Henry Davis was one of the more industrious farmers in Langley. He had been born in Ireland on March 15 1848, he was a son of James and Susannah Davis, a farmer in Derylane, County Cavan. At the age of eleven Henry left Ireland with friends of the family and settled near Elmira, Ontario.
Here he worked in grist mill for a George Henderson alongside John Oliver (later M.L.A. for Delta.) The two youths taught each other how to swim in the mill pond.
Henry Davis was married on the 6th of January, 1882, to Lizzie Henderson, daughter of George and Harriet Henderson. Henry and Lizzie had three children, Margaret, Leslie and Roy.
On coming to British Columbia Henry worked on road construction in the Fraser Valley.
Henry Davis was a member of the Methodist Church, and In 1886 local Methodist planned building the Langley Prairie Methodist Church. James A Wood and Henry Davis rode from Abbotsford to Mud Bay collecting fund for the building. They collected $671.00 in two weeks.
The property for the building was donated by James Johnstone. The church building was dedicated on April 1886 and became know as the Milner Methodist Church.
Henry bought a portion of the Hudson's Bay Company Farm from the Reverend Alexander Dunn and remained on his Langley ranch until his death in 1901.
See the information on the map to the left.
In 1883 Rev. Alexander Dunn was the owner of the complete quarter section and in 1884 Henry davis bought the largest portion of it.
Rev. Dunn kept the portion on which his house was located.
On Saturday October 21 2006 the Milner Church was moved to a new location.
Hugh Davis,son of Leslie and grandson of Henry Davis, led people, on horseback, to its new location. He was accompanied by his son David.
