Eleanor Davidson
Birth: Pennsylvania, USA
- Married Daniel Hurst on 31 May 1818
Notes: GENEALOGICAL HISTORY of DUCK CREEK'S PICTURESQUE PIONEERS, by Henrietta Horner Martin, and co pied by D Ruth Davisson of Lost Creek, WV. Parts of this narrative were featured, also, in th e Clarksburg, WV Sunday Telegram, 23 Dec 1923.
THE DAVISSON FAMILY
The story is told that two Davisson brothers (William and Jonathan) came to the valley abou t 1799 from New Jersey. However, according to Ruth Davisson, William Davisson did not come he re with his brother Jonathan. Jonathan Davisson came to present-day Harrison County, probabl y influenced to do so because his sisters, Mrs Watters Smith and Mrs John Gaston were alread y established here. William had married in New Jersey and he and his wife built their cabin n ear the residence of what is now the home of the late Dr William H Horner, traces of which ma y still be seen just south of the lane that leads to the Harley Gaines home. Their children w ere: Margaret, Ellen, Mary, Sarah, Patsy and Creasy (probably a diminutive of Lucretia) and o ne son, Andrew. Sarah married Nathan West and Mary became the wife of a man named Haley. Trac es of the Haley cabin may still be seen on the hill on the western side of the Thomas M Horne r farm about 300 yards north of the Ben's Run gap. Two or more of the Haley children died o f diphtheria and were buried in forgotten graves on the "cow-lot" hill of the Horner farm. Af ter this, the parents moved to "Red Banks," now Hendersonville, Kentucky. Ellen married Danie l Hurst from the South Branch country. They made their home on the site of the Upper Duck Cre ek School. He was a soldier of the War of 1812 and his father fought through the Revolution . A sister, Margaret Hurst, married a McWhorter and became the mother of Walter McWhorter. La ter the Hursts moved to Fink's Creek near the present village of Hurst, Lewis County. Margare t became the wife of James Culdice and they made their home in Greene County, Pennsylvania. P atsy and Creasy never married and made their home on what is now the George farm and are buri ed in the old Judah graveyard on the Charles J Horner farm. This graveyard is long since aban doned. Aunt Patsy and Creasy were bright and interesting talkers, and in their declining year s spent much of their time in visiting their neighbors and entertaining with talks of long ag o. Andy, the only son, built a hewed-log house on the southern end of his father's farm on wh at is now the Thomas M Horner place. The house, long since converted into a barn, is still us able, though over one hundred years old. It was well built and was a palace in its day, evide ncing the skill of the old-timers with the axe.....
DAVISSON FAMILY TRADITION (Compiled from notes of D Ruth Davisson, deceased) William Davisso n of Duck Creek was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, though his war record has not been id entified among the numerous William Davissons who served from New Jersey. One story handed do wn through the generations since 1776 tells of his eerie experience the night before the batt le of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. (This battle was fought on Davisson's lands in Monmouth County . Molly Pitcher's well was either on Davisson land or next door). He disobeyed army rules i n some way and as punishment (in an age of superstition) was ordered to spend the night in Ol d Tennant Churchyard. Some of his descendants claimed that the night among the tombstones fri ghtened him so much that he was extremely nervous the rest of his life. When dawn came and th e battle progressed, he was put to the task of carrying dead and wounded from the battlefiel d on his widebacked grey work horse to the church where he laid them on the floor and in th e churchyard. Charles W Davisson, my grandfather and great-grandson of William of Duck Creek , told me he was a dispatch carrier around Philadelphia during the war. What personal glimpse s we get of our ancestor Mary Maple Davisson comes from stories which Sarah Davisson West's d aughter, Urzelda, told her grandson, Charles Washburn. He remembered being told that Mary's f amily were Tory sympathizers (though records show that several Maples served with the America n troops during the Revolution). At any rate, the family had left the Kingston NJ area wher e most of the Maples lived and were in Philadelphia when it was headquarters for Sir Henry Cl inton who commanded the British troops stationed there. Mary Maple lived in the Clinton "mans ion" as a trusted maid to Sir Henry's daughter. She told about staying at night in the safet y of the Clinton girl's room when young British officers became drunk and disorderly downstai rs. Later (perhaps after Clinton had left), when she stood by the street or roadside, Washing ton and his troops marching by, he called out to her to "get back inside" for the "cowboys an d skinners" were following. They were the traders who drove