William Madison Davidson

Notes:

Per "1850 Census Sabine County, Texas with added Family Information and Corrections," William Madison Davidson owned 16 slaves. Per OLDTIMERS OF SABINE COUNTY, TEXAS he fought along with his son-in-law Amazia Vardeman White in Company F, 11th Texas Infantry. He died on the way home, somewhere near Marshall, and the irony of it was that he volunteered after he was past the age of 55, in anothers place, in exchange for a slave.

He was said by White and Toole to be the son of William "Squire Billy" DAVIDSON and Jane BIRDWELL, and a brother of Blackburn Davidson, who married Harriet Goodrich. White and Toole show him as a grandson of Wm. Davidson, b ca 1755, in N.C., lived to be 96. When members of his family loaded their wagons in 1849, and departed for Texas, never to return, the old grandfather, nearly blind, stood by the side of the road and waved until they were out of sight. He had begged to be taken to Texas with them. SABINE COUNTY GENEALOGICAL RECORDS, pps 84-87, contains details of various early Davidson families settlers in Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas. Gen. Samuel Houston was the grandson of a Margaret Davidson. Thomas Whitfiled Davidson, a Texas state senator and Lietut. Governor, was claimed as a relative of Jefferson Oliver Davidson of Sabine County (personal interview with Beulah Davis Hughes). (White and Toole, p 87).

Other researchers show him instead as a son of William DAVIDSON (born 1779 Va, d. 1860 Texas) and Nancy ALBRIGHT (born 1779 Va), and an Uncle of Blackburn Davidson.

William married Martha Claiborne Goodrich about 1839. Martha (daughter of Thomas Benton Goodrich and Martha Smith) was born on 22 Jan 1814 in Virginia; died on 18 Nov 1895; was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Thomas Benton Davidson was born before 1840 in Alabama; and died.
2. Mary Josephine Davidson was born on 9 Jun 1840 in Alabama; died on 3 Jun 1918; was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas.
3. William Richard Davidson was born on 21 Feb 1844 in Alabama; died on 31 Aug 1927.
4. Jefferson Oliver Davidson was born about 1846 in Alabama; died on 25 Dec 1926 in Sabine County, Texas.
5. Ary Adney "Addy" Davidson was born on 17 Aug 1847 in Alabama; died on 24 Nov 1910 in Sabine County, Texas; was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery, Hemphill, Sabine County, Texas.
6. Martha Ann "Puss" Davidson was born about 1851 in Texas; and died.