[p. 931] who carries on general farming in Big Beaver Township, owns 125 acres of some of the best land in this part of Lawrence County. It is situated on both sides of the road, is watered by two streams and is only one mile west of Wampum. Mr. Davidson was born on his present farm in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, November 9, 1856, and is a son of James and Sarah (Davidson) Davidson.
The grandparents were John and Mary (Thompson) Davidson. John Davidson was born in Ireland and came to Beaver County in early manhood. He married a lady who was born in Butler County, Pennsylvania, and they had eleven children, namely: Thomas, James, Robert, Andrew, John, Thompson, Wilson, Moses, William and two others who died in infancy. Moses and William both served as soldiers in the Civil War and William died in the army. About 1865 John Davidson and wife moved to Iowa and there both died.
James Davidson, father of Robert J., was born in 1823, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and died in Lawrence County, May 5, 1908. He lived at home until he married, assisting in clearing the land and attending the primitive school in the neighborhood when opportunity offered. Later he learned the blacksmith trade and opened and conducted a shop on the farm on which his son Robert J. now lives, coming here when he married. A part of the land was given him by his father, who then owned several hundred acres, and a part he bought from his brother Thomas. When James Davidson brought his wife here no buildings had been erected and their first home was a hastily built log house. The blacksmith shop was next built and Mr. Davidson operated that for thirty years, his sons mainly conducting the farm. In 1872 he built the present commodious and comfortable frame residence and here he died as stated above. He was a man of sterling character, honest and upright in all his dealings. He was a leading member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and for years was its treasurer. During his later years he took much interest in public matters and supported the Republican party's candidates.
On May 17,1849, Mr. Davidson was married to Sarah Davidson, who still survives and resides with her son, Robert J., on the old homestead. She is a daughter of Andrew and Janet (Whan) Davidson, the former of whom was born in Ireland and subsequently became a man of large means and much importance in Lawrence County. To James and Sarah Davidson were born four children: Andrew, John Wesley, Robert J. and William. Andrew died in 1872, aged twenty-two years. John Wesley, who resides in Big Beaver Township, married Nancy Wilkinson and they have four children, namely: Cora May, Harley W., Edna and Clarence. Cora May lives with her grandmother and her uncle, Robert J. William, who conducts a feed store in Ellwood City, married Matilda Carson and they have three children, Elva, Carl and Mabel.
Robert J. Davidson was about one year old when his parents came to the present farm and his boyhood was spent in attending the district school and in assisting in the clearing and cultivating of the land as far as his strength permitted. As he grew older he assumed more responsibilities and since 1900 has had charge of the property which he now owns. He has spent his whole life here with the exception of eighteen months when he was in the employ of a railroad company in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska. In 1880 he returned to his home. Here he has carried on a general agricultural line. His land is doubly valuable, a coal bank having been located which Mr. Davidson has leased to Robert Edwards.
In his political views Mr. Davidson is a Republican, but he is not an office-seeker. From his youth he has been a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church of which he now is both a steward and treasurer. He is a man who stands very high in the regard of his fellow citizens.
20th Century History of New Castle and Lawrence County Pennsylvania and Representative Citizens Hon. Aaron L. Hazen Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, Chicago, Ill., 1908
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