Davidson, William T. bio

Portrait and Biographical Album of Fulton County, Illinois: containing full page portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county: together with portraits and biographies of all the presidents of the United States, and governors of the state; Biographical Pub. Co., Chicago, IL; 1890; page 245-249; Transcribed by Margaret Rose Whitehurst
William T. Davidson, the well-known editor and proprietor of the Fulton Democrat, the leading paper of this county, has exercised a marked influence on the affairs of this section of Illinois, and even of the entire State, not only professionally, but as a progressive, public-spirited citizen, and has aided in guiding its political destiny, as well as in guarding and advancing its dearest interests materially, socially and morally.
Mr. Davidson is a native of this State, a member of a distinguished family, and a descendant of sterling pioneer stock. He was born in the town of Petersburg, Menard County, February 8, 1837. His father, Isham G. Davidson, was born in South Carolina, November 11, 1802, and was a son of William Coke Davidson, a native of the same State. The latter was reared and married in South Carolina, and resided there till 1809. In that year he emigrated with his family to that part of the Northwestern Territory now included in the State of Illinois, the removal thither being made in rude carts entirely of wood, the wheels having been sawed from the end of a log. The journey was entirely by land, and the greater part of the way led through a trackless forest inhabited by hostile Indians. The family finally arrived in safety at its destination, located three miles south of the present site of Edwardsville, Madison County, and was one of the earliest to settle there.
The grandfather of our subject made a claim to a tract of Government land, on which he erected a log cabin, and then entered upon the hard pioneer task of improving a farm from the wilderness. At that time there were but few settlements in the whole territory now embracing this State; there were no markets for produce, St. Louis being then but a trading post, and as there were likewise no mills the pioneers were home livers, maintaining life from the products of the soil and from wild game, which was plenty. There were many Indians in the territory, and the few settlers were obliged to gather together and build forts and stockades, in which they resided several years after Mr. Davidson’s removal thither. He was a resident of that part of the country till his death from milk sickness in 1820. The maiden name of his wife was Hannah Bankhead. After his death she married a second time, becoming the wife of Joshua Delaplain, and her death occurred in Madison County in 1831. She reared six children, the fruit of her first marriage, namely: James, Isham G., George, Jackson, Elizabeth and Millotson, the two latter of whom are still living.
Isham Davidson, the father of our subject, was seven years old when the family moved from their distant South Carolina home to the wilds of Illinois. He was reared on the frontier in Madison County, to agricultural pursuits. In the year 1836, in the vigor of a stalwart manhood he became a pioneer of Petersburg, where he built and operated a flour mill, and also engaged in a mercantile business. He was prospering, when he met with serious financial losses, his mill being burned in 1837, and all his other possessions were swept away in the monetary crisis of that year. In 1858 he came to Lewistown and took a contract to run a stage line between this city and Springfield. He made his home here till his death at a ripe old age in 1878.
The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Sarah Ann Springer. She was born near Springfield, Mercer County, Ky., June 2, 1810, and was the eldest child of John and Susanna Springer. Her father was a direct descendant of Charles Christopher Springer, who was born in Sweden, his father being Don to the King of Sweden, and minister to various countries. Charles Christopher, or Carl, as he was called, was educated in London, and at the age of twenty, while out late one night, was kidnapped and brought to Virginia, where he was sold as a slave, and was in bondage for five years. At the expiration of that period about the year 1692, he went to Wilmington, Del., to a Swedish settlement. He soon became prominent among his compatriots, who made him Justice of the Peace. He also read sermons for them and conducted their religious services till he wrote to the King in Sweden, and secured a minister for them, and also Swedish books, etc. He assisted in building the famous old Swedish Church that is still standing, and was Church Warden and Clerk during the rest of his life. He married in Delaware and reared a large family, his son Charles succeeding him as Church Warden and Clerk. He died in 1738 and was buried in front of the church where a subsequent enlargement of the building enclosed his tomb, and an arch in the church shows where he lies.
