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Seventh Generation
120. Lt George
Davidson27 was born
on 27 Aug 1738 in Pennsylvania.27
He served in the military in 1757 in Virginia.27,103 He signed
a will on 23 May 1825.27
He died between 23 May 1825 and 10 Jul 1826 in Kentucky.27,103 He was
buried in Stanford, Kentucky.27
Buried near the town in the homestead burying grounds.
From White, Jennings, Davidson and Allied Families:
LIEUT. GEORGE DAVIDSON, SR. of Lincoln County, Kentucky
By the marriage of George Davidson and Mary Woods, two very prominent and
excellently connected families were united. These families, the Davidsons, Woodses,
Campbells, and Wallaces, were among the earliest immigrants into the Virginias
and Kentucky, and as such had a great deal to do with the early development of
these settlements. A history of Albemarle County. Virginia, says that the elder
Woodses, named above, with their family, were among the first settlers of the
Blue Ridge regions of Virginia, known as the Piedmont Valley. A short sketch
of these and other related families is given elsewhere in this volume.
George and Mary were married in Albemarle or Greenbrier Co., Va., and there
established their first home. About 1783, nearly twenty years later, they removed
their family to newer lands in Lincoln County, Kentucky. At that time there were
no roads across the mountains; they had to travel with pack horses, and, as the
country was invested with unfriendly Indians, every white man led a packhorse
with one hand and carried a gun in the other to defend the caravan against the
savages. Samuel, the oldest son, was then seventeen years old and led a horse
and carried a gun the same as any of the men. Virginia was still a slave state
and George Davidson owned several negroes. Of course they thought they could
not get along without their slaves, but must take them to Kentucky with them.
The twin sons, James and Michael, were now about six years of age, and Mr. Davidson
owned at the time twin negro children of the same age. He placed his two sons
in a basket on one side of a horse and the darky children on the other in a similar
manner, and gave the horse into the hands of one of his trustiest men, as it
carried the most valuable pack. the twin sons on the one side and $500 to $1000
worth of human freight on the other.
After some time-some say in 1785--the Davidsons arrived in Lincoln County.
and there the family grew up and married, all remaining nearby except Samuel,
who married and went to Illinois to live. The farm on which the Davidsons settled
in Lincoln County, Kentucky, is still known as the Old Davidson Farm and is located
about two and one-half miles southwest of Stanford, on what is now known as the
Hustonville Pike. Here George and Mary lived until the end of their lives, both
being buried in the family burying ground on the old homestead. After the death,
sometime between 1805 and 1815, of Mary, the wife, their daughter Nancy and her
husband, James Robertson, lived in the old home and cared for her father until
his death. She was a very kind, dutiful, and patient daughter, we are told, and
the will of her father seems to bear out the idea as much of the property was
given them.
Note: Much of the information of this pioneer family given above and elsewhere
in the book was gained from a sketch given Aug. 12. 1902 at Patoka, Ill. at a
Jennings-Davidson Reunion, by the Hon. William Davidson Carrigan, a great-grandson
of George and Mary (Woods) Davidson.
In Oct., 1926, Dr. J. C. Carpenter, of Stanford, Ky., a distant relative
through the Logan line, writes of visits he made to this Lieut George Davidson
farm in company with Admiral Chapman Coleman Todd, a retired officer of the Navy,
his sister. Kitty Todd Holmes, of St. Louisville, Ky., and their cousin, Mrs.
C. B. Chino of Frankfort, Ky., who came to Standford to visit and see again their
grandfather's and great-grandfather's 200-acre farm. The Todds had lived there
as children and were much interested in the changes made to the farm and the
well-preserved old house, and pleased to find unchanged, among the many landmarks
of memory which were still standing, the beloved old stone spring-house.
