Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis

Who is Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis?

Nellie Verrill Mighels Davis was a US civic leader and journalist.

She was born in Greenwood, Maine. In 1866, she married first Henry Rust Mighels, owner and editor of the Carson City Nevada Appeal. They had three sons and two daughters. In 1877 and 1879, Davis was the first woman to report on the state Legislature, which is located in Carson City. Their son, Henry R. Mighels Jr., eventually took over as editor of the Appeal in 1898. Ella Sterling Mighels, ex-wife of their son Philip, was the "First Literary Historian of California".

Widowed at the age of 35, she hired Samuel Post Davis, of the Virginia Chronicle to be her editor and she served in the role of publisher. She married Davis in 1880, and he took over operations of the Nevada Appeal. They had two daughters. In 1897, she was the first woman to report a prize fight; Nevada, at the time, being the only state in the US where prize fighting was legal. She was also the organizer and first State President of the American Red Cross in Nevada. She was buried at Lone Mountain Cemetery in Carson City between her two husbands.