The grandson of this noted gentleman, Charles Springer, was married in 1756 to Susanna Seeds, settling near Fredericksburg, Md., where he reared a family and died. Robert Fulton was one of his wife’s bondsmen. She moved to Kentucky in 1780, with her son John, who had married in Maryland. He was in the Indian War in Kentucky in 1784. His son John, the father of Sarah Ann, was born in Harrod’s Fort, now Harrodsburg, Ky., in January, 1784, but when quite young his family moved to Danville, and thence to a farm near Springfield, where he was principally reared. He was there married and there his first child, Sarah Ann, was born. The mother, Susanna Sage was of English extraction, her parents, John and Frances Sage, having emigrated to Virginia before her birth, and subsequently to Kentucky, where she was married to John Springer in 1809.
After the birth of their first child in June, 1810, Mr. Springer, not wishing to rear a child in a slave state, decided to remove to Illinois, and in the autumn of that year, started with three other families, moving their effects together with their families in the famous old Kentucky wagons. They arrived at their destination late in that same year and pre-empted land in what is now Bond County, and began life in a primitive way in their new home. But alas! For their hopes of a peaceful and prosperous life in the far West. In June of the following year, 1811, the Indians began their horrible butchering of the helpless settlers, and they were forced to leave their peaceful occupations and erect a fort for their defense.
It will be interesting to know how these early settlers constructed the fort which was their sole refuge from the blood thirsty savages, who gathered in large forces for their utter destruction. They selected a suitable place about a half a mile from Shoal Creek, on the edge of the prairie, and then proceeded to cut logs fifteen feet in length and split them into slabs four inches in thickness, and from one to two feet in width. These they sharpened at the upper end like a picket fence, and digging a trench two feet deep, proceeded to set the slabs, each overlapping another half its width, thus giving them a wall or stockade as it was called eight inches in thickness and thirteen feet high on the inside. Outside the stockade the settlers dug a trench several feet deep and four or five feet in width, making it seventeen or eighteen feet in height from the bottom of the trench outside. This was to prevent the Indians from scaling the walls. The only opening in the wall was a double gate fastened to a movable post in the center. This was secured by four heavy bars of wood crossing the gate and fastening into a post on either side.
Inside the walls, and some distance from them, eight block houses were erected, their inside corners being so close together that only one person could pass between. They were built of logs, and constructed after the following fashion: The lower rooms were sixteen feet square, with no windows, and but one door which opened into the circular court in the middle of the forts. The ceiling of these rooms was just high enough for a man to stand erect, and was made of hewn logs closely fitted together, which also formed the floor of the room above, and extended two fee beyond the walls of the lower room on each side, the upper room being four feet larger in the square than the room below,. The walls were then built up about seven feet on the outer side, being made to slope a foot or eighteen inches toward the inner side of the circle. The clapboard coverings were held in place by weight-poles, as they were called, logs several inches in diameter. On these sloping roofs the sentries could like protected as behind an embankment and see what was going on outside the stockade. The only entrance to the upper room of the house was through a trap door, by means of a ladder, which in case of attack could be drawn up and the door securely fastened down. In the flooring of this room where it jutted beyond the room below and also in the walls of the lower room were port-hoes near together, so that if the people within were besieged they could fire on the Indians.
As soon as the walls of the fort were done, the settlers moved in, living in rail pens till the houses could be erected. And here Sarah Ann spent four years of her early life, and from within these walls date her first recollections of home and passing events. After spending four years at Fort Jones, as it was called, their situation became so desperate, that the little company decided to make the attempt to reach Camp Russell, the garrison, distant forty miles from Fort Jones, and six miles from the present site of Edwardsville. Accordingly carts were made wholly of wood, each large enough to contain one family, and the small amount of household goods that could be taken on so perilous a journey, and each drawn by one horse. The little party started by daylight, and traveled all day and far into the night without being molested, and reached the garrison in safety.
