Origins of Alexander Davidson of Gloucester and Spotsylvania Counties, Virginia
Link to Surname and Index Pages for Davidsons
My own Davidson family line is Margaret Davidson, wife of Richard Tubb, daughter of James Davidson and granddaughter of Alexander Davidson of Barren County, Kentucky. I and other Davidson researchers owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the research of Sonia and Gil Murry. As one researcher wrote, "they must have visited every courthouse in the South." On the other hand, I have done considerable personal research in verifying information, gathering documents and finding new information. Many thanks also to Kat Davis who provided information from Sonia and Gil Murry as well as encouragement. Sandi Gorin's research on Barren County, Kentucky and publication of this research was also extremely helpful.
I was able to visit the Kentucky State Archives and hold in my hands the original document signed with the mark of Margaret Davidson which proves her relationship to James Davidson and Alexander Davidson -- and thus my own relationship to Alexander Davidson. Being able to see this original document and not a photocopy was a very moving experience for me. I visited the genealogical section of the Glasgow, Kentucky Public Library nad met some very helpful researchers there to whom I wish to express my thanks. I also wish to express thanks to Sharon Morrison whose husband Raynor is an Alexander Davidson descendent through Alexander's son Elijah and Florence Norback who descends from Alexander through James and James daughter Nancy who married John Murray. They gave me help and suggestions during the time I was most intensively doing my research on Alexander and his children.
One issue is the spelling of the name Murry/Murray. I believe that Gil Murry, who with his wife Sonia has done much research on the Davidson family spells his surname Murry. There are others who descend from John Murray who married Nancy Davidson who spell the surname Murray. Therefore I have tried to change the designation to Murry/Murray -- giving due credit to all descendents.
There have been several theories put forth for the origins of Alexander Davidson of Gloucester County, Virginia who died about 1748.
Alexander’s great granddaughter Laura Baird states in her letter/history of Alexander Davidson that:
“Our great grandfather Davidson was a native of Scotland lineal descendant of an old Scotch Irish family. He emigrated from his native land in an early day, and located in Gloucester County Virginia before the days of the Revolution.”
There is a contradiction here. A native of Scotland is not likely to be Scotch Irish. Ulster (Northern Ireland) was settled by natives from Scotland about 1610 and after as part of an initiative by James I to try to resolve the problems of subduing a highly independent Irish Roman Catholic population that did not want to live under English Protestant rule. James and his councilors saw giving Scots (almost entirely Lowland Scots) the opportunity to emigrate to Northern Ireland and acquire land there as the means to establishing a Protestant population
As I understand the situation, there was very little reason for the Scotch-Irish to want to move back to Scotland. Thus, Alexander Davidson was either a native of Scotland or a descendant of a Scotch-Irish family, but not both. A massive migration of Irish citizens of Scottish descent, “Scotch-Irish,” from Ulster to the American colonies had begun about 1717. One of the most used routes of migration and settlement was from the east coast ports of Philadelphia or New Castle, Delaware, down the Great Wagon Road through the Shenandoah Valley (Augusta County, Virginia and neighboring counties) into North Carolina and then into Kentucky and Tennessee. [James G. Leyburn, The Scotch-Irish: a Social History, p. 87] So many people of Scottish names in the American colonies were Scotch-Irish, that the term was applied indiscriminately to any of those with Scottish names.
Alexander Davidson, according to Laura Baird’s recollection of her grandmother’s family history, first “located in Gloucester County, Virginia.” That certainly may have been so, but the first paper record we have of Alexander Davidson is in Spotsylvania County in 1745 requiring him to explain why he had not taken the oath of Constable. [Sonia Murry’s papers on Alexander Davidson, p. 5] Alexander Davidson died in late 1747 or early 1748 since Sarah Davidson and William Ellis posted an Administrator’s Bond in the settlement of the estate of Alexander Davidson in Spotsylvania County in February 1748 [ibid. p. 9]
I tend to accept the Gloucester County, Virginia location as Alexander’s point of origin in the colonies. Laura Baird’s information, especially regarding Alexander’s sons Philip and William was accurate. And Alexander married Sarah Ellis who was of Middlesex County, a county adjacent to Gloucester. Gloucester is one of the most difficult counties in Virginia in which to search for records. However, Polly Cary Mason has abstracted those records that exist that can be tied to Gloucester County. Two Davidson names are included in her compilation:
William Davidson, headright of John Degge/Degg/Deggs/Diggs. Kingstone Parish, Sept. 26, 1678.
