During the mid-nineteenth century, Eliphalet Davis was a fancy soap maker operating a business at 333 Main Street, Cambridge, Mass., with a home around the corner at 58 Cherry Street. In 1813 he left Bradford, N.H., for Massachusetts, and by 1817, he was working in Cambridge with David Oliver. By 1857 he had his own company (with J. M. Davis), which may later have been sold to the Lever Brothers.
Several other members of the Davis family had their own soap firms in Cambridge. George M. Davis is identified as a soap boiler in the Cambridge city directory of 1848. Isaac Davis & Co. (with James C. Davis) was a soap manufacturer with a business located on Mason Street. By 1857 Isaac was a spring bed manufacturer, but James C. was still in the soap business. Curtis Davis & Alexander Dickinson were listed as soap and candle manufacturers. Curtis Davis' later went into partnership with Lysander Kemp.
Little is known about Eliphalet's personal life. His wife, possibly Ann Bemis, and he had a son who attended C. G. Hazeltine's school in Westboro, Mass., in 1845-46. Enoch Davis, possibly Eliphalet's brother, died in 1831 or 1832, and Eliphalet settled his estate. In 1845, Eliphalet is noted as the guardian of John F. Davis, possibly Enoch's child. Eliphalet and Enoch were both members of the First Universalist Society in Cambridge.
From the guide to the Eliphalet Davis records, Davis, Eliphalet, 1817-1876, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
