Charles Davies was born 22 January 1798 in Washington, Connecticut. He graduated from West Point in 1815 and served in the corps of Engineers after graduation. He began teaching mathematics at West Point in 1816 and became Professor of Mathematics in May 1823. While teaching at West Point he wrote 8 textbooks, most were used at West Point during the time he was teaching there. He resigned from active duty in 1837 due to health issues. He then went on as a Professor of Mathematics at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut; the University of New York; and then nearly twenty years at Columbia College in New York City. He died 21 September 1876 at Fishkill-on-Hudson, New York.
Elements of Written Arithmetic by Charles Davies, LL.D. Published by A.S. Barnes & Company, New York, 1874
