Category Archives: Davidson

Davidson

12 for ’26: Hepsabeth (Davidson) Williams (c1810-1876+) – Still a Mystery!

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With the passing of time, I keep hoping for new clues to turn up about Hepsabeth L. Davidson, who married William Alexander Williams on 9 October 1828, per a family Bible record, probably in Marion County, Tennessee, which is a severely burned county, having lost its records in 1922.

A couple of years earlier, the Williams clan moved there from Roane County, not too far north of Marion County.

The 1830 census is not much help. There are but two Davidson families in Marion County, but only one head of family is old enough to be Hepsabeth’s father- William Davidson, aged 40-49 years old, enumerated on page 47. There is also a female aged 40-49 and five children, the oldest of whom would be close to Hepsabeth in age.

The second Davidson is Samuel C., aged 20-29 with one female aged 20-29. They appear to be newlyweds with no other people in the home.

Unfortunately, because Marion County is burned, there are no land or probate records to search.

I have long suspected that William Davidson is her father, but have never found any primary documents to support that theory.

By 1840, both Samuel C. and William Davidson are gone, but there is a young John Davidson, aged 20-29, wife a female also 20-29 and a young child under 5 at home on page 45. William A. Williams and family appear just two pages later, on page 47.

Unfortunately, by 1850, the Williams family had removed to Lafayette County, Arkansas and there isn’t even one Davidson enumerated there at the same time.

At one point, I had Hepsabeth’s death date as between 1876-1880, but I had no document to show the source of the information (which I believe I obtained from someone else) so I updated my database to reflect that she died after 1870, which is her last census enumeration.

Full-text search has helped with that 1876 date. On 6 March 1876, Hepsabeth (X) L. Davidson sold her land to her son, James H. Williams of Hempstead County, Arkansas.

Her deed is on the right side of the page. I’m not going to transcribe it because there is nothing remarkable about it except for providing proof that she was living on 6 March 1876.

The Davidson Surname DNA Project hasn’t helped, nor have autosomal DNA matches for my husband. The problem seems to be the gaping hole in those county records.

Still, I have hope that someday. . . . .

Davidson, Williams

Rabbit Holes: Hepsabeth (Davidson) Williams (1811-1870+), VA, TN and Lafayette Co., AR

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As we head into the holiday season and things get a bit busy, I’m sharing some quick dives into rabbit holes. Actually, I’m not sure they are really rabbit holes or better described as standing in front of a brick wall, throwing everything available at it and hoping that something sticks.

In any case, today’s rabbit hole features Hepsabeth Davidson, who I originally expected to be much easier to trace.

Thanks to a family Bible, we know that Hepsabeth Davidson was born on 28 January 1811 in Virginia, which proves that her family didn’t make the trek to eastern Tennessee with the Williams family as they were living in Roane County, Tennessee in time for the 1805 tax list.

Hepsabeth Davidson married William Alexander Williams on 9 October 1828, again thanks to the Bible entry. Given that they lived in Marion County, Tennessee, where the courthouse burned down, taking almost all its records with it, in 1922, I have to assume that they married in Marion County and the fire is the reason why no marriage record can be found. The family Bible notes the date, but not the place, of their wedding.

Are there clues pointing to Hepsabeth’s parents?

Perhaps only a few bread crumbs. To add to the research difficulties, the U.S. censuses for Roane County and Marion County (and most of eastern Tennessee) are missing for 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820.

Although I have found little evidence of the Davidsons in Roane County, the manufactures schedule of the 1820 census has survived and there is one John Davidson next door in Morgan County, Tennessee, listed as making sugar. Morgan County was formed from Roane County in 1817.

Another Davidson clue might be found in the marriage record of Matthias Williams, brother of William A. Williams and brother-in-law of Hepsabeth. He married Rebecca “Davison” on 21 November 1825 in Roane County. However, no one has ever been able to determine who Rebecca’s parents were or if she is Hepsabeth’s sister and Rebecca is not found in any censuses with Matthias.

