Jacob W. Davis

Jacob W. Davis
Jacob Davis ca. 1905
Born	Jacob Youphes (Jākobs Jufess) 1831 Riga, Russian Empire (now Latvia)
Died	1908 San Francisco, California, United States
Citizenship	Russian Empire United States
Occupation	Tailor, Inventor, and Entrepreneur
Known for	Invention of Jeans
Spouse(s)	Annie Davis (Parksher)
Children	6

Jacob W. Davis (born Jacob Youphes, Latvian: Jākobs Jufess, Russian: Якоб Йофис) (1831–1908) was a Latvian-Jewish tailor and American immigrant who is credited with inventing modern jeans.

Jacob Youphes was born to a Jewish family in the city of Riga, then Russian Empire, today Latvia, in 1831. During his time in Riga city, he trained and worked as a tailor.

In 1854, at the age of 23, he emigrated from the Russian Empire to the United States, arriving in New York City where he changed his name to Jacob Davis. There he ran a tailors shop before moving to Maine and then, in 1856, San Francisco before moving on to Weatherville.

After this itinerant spell in America, during which time it is believed he worked as a journeyman tailor, in 1858 Davis left California and moved to Western Canada to try to find more profitable work. There, Davis met a German immigrant, Annie Parksher, whom he married and together, Jacob and Annie had six children. During his time in Canada, Davis worked at the Fraser River panning for gold.

In January 1867, Davis returned to San Francisco with Annie and his family. Later that year, they moved to Virginia City, Nevada where he sold wholesale tobacco and pork before beginning work once more as a tailor. By 1868, the family had moved, this time to Reno, Nevada which at that time was a tiny railroad town and there he helped Frederick Hertlein build a brewery. 1869 saw Davis revert to his original trade, opening a tailor shop in the main street of the town.