cattle and other livestock to sel l to the army and were known to be a rough lot. After Mary and her husband William Davisson h ad moved to Duck Creek, Harrison County (W)V they returned to Philadelphia on horseback so Ma ry could take care of the Clinto girl's children while their mother visited relatives in Engl and. When Mary came home to Duck Creek many monts later, she brought with her a "Hair Trunk " full of fine silks, cottons, lace and ribbons from London, finery unavailable to the settle rs of the Trans-Allegheny frontier. Mr Washburn remembers seeing the the trunk of cowhide, ha ir side up, Miss Nora Davisson, who died in her eighties in 1965, recalled seeing a small pie ce of ribbon from the hair trunk, treasured for over a century by some of Mary's Duck Creek d escendants. It was from this trunk that Sarah Davisson West's material for her wedding dres s came. Children of William Davisson and Mary Maple Davisson: 1. Jonathan born 1780 in NJ; di ed 11 June 1852; resided Long Run; married Lorena Holland (born 21 May 1786; died 4 July 1881 , 95 years 1month 14 days); both buried Davisson Cemetery, Long Run Road. Tradition is that L orena Holland was born in Holland, came to Wilmington DE when she was 16; 1850 census gives b irthplace as DE; charter member of Duck Creek Methodist Church founded 1831. 2. Margaret move d to Indiana - no records; married Henry Culdice from South Branch Valley. 3. Sarah born 178 6 in NJ; died 22 Nov 1872; married 4 Jan 1803 Harrison Co (W)V Nathan West (born 1780 MD, s/ o John & Frances West). 4. Andrew born 26 Mar 1789 PA; died 7 Sept 1862; buried Hayesville I N on Walter Seitz farm; married 22 Feb 1814 Bridget Haley (born ca 1843 Vinton Co OH d/o Anth ony Haley & Eleanor Browne); resided Duck Creek, Gallia Co OH, Hayesville IN; left Duck Cree k about 1835. 5. Eleanor "Ellen" born 1792 PA; died after 1872 when she applied for a widow' s pension; married 1 Sept 1815 first to Joseph Powers, who died 15 months after marriage, an d second to Daniel Hurst (born 6 Feb 1796, died 7 Oct 1872 Lewis Co WV, s/o William & Catheri ne Sims Hurst - A soldier in War of 1812; lived first on Upper Duck Creek, later Fink's Creek , Lewis Co (W)V). 6. Mary married ------ Haley; to Redbanks, Henderson Co KY - no records. 7 . Lucretia born 1800 VA; unmarried. 8. Martha "Patsy" born 1803 VA; died after 1850; unmarrie d. Lucretia and Martha lived together in a log cabin on Duck Creek; can find no records for e ither one. Aunt Pat is remembered as a witty person and a great teller of tales. In their ol d days they visited among their relatives. Aunt Pat is named with Jonathan and Sarah West a s "heirs of William Davisson" in a deed for 31 1/2 acres of land they sold to William Gaston . I do not know why Aunt Lucretia's name was not on the deed when she is listed in 1850 censu s. There may have been other children. The 1844 deed not signed by Mary Maple Davisson may in dicate that Mary had died by that time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++
WILL OF WILLIAM DAVISSON Harrison Co WV - Will Bk 6 Pg 408 I, William Davisson (farmer) of th e District of Grant in the County of Harrison, State of West Virginia, make this my last will . I give, devise and bequest my estate and property real and personal as follows, that is t o say: I give and bequeath to my two sons Parker and Reasin Davisson, my home consisting of t wo hundred and twenty five acres of land subject to my wife's dower and also all of one othe r certain piece of land on Ben's Run in said district and county, consisting of seventy eigh t acres of which the sum of two thousand dollars be paid at my death or within one year there after, said sum of $2000.00 to be equally divided or distributed between all of my girls, nam ely Mary (Marsy?) M., Samantha, Catharine, Alice and Sarah Ann Stalnaker, formerly Sarah A. D avisson, taking into consideration the advancements made to each one heretofore, to Sarah A . an advancement of six hundred dollars, to Mary two hundred dollars, to Samantha two hundre d dollars, to the others nothing. Advancements have been made also to my sons George and Edga r, but I direct that my land on Beach Lick, Doddridge County, West Va., be sole and the proce eds be equally divided between George and Edgar and all of my girls, and that my personal pro perty be equally divided between all of my children, my wife retaining her thirds, the two fi rst named sons Parker and Resin are to maintain their mother in a decent and comfortable mann er as long as she lives. I appoint Parker and Resin Davison, who resides on the home farm Exe cutors of my last will, in witness whereof I have signed and sealed and published and declare d this instrument as my will at Long Run. March 12th 1875 We, the undersigned do (Signed) Wil liam Davisson certify that this instrument was signed in our presence. L. D. Swisher James E . Jett Will admitted to probate Nov. 12, 1875
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