Furthermore, a page from the 1826 Prospect Baptist Church Records
Membership Lists, Roane County, Tennessee, which I read a number of years ago at the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake, included the note that William Williams had been dismissed (likely when the family removed to Marion County), but also included the names of Jacob Davidson, William Davidson (crossed out), [illegible – kson] Davidson, Sally Davidson and Elender Davidson (crossed out.)

Because of the missing censuses, it’s impossible to determine if there were more Davidsons living in Roane County. The Davidson surname appears only twice in the early land records. William Davidson bought 200 acres of land on the south side of the Clinch river for $666.66 from Jacob Prewit, William Campbell and Richard Cavet, all of Knox County in 1801. William Davison was also of Knox County and the date of the transaction is important – 27 August 1801. That’s because Roane County formed a few months later, on 6 November 1801. Witnesses to that transaction give us two more Davidsons – John and Walter Davidson.

William Davidson is the only Davidson to appear on the 1802 tax list of Roane County; he was listed in William Coulter’s Company, but then the Davidson name disappears from the early Roane County records.

Of course, William and John Davidson are such rare and unique names that they can be easily identified and tracked, right? NOT!!!! Of course, there are no online trees for these men because nobody else has any idea who they are either.

The 1830 census is extant for Marion County, Tennessee, though. There are several who are part of William Alexander Williams’ family – his father William Williams, page 17, with his brother, Mathias Williams, living next door, also on page 17, Paul M. Williams, another brother, on page 35 and brother John Williams on page 15. William Alexander Williams isn’t enumerated separately, but he is probably the young man living in his father’s home with wife Hepsabeth (although no daughter, born 1828 is listed at home.)

What about possible Davidsons since William A. and Hepsabeth married in later 1828? There are but two Davidson households. The first is that of Samuel C. Davison on page 11, but he is a young man aged 20-29. He could be Hepsabeth’s brother. The second is William Davidson on page 47 who is a perfect candidate to be Hepsabeth’s father, as he is aged 40-49. Of course, neither of these families is to be found is 1840. At that time, there is only one man, John Davidson, there and he is aged 20-30 years old. He could be a younger brother of Hepsabeth Davidson, but there are no records linking them.

One would think that DNA might be helpful here and, yes, my husband has taken an autosomal test. The problem is that William Alexander Williams and wife Hepsabeth Davidson both have exactly 47 matches and each is through one of their children. No separate Davidson matches to review.

I keep waiting for a hint of light at the end of the tunnel, but even after decades of research, there isn’t a glimmer of hope.

Davidson

Davidsons of Morgan County, TN – A Solid Brick Wall

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My husband has two ties to the Davidson family of Roane County, Tennessee. Unfortunately, they didn’t remain in Roane County for long, thus creating a possibly unbreakable brick wall.

However, not knowing what other resources other descendants may have out there, I have decided to share my tentative THEORY about his two Davidson lines.

Note that this is a THEORY, no proof to be found with the exception of a very few crumbs along the trail.

If the Davidsons hadn’t first settled in Roane County, I would have even less information to try to piece together than the sparse drops I have gathered.

First, Roane County, Tennessee has quite complete records back to the time it was formed in 1801.

Secondly, there is a ton of conflicting/additional unproven information about Davidson descendants, which I will not cover in this post as it has nothing to do with my theory about one branch of the family.

Thirdly, William Davidson is said to have died in Morgan County, Tennessee in 1828. He may well have. However, his gravestone dates from the later 1800s. To complicate matters, eastern Tennessee census records before 1830 have been lost and Morgan County is a burned county. No probate records survived the 1862 fire.

William Davidson MAY have come from North Carolina – His name is so common that there are too many of them in the post-Revolutionary War era to identify this man elsewhere with any certainty!

