Biographical sketch extracted from:

Biographical and historical record of Adams and Wells counties, Indiana.
Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1887. pp. 1024-1025.

LOUIS COULSON DAVENPORT, was born at Woodsfield, Monroe County, Ohio, March 16, 1852, a son of Samuel and Caroline (Gratigny) DAVENPORT. His grandfather, the Hon. John DAVENPORT, was born in Jefferson County, Virginia, January
9, 1788, and March 31, 1808, married Martha COULSON, of Cecil County, Maryland. They subsequently moved to Woodsfield, Ohio, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. Upon arriving at full age he fell heir to twenty-one slaves, but being opposed to the institution of slavery, he liberated them. He was a prominent Whig and represented his party in the old Seventeenth District of Ohio, in the Seventeenth Congress. His son, Samuel DAVENPORT, was born at Woodsfield, Ohio, Jnne 14, 1828, and graduated from Washington College, Pennsylvania, in 1848. From 1857 to 1860 he was President of the Beaver, Pennsylvania, Female College, and for several years was editor of the Beaver (Pennsylvania) Argus. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated Lincoln and Hamlin. February 27, 1863, he was appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for the Twenty-fourth District of Pennsylvania, and held the office five years, when, in 1868, he moved to Fort Wayne, indiana, and for one year was Professor of Languages in the Fort Wayne Methodist College. He then moved to Bluffton, Indiana, and founded the Bluffton Chronicle, which he conducted successfully several years. He was appointed Postmaster at Bluffton by President Grant, in February, 1875, and had charge of the office until his death, which occurred December 18, 1879. He was a fine scholar, possessing a wonderful fund of information, and was a pleasing and forcible writer, and agreeable conversationalist. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he was greatly devoted and was an earnest Christian gentleman. He was an ardent supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He was married at Bealsville, Ohio, in May, 1851, to Caroline Gratigny, a daughter of Dr. Louis and Desdemona (Ford) Gratigny. She is a lady of refinement and highly respected by all who know her. She is also an earnest and devoted member of the Methodist church. Her father was born in Bordeaux, France, in 1795, and her mother in Boston, Massachusetts, in September, 1798. Louis C. Davenport, whose name heads this sketch, after completing his education at Beaver, Pennsylvania, learned the drug business at Fort Wayne, and in 1874 came to Bluffton, and opened a drug and notion store, which he has since continued, and is now one of the prominent business men of the place. He is a staunch Republican, and from 1889 to 1882 was chairman of the Republican Central Committee. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, Bluffton Lodge, No. 145, Fort Wayne Commandery, No. 4, and a Thirtysecond degree member of the Indiana Consistory, A. & A., Scottish Rite. Mr. Davenport was married June 12, 1878, to Miss Addie Bliss, only daughter of Jeffrey and Lucinda (Angel) Bliss, pioneers of Wells County, and highly esteemed citizens of Bluffton, Mr. Bliss being a well-known and influential business man and the owner of the Bliss House. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport have three children: Mattie, born December 15, 1879; George Bliss, March 12, 1882, and Nellie, May 26, 1885.