Soon after Mr. Springer and others of the refugees from Fort Jones concluded it would be safer and more convenient to take up land in the vicinity of the garrison, which they accordingly did, Mr. Springer pre-empting a quarter-section five miles southwest of Edwardsville. And there, having bought the land of the Government as soon as it came into the market, he spent the remainder of his life, dying of cholera in the epidemic of 1849. In that pioneer home his daughter Sarah grew to womanhood, and at the age of sixteen years married Isham Davidson. Her vivid recollections of fort life, its perils and privations; its miraculous escapes from death; and her life of toil and hardship such as women of that day had to endure, would form a chapter of unusual interest in the history of the pioneer women of the State, of whom she is a noble representative.
After her marriage with Mr. Davidson in October 1826, this remarkable lady lived for several years near Edwardsville, and one year in Upper Alton, where most daily for weeks she fed volunteers returning from the Black Hawk War. In 1836 they removed to Petersburg, Menard County, Illinois, where her husband engaged in merchandising and milling. Petersburg was then a small hamlet, which had never had a religious service of any kind within its borders. Instead, a “groggery” as it was called, was set up on a vacant lot directly opposite their dwelling, and here, quite soon after she and her husband removed to the place, and during his absence, on the occasion of a horse race, Mrs. Davidson was forced to endure the scene of perhaps two hundred men in all stage of intoxication, swearing, fighting, etc. During the day, and nearly the entire night the sounds of unholy revelry polluted the air. To a woman of her refinement and spirit this was revolting, and she felt she could not live amid such scenes with no Christian privileges. Accordingly when the Methodist Episcopal Conference met in Springfield, twenty-two miles distant from Petersburg, but a short time subsequently, she attended it in person and requested that a missionary might be sent to them. Her appeal was listened to and granted in the person of her uncle, the Rev. Levi Springer, who held regular services at Petersburg during the ensuing two years, followed by Rev. Michael Shunck, who was an inmate of the home of the Davidsons while they staid in that part of the State. The services were held in their dwelling till Mr. Davidson built a schoolhouse for the double purpose of holding school and divine services within its walls. But the opposition to Christianity was so strong that the schoolhouse was soon burned, and the devoted band of worshipers were again obliged to have their meetings in the Davidson home. Before the end of their three years stay in Petersburg, Mr. and Mrs. Davidson had the happiness of seeing the little church of which they and two or three others formed the nucleus, grown into a goodly company of Christian people. During those years and subsequent ones Mrs. Davidson often entertained in her house those veteran pioneer preachers, Peter Cartwright, Peter Akers, George and William Rutledge, Henry Summers, and many others prominent in the annals of Methodism. She has also entertained Stephen A. Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and other notable men of their day.
After the panic of ’37 had swept away his entire wealth Mr. Davidson became contractor of the stage route from Lewistown to Springfield, and removed his family to Lewistown in the autumn of 1838. In 1840 he purchased a little home on the outskirts of the city, and he and his wife began life anew in a log cabin. Here Mrs. Davidson was happy and contented because it was home, and her friends were as welcome as in more prosperous days. And when a few years later the cabin gave place to a more commodious cottage it was and ever has been a home for all who claim its hospitality. This venerable lady is still living, honored and cherished by her children, and regarded with feelings of respect and affection far beyond her home circle, as in a long and useful life she has made many warm friends, who have been indebted to her for wise counsel and helpfulness.