George Davidson served in the French and Indian wars when about nineteen
years oId as shown by the Draper Manuscripts, in the collection of the Wisconsin
Historical Society, where are some original receipts for services, one (6QQ102)
for services of sons George, James, and John between June 8 and Nov. 29, 1757,
made by Samuel Davidson their father. In the Revolutionary War, George Davidson
became first an ensign in the Militia, a fact recorded in "Annals of South
West Virginia" by Lewis Preston Summer, 1929, p. 259, lines 1 and 2, copied
from court records of Botetourt County, as follows:
"James Henderson, a Justice of the Peace, and George Davidson, an Ensign
in the Militia, were qualified accdg. to law." Another record of service
is in the Draper mss.. 3zz3., of the Wisconsin Historical Society collection,
which refers to him thus:
"1776, George Davidson, scout in Greenbrier County, Va." McAllister's
"Virginia Militia," p. 207, is authority for the statement that during
the years 1780 and '81 George Davidson served as Lieutenant in Virginia (also
during the Revolutinary War). This record is vouched for in D. A. R., Vol. 121,
No. 120467, p. 146, of Effie (Ballew) Taylor; also No. 25808, of Ethel (Nay)
Siglinger; and No. 300, 277, of Lillie P. White.
The civil services of George Davidson included that as Representative to
the State Legislature from Lincoln County, Ky., for four consecutive terms from
1799 to 1802. His sons and grandsons have continued to take important part in
their communities. counties, and states wherever located, as legislators, treasurers,
and governors of states, and in the United States Congress. Others have entered
the professions as teachers, lawyers, doctors, and politicians, and we find the
great majority of them actively aiding the moral and religious forces for good
in the communities in which they lived.
The will of George Davidson which was probated July 10, 1826, is the only
documentary placement of his death that we can find.
In 1785, George Davidson moved to Kentucky to Logan's Fort--now Stanford,
Lincoln County, Ky. His son, Samuel Davidson, married Sarah Logan, a cousin of
Benjamin Logan of Logan's Fort.
Lt George Davidson and Mary Woods were married on 17 Mar 1763 in Albemarle
or Greenbriar County, Virginia.27 121. Mary Woods
was born in 1743.27 She
died between 1805 and 1815 in Kentucky.27
Children were:
60 | i. | Samuel
Davidson. | | ii. | Susannah
Davidson.27 | | iii. | Polly Davidson27 was born in Albemarle County,
Virginia.27 She was never
married.27
From White, Jennings, Davidson and Allied Families:
She was born probably in Albemarle Co.. Va., being only thirteen years of age
when the family left their Virginia home to trek over the hills and through pathless
forests to establish a new residence in Kentucky. She was one of the group who
doubtlessly ran beside their father and brothers or rode, when tired, with the
older sisters and women. Poly did not marry, but that she was still alive in
'May, 1825. is shown by her father's will, which states: "To my daughter,
Polly Davidson, and the children of my daughter, Mattie Leeper, deceased, I give
nothing." | | iv. | Martha
"Mattie" Davidson.27 | | v. | John Davidson27 was born in Albemarle County,
Virginia.27 He served in
the military in 1812.27
He was never married.27
From White, Jennings, Davidson and Allied Families:
John Davidson, b. in Albemarle Co.. Va., and was but eight or nine when
the move to Kentucky was made. He probably received the name, John, from his
great-grandfather, John the Immigrant. He served in the War of 1812 under Col.
Dick Johnson, with his brothers, Maj. Samuel Davidson, Michael, and James. That
he was a husky, vigorous young man, we may conclude from his war service and
from incidents which show that he was willing and able to take part. in the rough
and tumble sports and activities of those days. Tradition of the early (lays
says that "the Davidson's always win."
His health must have failed or he was injured in some of the skirmishes
with the Indians, as was his brother, Col. James, for his fathers' will shows
anxiety for this son's last days. He wrote, "Twenty-third, It is my will
that should my son, John Davidson, become helpless and unable to procure clothing
and victuals that my two sons Michael and James Davidson and my son-inlaw, James
Robertson, furnish him with victuals and common domestic clothing suitable to
the seasons, each to furnish one-third part." Whether this assistance was
ever needed we do not know, but this lack of health and strength after his war
service probably accounts for the fact that John never married. | | vi. | James Davidson
was born on 13 Nov 1777.27
He died on 31 May 1861.27 | | vii. | Michael Davidson
was born on 13 Nov 1777.27 | | viii. | Nancy Davidson
was born on 8 Feb 1785.27 | | ix. | William Davidson
died.27 Died at age 20. | | x. | George Davidson
died.27 Died young. |
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