Some time ago, I began some research attempting to solve a long standing mystery in North Carolina Davidson history: who was Sarah Davidson, wife of Lambert Clayton. This article is going to offer an new theory. The story is not proved yet, but we now have a plausible story that fits the known facts. I am sharing this with everyone now as I suspect that some one of you may have a clue that helps complete the story. The existing mythology is that Sarah Davidson was the daughter of John Davidson and Nancy Brevard who were killed by Indians in 1764 or 1776 or 1779 or 1782. The first problem that people have with this part of the story is that they do not know which John Davidson it was. It was not "Old John" Davidson who was born in Ireland about 1709. He died in North Carolina in 1749 and his history is somewhat well documented. It was not his son John "One-Eye" Davidson, born in Beverly Manor in Augusta Co., VA and baptised on 24 Nov 1744 in Tinkling Spring. He died in 1825 in Maury County, TN and his family is fairly well documented. The John Davidson that was killed, probably in 1782, was known as Judge John D. Davidson. He was the first son of Col. George Davidson (b. 1728, Ireland), son of "Old John" Davidson, brother of "One Eye" John Davidson. John was born about 1750 in Rowan Co. (known as Anson Co. at the time). Nancy Brevard was the daughter of John Brevard and Jane McWhorter of Rowan County, and she was born about 1757. They were married in Rowan County, NC in 1779. Lambert Clayton was born in Delaware in 1755. His wife, Sarah Davidson, is known to have been born in 1759 and died in 1843. The were married in 1782 in Rowan County. These facts are well documented. >From this, it is obvious that Sarah Davidson could NOT be the daughter of John Davidson and Nancy Brevard. This led me to research all of the known Davidson families in the area to see where a Sarah could fit. (E.g., Family of Joseph, Family of Alexander, Family of Samuel of Augusta Co., VA - including sons James and Benjamin, John Davidson of Mecklenburg Co., NC, George Davidson - Old John's Brother). I needed to find a Sarah, born about 1759, and most families already had a Sarah accounted for. I also looked into the possibility that Sarah might have been a young widow. But I could not within those families find a man who had married a Sarah, who could have been born in 1759, who had died before 1782. But this is trickier as we are now looking 20 years later when more families entered the area and more possibilities exist. But, my conclusion was that the most-likely family that had a possible fit was the family of George Davidson's brother Thomas Davidson (b. abt. 1730, Ireland) whose family history has not been documented anywhere that I have found. Little has been recorded about this Thomas Davidson. What was known is that he went to Charleston and died there and left a family. It had also been alluded to that he was the Thomas Davidson who served in the Revolution and was at Cowan's Ford with Gen. Davidson. Based on this, I began inquiries with the South Carolina Dept. of Archives and History concerning wills, deeds, and any other documents extant mentioning Thomas Davidson. I found two distinct individuals. 1. I found a Thomas Davidson of Culleton Co. who was married to a Rosanna, who served in the War and drew a pension, and died in November 1807. I have not yet found a will for this individual or any estate papers. The papers that I do have talk about a man with young children. Based on the census reports, I am going to suggest that this Thomas Davidson was born in the 1760s. This is not my candidate. However, based on the documents that I now have, I think that this individual is somehow tied into the family. 2. I found a Thomas Davidson who left a will in 1764 in Charleston County. He addressed it to two of his brothers George and William to act as his executors. His wife's name was Sarah and he mentions a daughter Sarah. His land was based on a grant from Matthew Rowan on Fishing Creek given in 1754 that because of a boundary change between North and South Carolina became part of South Carolina. I have the following documents: a WPA transcript of this will; a copy of the original clerk's copy that the WPA transcript was made from; a copy of a Mar 1775 document - part of a series of actions that were being made at the time to sort out land that was changing province as a result of the new boundary between NC and SC-: from George Davidson that identifies the source of the land patent from Matthew Rowan to Thomas Davidson, deceased. It also identifies George Davidson as the current owner. a copy of an Indenture made 3 June 1778 between Sarah Davidson of Rowan County and Thomas and Samuel Carson of Camden District, Craven Co., SC regarding the sale of the land. I believe that this Thomas Davidson is the son of Old John Davidson, and that he and his wife Sarah are very likely to be the parents of the Sarah Davidson who married Lambert Clayton. Further, I believe, although more work needs to be done in North Carolina records, that Sarah Davidson and her daughter went back to Rowan County to live with the family of Col. George Davidson, her brother-in-law, (or maybe she went to live with her own family in Rowan Co. that is still unidentified.) What is left to be proved? First, we need to find some way to prove that this daughter Sarah was the Sarah who married Lambert Clayton. This may prove difficult unless we can find some record of her mother's death and a will to go along with it. However, we have an interesting link, just in the names of the children. One of the sons of Lambert and Sarah was named Thomas Davidson Clayton. Further, there were grand children named Thomas Davidson Clayton, Thomas Davidson Orr and Thomas Davidson Brittain. In fact, I have found no instance in the first, second, and third generation of the name Davidson being associated with any male name other than Thomas. I contend as a working scenario it fits much better than anything else. Of course, if any one has evidentiary documents that show anything else, please feel free to share them with me. Second, I would like to address who was the second Thomas Davidson. Now this is going to be a stretch, but some of the associations in the documentation suggests that he might be a son of the first Thomas Davidson who was born after his father wrote the will. Third, who were Sarah, Thomas Davidson's parents. There is one story that the name Scott is somehow involved with the family. There was definitely a Scott family in the area where they lived in SC as I have a document signed by a Scott. Sarah, who would have been born about 1740, could also be from a number of the early families in Rowan County. I suspect that because of the story dealing with the Brevard family, that she might turn out to be a Brevard. And that she might have lived with them after Tom's death and not with the Davidsons. It is even possible that Tom's died so young (abt 34) because he was wounded in an Indian raid. The whole story is not opened to us yet, but, I believe, that you will agree that it is getting more plausible. Your comments please. john. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= John B. Lisle <jbl@tqsi.com> P.O. Box 602, Lexington, MA 02420 Phone: 781-270-1006 Fax: 781-270-1174