Mother Davidson has been the mother of eight children, four of whom were born in Madison County, where two died infancy. One, William T., was born in Petersburg, and three were born in Lewistown. Two of her sons, James M. (editor of the Carthage Republican) and William T., are editors of prominent county papers. Mary F., Lucy E., and Elihu S. are dead. Her youngest daughter, Sarah M. B., inherits in a full degree the strength of character and literary talent of her brothers, and is a lady of marked culture. She is an able writer, possessing fine descriptive powers, and it is to her graceful pen that we are indebted for the foregoing vivid account of her mother’s early life and of pioneer times. Mrs. Davidson’s daughter Sarah and an orphan grandson reside with her and cheer her declining years in the cottage which has been her home for half a century. She has endured with fortitude and resignation the sorrows that have fallen to her lot in the death of those nearest and dearest to her. Her husband, with whom she traveled life’s road for more than fifty years, has been removed from her presence, and a son, two daughter and several grandchildren have also gone to their last resting place since she came to Lewistown. Her descendants now living in 1890 number three children, nineteen grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
William T. Davidson, the subject of this biographical review, was but a small child when his parents brought him to Lewistown, and here he was reared amid pioneer influences. His early education was secured in the district school, which was conducted on the subscription plan. At the youthful age of twelve years he was compelled to leave school to earn his own living. His first employment was teaming produce from Lewistown to the Liverpool and Peoria markets, and on the return trip he loaded his wagon with merchandise, or with stone and sand which was used in building many of the early stores and other buildings of Lewistown. He was thus engaged till he was seventeen years old, and then, as an apprentice in the printing office of the Lewistown Republican, he entered upon that career that eventually led him to the editorial chair of the Fulton Democrat, which he has so ably filled for more than thirty years.
He worked nine months in the Republican office, and then as the paper was discontinued, he went to Peoria as compositor. In 1854 the Daily Herald, the first daily paper ever published in Peoria, was established by George W. Ranney, editor and proprietor. Our subject secured a position to set type in that office when it was first opened, and the following eighteen months was engaged on that and other papers in that city and at Tiskilwa and Macomb. In June, 1855 he was called to Lewistown to assist his brother James in founding the Fulton Democrat. In 856 he returned to Peoria and helped to found the Peoria Transcript, now the most prominent paper in Central Illinois. Returning to Lewistown, our subject became half-owner and assistant editor of the Fulton Democrat in July, 858, and the 11th of the following November he bought his brother’s interest in the paper, and from that time to the present has been sole editor and proprietor of the Democrat.
Mr. Davidson has devoted his best energies to his work of making a newspaper that should educate its constituency and be a potent factor in the up-building of city and county. This he has accomplished, and the journal which owes its strength and high position to his genius is read far and wide, perhaps having a larger circulation than any similar provincial newspaper, and has helped to mold public opinion on many of the important questions of the day. The Democrat is a sound family paper, ell supplied with solid and useful information, as well as with lighter matter, keeping its readers well-informed on current topics and the affairs of this and other counties, and one of its interesting features is the correspondence from various localities in the county.
Mr. Davidson is a man of strong convictions and does not hesitate to express them freely and frankly, and with all the vigor he can command. Many a time his sharp, caustic pen has done good service in spurring on his party to victory, or in exposing fraud and corruption, whether found in the ranks of the Republicans or Democrats, among civic officials or private citizens. Through his columns he has usually supported the Democratic party, but holds himself independent, and has never been moved by money considerations or personal preferences. His readers know that whomsoever or whatsoever he supports or disapproves, his course is actuated by conscientious motives and after careful consideration. The usual amount of praise and fault-finding has been measured out to him as an editor, but his character as a man of honor, integrity and public sprit has never been questioned. His manly attitude in regard to the temperance question is well-known, as he is a radical prohibitionist, his influence being felt throughout this section of the country, which is attested by the fact that Lewistown, his home, is the center of one of the largest prohibition districts in the State.
Our subject is connected with the following social organizations: Lewistown Lodge, No. 104, A. F. & A. M.; Havana Chapter, R. A. M.; and Damascus Commandery, No. 42, K. T. He is a lover of home and is imminently happy in his domestic relations. He was married January 24, 1860, to Miss Lucinda M. Miner, a native of Columbus, Ohio, and a daughter of Francis and Myra (Jordan) Miner. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, - Harold L., Mabel (who died in infancy), Bertha, Frances, Lulu M., Nellie (who died in infancy), and Maude.
The readers of this volume will be pleased to notice elsewhere on its pages a lithographic portrait of Mr. Davidson.