This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: tunnelm1 Surnames: Classification: queries Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.davidson/4622.4.1.1.1/mb.ashx Message Board Post: "Your" William Davidson is said to have married a Miss McCoy in PA before coming to Rockbridge Co., VA and eventually marrying the widow Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilson) McCrea (another researcher told me that Elizabeth's maiden name was Wilson, but I have not researched this myself). This William Davidson was also involved in some way with an orphan's account in Cumberland Co., PA on 20 May 1766. This William Davidson was supposedly the son of the John Davidson who married Ann Thompson in Cumberland Co., PA, and William had brothers named John, Matthew and Samuel Davidson. One record provided to me shows the John Davidson who married Ann Thompson as perhaps a son of an Alexander Davidson who married an Isabel Unknown, but this last "connection" seems to be in serious doubt by the cognizant researchers. There were FOUR different "Davidson groups" in Rockbridge Co., VA around the mid-late-1700s, and it appears within the realm of possibility that three of the four COULD have been related (but nothing would surprise me). One of these four "groups" was headed by another William Davidson who moved to the Botetourt/Rockbridge area from Buckingham Co., VA around 1774 (he was married to Martha Baker of Prince Edward Co., VA). This William Davidson was almost certainly a member of MY overall Davidson family, and I would love to find a living male Davidson from this family to take the DNA test to prove it, one way or the other (I am a member of Family 10 on the Davidson/Davison/Davisson DNA website). In addition to the 1) William Davidson/Elizabeth McCrea "group" and 2) my William Davidson/Martha Baker "group," the other two "groups" in the Rockbridge Co., VA area were: 3) Robert Davidson and Ann (most believe that she was Ann Dunlap). Robert (supposedly from PA) and Ann had a daughter named Margaret Mary Davidson who married a Robert Huston/Houston (and they were the grandparents or great-grandparents, as I recall, of General Sam Houston of "Texas fame"). Robert and Ann also had a son named John Davidson who married an Elizabeth Maben or Houston (her maiden name is in some dispute). John (born circa-1720) died fairly young in 1762, but he and Elizabeth (who did not died until about 1813) had a son of their own who was also named John Davidson (born 1757), and this John Davidson married Mary Thompson in 1787. Per my research, this Mary Thompson was a descendant of a Matthew Thompson who had died in Augusta Co., VA in 1753 (with a John Davidson/Davison as a witness on his will, as I recall). There is no proof at this time, but I would not be too surprised if this Matthew Thompson (who was apparently also from PA) was related to the Ann ! Thompson who married "your" John Davidson up in PA (and that MAY be why "Matthew" was used as a given name in your Davidson family....but that is just a guess). This Matthew Thompson had a son named John Thompson, and he was apparently the John Thompson who married a Martha Davidson by the 1740s. We do not know for sure who this Martha Davidson was, but I suspect that she was related to Robert Davidson in some way. John Davidson (the one born 1757) and Mary Thompson had a daughter named Elizabeth Davidson who married a William H. Letcher (who was himself a descendant of the above-mentioned Margaret Mary Davidson and Robert Huston/Houston), and William and Elizabeth (Davidson) Letcher were the parents of Governor John Letcher of VA (the VA governor during most of the War Between the States). A living Davidson man from this overall Davidson group has recently joined the DNA testing project, and we will know in a few weeks if he matches any of the other participants. It i! s POSSIBLE, in my opinion, that this group was related to the William Davidson/Elizabeth McCrea group. 4) The fourth and final known Davidson/Davison "group" in the Rockbridge area was headed by yet another John Davidson/Davison (died 1802 and left a will in Rockbridge) who married Mary Allison. This couple had a daughter named Sarah "Sally" Davidson who married a James Gilmore in the 1780s. They also had another daughter named Jinny Davidson, as well as a son named Robert Davidson, and these two children married two of the children of "my" William Davidson and Martha Baker (though I see nothing else to suggest that these two Davidson families were "blood related"...my Davidson family had been in VA since at least the 1680s). John and Mary (Allison) Davidson also had a son who was yet another John Davidson, and he married Sarah Rootes. This John Davidson died a few years before his father did (in 1798 or 1799, as I recall). It is POSSIBLE, in my opinion, that this group was related to the William Davidson/Elizabeth McCrea group. Another researcher of the William Davidson/Elizabeth McCrea group stated that one of the children of that William Davidson was named Thomas Davidson. There was a Thomas Davidson (died by the late-1830s; he was on the 1810-1830 Botetourt Co., VA censuses). His first wife is unknown, but he also married the widow Mrs. Dolly Engart/Ingart. I have always suspected that he was a son of William Davidson and Martha Baker, but I guess it is possible that he was from "your" William Davidson family instead. This other researcher did not know what happened to "her/your" Thomas Davidson. Do you have any idea what happened to him? Could he have been the Thomas Davidson in Botetourt in 1810-1830, or is that unlikely (note: Rockbridge was formed from a portion of Botetourt Co., VA and a portion of Augusta Co., VA)? If you know of any living Davidson males out of your "group" (did some of the Davidsons also move to Ohio with your McCrea family?) at least one of them should definitely join the Davidson/Davison/Davisson DNA testing project: www.davidsongenes.org. His results could be compared to all of the existing donors in the project, including the pending result from the Robert Davidson/Ann (Dunlap?) family mentioned above. Comments/questions? Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. 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