John Below is one of the reasons the Davidson's had no use for young Morrison "While the British were on the lookout for rebels, they went to the home of Maj.William Davidson. Young Morrison, her husband's half-brother, attempting to frighten her into revealing the hiding place of her husband by pointing a gun at her, In a threatening manner, He failed to get any information." While Miss While Miss Ruth was a girl and her fathers home was on the upper part of Catawba River, the Revolutionary War occurred. Her father, Major William Davidson, espoused the cause of the Americans and Morrison, his haft-brother, that of the British. In the progress of that war and when Major William Davidson was away from home, on one occasion a party of Tories under the leadership of Morrison raided the majors home in the presence of Miss Ruth and her mother. Years afterwards when Miss Ruth had become Mrs. General Samuel Williams and when they had prospered greatly and were living near Columbia, Tennessee, a stranger visited that town and bought some land there. General Williams met him and invited him to visit the Williams home. The stranger made the visit and received most hospitable entertainment. After the first meal Mrs. Williams said to her husband privately that she would always exert herself to welcome any guest of his but that in the stranger she recognized her uncle Morrison who had, in the days of the Revolution, behaved in so unbrotherlike a manner to her fathers unprotected family. General Williams communicated to his guest, who had not recognized his hostess, the embarrassment of the situation. At once the stranger departed not only from the home where his presence was objectionable but also from the county. They never heard of him again. The land which the stranger had so bought he conveyed to trustees for a female school and that land is yet devoted to that use. Bob Robert Winslow Davidson John B. Lisle wrote: > Hi, > > As a "cousin", would you please identify yourself and where you are > from. You may have done that on an earlier post, but I missed that. > > Your "Media Research Bureau" seems to have taken a lot of old research on > the family and sold someone a bill of goods. I have ranted on this list > before - and will do so again at the risk of alienating some people - that > there have been a number of people and organizations who have written > genealogies for people that were hardly worth the paper they were printed > on. The goal seems to have been to provide a feelgood genealogy for a > "rich" person to show they were descended from famous or important people. > > I have seen no credible information to tell what John's wife Jane's birth > surname was, but we do know from Augusta County records that she was young > enough to have given birth to their last child John "one eye" Davidson in > 1744. After John died in 1749, she - a widow with young children - married > a William Morrison. She had at least one child with Morrison; he was > believed to be named William also. As we can find little about William > Morrison afterwards, I suspect that he also died before too long and she > became the Widow Morrison. By this time, her oldest son George Davidson had > become established in NC, and there is no evidence of another marriage and, > unfortunately, there is no information on her death. But, we do know that > the younger half-brother of our Davidson clan named Morrison was raised > with the family but seems to have been somewhat of an outsider. Probably > because he was not getting any of the Davidson estate. By the time of the > Revolution, he became a sympathizer with the British and somewhat acted as > spy for them among the patriots. It is believed that he exposed the family > to loss of property and probably loss of life at the hands of the > British. It is suspected that he gave the British information that helped > lead to the death of Gen. Wm. Davidson at the Battle of Cowan's Ford in 1781. > > After the war, he fled the area and tracing him has been impossible. All > family references to him have been negative. There is a story that he went > to Tennessee and was living there comfortably but was eventually recognized > by a Davidson family member and he ended up fleeing again. > > You can find much of this information in a generally excellent genealogy of > the family done by the late Robert Stephens Hand in the early 1990s. It > was still available as of a year ago from his widow. I do not have the > address right at hand. (It has been mentioned on these lists many times so > you might check the archives. > > Let me address your lineage: > > (1) the twins were Samuel and William born 10 oct 1736 in Ireland. Samuel > is a problem in that there is some history published that confuses him with > another Samuel Davidson. I am not aware of him having special Rev War fame > nor being a Capt. I do know now - and Hand got this wrong - that he did > NOT marry an Ann Dunlop. He did marry a Mary Smith and had a daughter Mary > who married a Gabriel Ragsdale. > > (2) On the other hand, twin William was always known as Maj. William > Davidson and did figure prominently in several battles, in particular Kings > Mountain. He did have a son George who was a twin with Hugh Lawson Davidson. > > (3) I have no evidence that George, s/o William, who married Sallie > McWhorter, had a son named William. > > (4) However, Hand briefly documents another unrelated Davidson family that > was in NC at this time and was often confused with the Iredell family. In > this family there was a Richmond Davidson, b. 1830, who was the son of > George Davidson, b. 1798. George was s/o John Davidson (1778-1859). John > was son of Col. George W. Davidson of Anson County, NC. (1740-1811) "the > other Col. George Davidson". George was a son of a John Davidson and Ann > Sons who married about 1738 in Cecil Co., MD. I believe that someone on > this list has an extensive genealogy of this family. And it may be on the > Davidson research pages: > > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~genea/davidson.html > > It is quite likely that your aunt's research on the later history of your > family is valuable in that it uses family data. It would be helpful if you > could share that as it may help others on this list. > > We are all glad to help you sort out this very confusing family where it > seems that every generation of every Davidson family there is a John, a > William, a George and a Samuel. > > best regards, > > john. > > At 01:14 AM 2001-08-05 -0400, you wrote: > >I've got to quit doing this at night after a long day! Wrong family...not > >Davidsons... moved to NY and I am VERY sorry. Back in the 60s my aunt Helen > >Davidson Taylor did a lot of research. She sent me a copy of work done by > >Sarah Ragsdale Casey, with info from a Kay Dixon of N.C. whose father W.B. > >Williamson compiled a history of the N.C. Davidsons. by the Media Research > >Bureau of Washington DC. Mrs. Casey was from Texas, I believe, and was a > >descendant of Capt. Samuel Davidson of Rev. War fame." I never did anything > >with it til recently. This work was finished in 1958. John was m. to Mrs. > >Mary Morrison and the twins were born in Lancaster Co. PA. and moved in 1748 > >to Old Fort Rowan Co. (later Iredell Co.) N.C. I supposedly come from the > >twin Wm., his son John, his son George, his son Wm. , his son Richmon(d) > >James, my ggf. I am also a Davidson on my grandfather's side. Sometimes this > >gets a bit too much!!! I really appreciate your info. > > > > > >==== DAVIDSON Mailing List ==== > >DAVIDSON - DAVISON - DAVISSON Web Page > >http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~genea/davidson.html > > ==== DAVIDSON Mailing List ==== > DAVIDSON - DAVISON - DAVISSON Web Page > http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~genea/davidson.html