STORIES OF REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIERS

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John Davidson

John Davidson was born in Pennsylvania in 1736. His residence was about one mile east of Tooles Ford on the Catawba river. A large Elm of his own planting, is now growing in front of the old family mansion, with over-arching limbs, beneath whose beneficent shade the old patriot could quietly sit in summer while surrounded by some of his children and grandchildren.

John Davidson married Violet, daughter of Samuel Wilson, Sr., and raised a large family. His daughter, Isabella, married Joseph Graham; Rebecca married Alexander Brevard; Violet married William Bain Alexander, son of John McKnitt Alexander; Elizabeth married William Lee Davidson, son of General Davidson, who fell at Cowan"s Ford; Mary married Dr. William McLean; Sallie married Alexander Caldwell, son of Rev. David Caldwell, of Guilford county; Margaret married Major James Harris. He had only two sons, John (or Jackey) and Robert; John married Sallie Brevard, daughter of Adam Brevard; Robert married Margaret Osborne, daughter of Adlai Osborne, grandfather of the late Judge James W. Osborne, of Charlotte.

The Battle of Hanging Rock

He was appointed by the Provincial Congress, which met at Halifax on the 4th of April, 1776, as a field officer (Major) with Adam Alexander as Colonel, John Phifer as Lieutenant Colonel, and George A. Alexander as second Major. He was with General Sumpter in August, 1780, at the battle of the Hanging Rock, and was a General in the State militia service.

Source: Sketches of Western North Carolina, Historical and Biographical by C. L. Hunter