamer, on the 18th of October, 1836. He is descended from Holland Dutch ancestry, the record being traced back to the time when William of Orange in 1690 invaded Ireland with a large army. Among his followers were several bearing the name of Leyden and, settling on the Emerald Isle, they founded there a family of which Michael Leyden, Sr., was a representative. He wedded Mary Walton, who was of English birth and parentage and they became the founders of the family in the United States, settling in that portion of Syracuse which was at that time called Salina. They afterward took up their abode in Collamer in the town of Dewitt, where their remaining days were passed.

  Major Maurice Leyden was the eldest of twelve children and at the usual age began his education in the district schools, afterward, however, attending the high school in Syracuse and Cazenovia Seminary. In his boyhood he also became familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist and developed thereby a strong and rugged constitution. When he had completed his academic course he took up the study of dentistry in the office of Dr. Amos Westcott of Syracuse, then one of the leading dentists of the country, at one time president of the American Dental Association. He was thus engaged in study and practice until the 13th of June, 1861, when in response to the country's call for aid he enlisted as a member of Company B, Third New York Cavalry. He was promoted second lieutenant on the 30th of July following and first lieutenant on the 12th of June, 1863, while on the 10th of October, 1864, he was made captain of his company. Through injuries received in the fall of Richmond he was reported as missing in action on October 7, 1864, when he was serving as lieutenant of Company C. On the 21st of July, 1865. He was transferred to Company C, of the First New York Mounted Rifles, and on the 13th of October of the same year was breveted major of United States volunteers by President Johnson, holding that rank until honorably discharged from the service at City Point, Virginia. Major Leyden participated in many important engagements and in all of the marches and campaigns of his regiment and was frequently assigned to important commands. He was in the battle of Balls Bluff and of Winchester and marched with Burnside to Newberne, North Carolina, participating in the battles of Trent Road, Little Washington, Tarboro, Goldsboro, Trenton, Bachelors Creek, Warsaw Street Ferry and others in that vicinity. He then returned with his regiment to Virginia and participated in all the battles of the Army of the James, beginning with Stony Creek, May 7, 1864, and including the engagement before Petersburg, Roanoke Bridge, Reams Station, Malvern Hill and Yellow Tavern, where he had command of the outposts when General Hill made an attempt to drive General Warren from his position on the Weldon Railroad. He also took part in the battle of Prince George Courthouse and proceeded to Johnson's Farm, three miles from Richmond, where on the 7th of October, 1864, he was taken prisoner. For more than six months he was incarcerated in Libby Prison, at Salisbury, North Carolina, and at Danville, Virginia, and after a brief parole he returned to his regiment. He was taken prisoner and was in three different prisons. In recognition of his services he was made a member of the American Military Order of the Loyal Legion.

  After the war Major Leyden located in Rochester. During his furlough in March, 1865, while he was a paroled prisoner, he married Miss Margaret L. Garrigues, of Rochester, New York, and a graduate of the East Avenue Collegiate Institute in Rochester. Her father was Cyrus Garrigues, a native of Morristown and an early settler of Rochester, and in both the paternal and maternal lines she was descended from ancestry prominent in the Revolutionary war. Her mother, Mrs. Eliza Garrigues, was a daughter of Captain Samuel Woodruff, an officer of the war of 1812, and her great-grandfather, John Acken, served in Washington's army in the Revolutionary war, as did Jacob Garrigues.

  Prior to the war Major Leyden had prepared for the profession of dentistry and following his return to Rochester opened an office for practice in this city in connection with Dr. Frank French, under the firm style of French & Leyden. Two years were thus passed, at the end of which time he joined George P. Davis under the firm name of Davis & Leyden in the business of manufacturing dental and surgical instruments and materials which they sold to the wholesale trade. For eighteen years he continued in that business, which was built up to extensive proportions.

  In the meantime Major Leyden had become actively connected with political interests of the city as a stalwart republican. He served as county and city committeeman and was a delegate to various city and state conventions, while for one term he represented the old eighth ward in the board of supervisors. In the fall of 1885 he was elected county clerk and served for three years, from the 1st of January, 1886.

  Major Leyden was one of the first men in this section to realize the importance of the searches made for land titles and to foresee the extent to which such a business would grow. Accordingly he organized the Rochester Title Insurance Company, which was incorporated in February, 1887, with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He was chosen its secretary, treasurer and general manager on the 1st of May, 1891, and continued in those positions until his retirement from active business life. This is the only organization of its kind in the state outside of New York city and Brooklyn. The idea originated among a number of the leading and wealthy citizens, whose object was to duplicate the records of the county and thus guard against the possible loss of the original copies and at the same time to inaugurate a system of real-estate title insurance. The business developed into one of the largest in the country and its worth is most widely acknowledged. His aptitude for finance secured for him the election to the presidency of the Rochester Saving & Loan Association in 1889 and he continued in that position until ill health forced him to retire. Under his management this became one of the strongest associations of the kind in the country and was the first in the city to do business outside of the state, operating in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Virginia, Ohio and Michigan. Major Leyden was also prominently connected with various other enterprises of a public and private nature and such was his reputation for business capacity, enterprise and sound judgment that all felt that his connection with any interest insured its successful outcome.