Here are just the documented facts:

William Davidson Sr. appears on the 1814 tax list (the earliest surviving list) of Roane County, Tennessee, charged with 100 acres of land. (I have not located a record determining where/how he came to possess the land as those early books have no index.)

It is important to note that Mr. Davidson appears on the list of Captain Hall.

On that same 1814 list, we find William Davidson Jr., charged with 3 acres of land.

Also in Captain Hall’s company are Matthias Williams, Thomas Williams, Matthias Williams Sr., John Williams and Charles Williams.

Now the trouble begins because Morgan County was set off from Roane County in 1817. Because there are no land records indicating how the real estate of William Sr. or William Jr. was disposed of, my conjecture is that they lived in the portion of Roane County that became Morgan County.

Most of the Williams family lived in that area and Captain Hall’s family is long associated with Morgan County.

There is also an 1826 Roane County Baptist Church membership list. On it are Jacob Davison, William Davidson, Jackson Davidson and Sally, Sally (again), Elender, Patsy and Hannah Davidson. There are no clues as to whether any of the females are married and, if so, to whom.

There is yet more misery in trying to untangle the Davidsons and prove ties to the Williams clan.

Rebecca Davison married Matthias Williams on 21 November 1825 in Roane County. This was Matthias born c1789 and he resided in Morgan County.

There are land records surviving from Morgan County and there is one entry of interest. One W.T.L. Davidson sold 50 acres of land on the Emory River to David Scarborough (Deed Book A:168). Why this sale is of interest to me is the date – 26 July 1825.

About 1826, William Williams was dismissed from the Baptist Church in Roane County. He took his family in a southerly direction and settled in Marion County, Tennessee. BUT – Marion County lost most of its records in a 1922 fire!!!

Hepsabeth Davidson married William A. Williams on 9 October 1828, probably in Marion County, Tennessee.

The 1830 census of Marion County includes one William Davidson, born 1780-1790, with a female in the same age range. There were also: a female, born 1801-1810, female born 1811-1815, male, born 1816-1820, female born 1821-1825 and a male born 1821-1825.

There is also a Samuel C. Davidson in Marion County, aged 20-29, living alone as head of household.

Hepsabeth (Davidson) Williams was born 28 January 1811, based on an entry in the family Bible. She is of an age to be one of the oldest children of this William Davidson, who I conjecture is the William Davidson Jr. found in Roane County on the 1814 tax list.

There is obviously a dearth of records to be found in Marion County because of the fire.

Now, neither the Williams family nor the Davidsons remained long in Marion County. Some moved on to Franklin County, Alabama.

Not to be outshined, so to speak, by Morgan or Marion Counties, Franklin County lost its records in 1890! That leaves a dead end in Alabama.

From this convoluted mess, here is my theory:

Rebecca, marrying in 1825, and Hepsabeth, marrying in 1828,  were two of the eldest children of William Davidson Jr., who appears on the 1814 tax list of Roane County. Hepsabeth was 17 years old when she married. Rebecca was probably also a teenager.

William Jr. is likely the son of William Sr., as their names are entered together in Capt. Hall’s list.

Between 1826-1830, both William Davidson Jr. (no longer called Jr. since his father reportedly died in 1828) and William Williams moved their families to Marion County, Tennessee.

By 1840, both families were heading to Franklin County, Alabama and, before 1850, to Arkansas.

I have found no reliable (created at the time) records of the names of any wives for William Sr. or William Jr. It is said that William Sr.’s wife was Elizabeth. However, her purported gravestone says “E D” was born 1749 died 1831.

My husband’s Williams family and these Davidsons lived near each other and moved to the same places in the same time frames, thus forming a small FAN club.

I think my theory makes a lot of sense and haven’t found anything to disprove it.

Anyway, this is my story and, for now, I am sticking with it!

If you are descended from this Davidson clan and have any documented information that sheds any light on this branch of the family, I would love to correspond with you.