James Davison, Gloucester County, Rent Rolls, Ware Parish 1704/1705
While these names are not linked to Alexander Davidson of Gloucester, it is perhaps interesting to note that Rev. Alexander Davidson named his first son James. His sixth son he named William. On the other hand, James and William were names very familiar to the Scots.
The dates for the appearance of James Davison on the rent rolls make it possible for him to have been the father of Alexander Davidson.
On the other hand, the most logical scenario is that Alexander was in Gloucester County as an indentured servant for four or seven years (the usual term of indenture), then released with enough resources to have land, farm and get married about 1739. Lets assume that he was released from indenture about 1737 (at about age 25) and that he served an indenture of about 7 years. That would make his entry into Virginia about 1730.
Alexander Davidson of Gloucester and Spotsylvania does not appear to have been a Presbyterian of any strong conviction because he married a young woman of Christ Church parish (Anglican) in Middlesex County (adjacent to Gloucester.) There is no record of the marriage in the parish so the couple may have been married in Spotsylvania County. Wherever they were married, Alexander and Sarah were married about 1739 (if Alexander of Barren County, KY was born in 1740.) If this is a reasonable supposition, Sarah was about 22 years old at the time of the marriage. It is logical to assume that Alexander could have been about five + years older, so possibly born about 1712.
Where was Alexander born? Almost certainly not in Ulster, since few Scotch-Irish entered Virginia along the eastern coast. The indentured servants of that part of Virginia were most likely of English or Scots descent. [ibid p. 253-4]
Sources of information on origins of Alexander Davidson
In looking at the work of others in attempting to determine the origin of Alexander Davidson of Gloucester, it appears that Donald Ford’s book, History of the Davidson Family,a typescript book privately printed in 1993 [LDS microfilm #2055196], has been a source of information. In this book Ford is primarily interested in tracing the lineage of William Davidson who, according to Ford’s records William was born as the son of Alexander Davidson and Sarah McDavid. in Cupar, Fife [County or Shire] Scotland on 22 April 1702. [There is no William born 1702.] William married Janet Duncan on 22 August 1732 and their first child Agnes was christened 25 April 1733. According to Ford, William Davidson arrived in Philadelphia 17 April 1760 on the ship “Friendship.” Ford does not give sources for his information
The major issue with these records of William Davidson is that there is no record of the christening of a William Davidson in 1702. According to the parish records of Cupar, Fife, a William Davidson had a son John christened on 22 November 1702. I ordered the LDS microfilm of the christenings of the parish of Cupar and could find nothing that referred to the birth of a William Davidson in that time period. An Alexander Davidson was christened in Cupar parish in 1669, but that Alexander would have been about 70 when an Alexander Davidson and Sarah Ellis were married. I have to come to the conclusion that, according to the parish records of Cupar, Fife that the Alexander Davidson who died in Spotsylvania County in 1748 was not born in the parish of Cupar.
Ford does not mention the marriage of Johne Davidson and Grissell Crafoord, although other sources do. There is a record of their marriage in the parish of Dunfermline, Fife on 15 April 1685 and there is a record of a christening of a son Alexander Davidson in the same parish on 8 August 1685. This Alexander christened in Dunfermline is supposed to be the Alexander who married a Sarah McDavid and had a son Alexander born before 1702. Alexander of Dunfermline is supposed to have died in Cupar about 1711. There is no record of this, and if Alexander was born in 1685 and died in 1711, he would have died at about age 26. These same sources also mention Philip, William (married Janet Duncan) and Hezekiah as the brothers of Alexander. This appears to be confusion with the known sons of Alexander Davidson who died in Spotsylvania County in 1748. There are guardian and indenture records in the Spotsylvania County Court which concern a William and a Philip, sons of Alexander. Hezekiah, putative brother of Alexander, appears to be confused with Hezekiah Ellis, father of Sarah Ellis.
At this point, unless new evidence is presented, I don’t think we know location or date of birth of Alexander Davidson of Gloucester County.