  Major Leyden in his home and social relations was a most genial and companionable gentleman. Unto him and his wife were born two daughters: Maude, who died in infancy: and Blanche Eloise, ... [illegible text]

• Biographies of Monroe County People, which took it from Rochester and the Post Express; A history of the City of Rochester from the earliest times; the pioneers and their predecessors, frontier life in the Genesee country, biographical sketches; with a record of the Post Express compiled by John Devoy (1895):

  George P. Davis was born in this city February 24, 1838, and is the son of Philander Davis, who came to Rochester from Clairmont, New Hampshire, in 1831. He was educated in the Rochester public schools and in the Free Academy. At the age of twenty-one he entered the army with the rank of lieutenant and served under General Banks in the Department of the Gulf. After his honorable discharge, he engaged with his brother, Charles A., in the manufacture of dental goods. The partnership continued for five years, when Dr. Maurice Leyden succeeded Charles A. Davis, and the firm name was changed to Davis & Leyden, which it remained until 1887, since which time Mr. Davis has carried on the business alone and has built up one of the largest dental goods manufactories in the country, his sales rooms occupying numbers 75, 77, 79 and 81 on East Main street, and an annex over 16 State street; his machine shop, No. 125 North Water street, and manufactory on South Water street employ a large number of hands, who turn out the finest mechanical goods in furniture and stock necessary for a dental outfit.

  In 1860 Mr. Davis was elected supervisor of the Fourteenth ward, and since then he has served as a member of the Board of Education for ten years, serving as chairman of the board one year. Mr. Davis was for twelve years superintendent of the North Street Methodist Episcopal church Sunday-school. He now resides just over the city line in Brighton. Mr. Davis in 1860 married Miss Lorena M. Ball of Spencerport, who died in 1881. Her children are Mrs. Myron T. Bly, Mrs. Howard Moore, of Brooklyn, Miss Frankie M. Davis, Philander J. Davis, in business with his father, and George C. Davis, at school. In 1891 Mr. Davis married Miss Lillie, daughter of the late I. F. Carter.

• Patent 536,854, Granted to George P. Davis of Rochester, for a valve. Patent 420590 granted to Charles A. Davis for a vulcanizer (assigned to the SS White Dental manufacturing Co of Philly.) Reissued as RE11,105.
• The January 1886 issue of the Odontographic Journal carried the following notice:

  DAVIS & LEYDEN—ROCHESTER DENTAL MANUFACTORY

  Subscribers and readers generally of the Odontograph1c Journal are hereby informed that the firm heretofore conducting the dental Depot business in this city, and publishing this periodical, has been dissolved—Dr. Maurice Leyden entering upon a three years' term as Clerk of the County of Monroe, and Mr. George P. Davis continuing the manufacture and sale of dental goods and the publication of the Odontograph1c Journal, under the name and style of the Rochester Dental Manufactory. The R. D. M. will collect all accounts due the old firm, and pay all bills against it. It will also, as stated above, continue to publish this Journal, and, if possible, on a more liberal basis than ever.

• The book American Surgical Instruments: The History of Their Manufacture and a Directory of Instrument Makers to 1900, by James M. Edmonson, 1997, has the following relevant listings, filed under "Walter & Field; Davis & Brother; Davis & Leyden, Rochester Dental and Surgical Depot; George P. Davis; Davis & Co.; Edwin C. Leyden, 1849-1900":
  • Walter & Field (Jesse Walter and George W. Field) dental depot 1863: 6 Mansion House
  • Davis & Brother (George P. and Charles A. Davis) successors to Walter & Field, Rochester
    Dental Depot
    1864: 6 Mansion House
    1866: 54 State
    1867-68: 58 State dental stock
  • Davis & Leyden (Geo. P. Davis and Maurice Leyden) Rochester Dental and Surgical Depot
    est. 1849
    1869-70: 93 1/2 State
    1871-73 81 State
    1874-81: 93 State dental depot and nickel plater
    1884: 119 State
  • George P. Davis Rochester Dental Manufactory, successor to Davis & Leyden
    1886-90: 119 State publisher of The Odontographic Dental Journal (1890)
    1891: removed to Gibonville
  • Davis & Co. (Chas. A. and Eliza Davis (1878); C. A. and Emma Davis, and A. T. Slaight... (spanning 1878 to 1891)...
  • P. J. Davis 1898-1900: 13 Aqueduct
  • Edwin C. Leyden
    1898-99
    1900: 334 Granite bldg
• The Rochester Directory for 1891 has a small ad for "Rochester Dental Manufactory. / Geo. P. Davis, Successor to Davis & Leyden".