Life History

Notes

• Mathew is reported by the Davidson Family Genealogy as a child of Thomas B Davidson and Sarah Leeper Miller.  He does not appear in the 1850 report of that family, when he would have been about 15-16 years old.  And in some other genealogies reporting on this Davidson lineage, he is not listed.
  
  But in 1870 Matthew is in St Charles, Arkansas, near other members of this family.  In 1870, Matthew, still single, is a Physician living with his sister Janetta (Janette) Walton.  They have moved to St Charles, Arkansas County, Arkansas, where other Davidsons also moved.
  
  1870 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 1 July, Prairie Township, PO St Charles, page 8, Hse/Fam #63
  Walton, John R  55 M W Keeping House (sic) b Tennessee [b abt 1815]
  Walton, Jennette  46 F W [No Occupation] b Arkansas [should be Tennessee] [b abt 1824]
  Davidson, Matthew O 35 M W Physician $100 Personal Estate b Tennessee; boarding with Walton Family [b abt 1835]
  
  In the 1850 census, 15-year-old Mathew is in Franklin County, Alabama, in the household of a Clayton Davidson, age 23, who is married to Almira, and they have a son Ephraim 3 months old.  There are several other Davidsons in their 20s or teens, and one Margaret Davidson age 50, who would fit the widowed mother of these Davidsons.  All the household are born in Tennessee except Ephraim.  These children are in fact listed as the children of Margaret Clayton Davidson in the Davidson Genealogy, which reports Margaret Clayton as the wife of an unnamed Davidson who was the father of Thomas Jefferson Davidson.
  
  1850 Federal Census, Franklin County, Alabama, 11 August 1851(?), District 5, page 153, Hse/Fam #726
  Clayton Davidson 23 M Planter $5000 Real Estate born Tennessee [b abt 1827]
  Almira Davidson 29 F b Tennessee [b abt 1830]
  Ephraim Davidson 3 months M born Alabama [b abt April 1850]
  Janetta Davidson 24 F b Tennessee [b abt 1826]
  Mathew Davidson 15 M b Tennessee [b abt 1835]
  
  The other genealogies that report on Thomas B Jefferson and Sarah Miller Jefferson's family, which includes son Thomas Jefferson Davidson, have none of the Davidsons shown in the 1850 Franklin County, Alabama, census.  This Margaret could not be the mother of Thomas Jefferson Davidson, since we have a report of that family intact in 1850, still in Tennessee.  It appears at this point that the Davidson Genealogy has mixed two families of likely related Davidsons, and this branch had moved from Tennessee while the others stayed.  But this appears to be the Matthew O who is the physician in St Charles, Arkansas in 1870.
  
  Margaret's husband, the father of Clayton, Matthew and the others is likely a brother to Thomas B Davidson.  Thomas Jefferson Davidson, Thomas B's son,  also had a son named Matthew Oliver Davidson.
  
  By 1900 Dr Matthew has moved to Smith County, Texas, where he living as a boarder with a family named Sykes.  He is still single.  Note that though his birthday is reported as April 1835, his age is 63, which would mean birth in 1837!
  
  1900 Federal Census, Sebastian County, Arkansas, 15 June, Justice Precinct 5, Garden Valley, Disrtict 108, page 8B, Hse #137, Fam #138
  Davidson, Matthew O Boarder W M April 1835 63 Single TN NC NC Physician

Sources

• 1. RootsWeb Trees
• 2. 1870 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas
  • 1 July, Prairie Township, PO St Charles, page 8, Hse/Fam #63
• 3. 1900 Federal Census, Sebastian County, Arkansas
  • 15 June, Smith County, Texas, Justice Precinct 5, Garden Valley, Disrtict 108, page 8B, Hse #137, Fam #138
• 4. 1850 Federal Census, Franklin County, Alabama
  • 11 August 1851(?), District 5, page 153, Hse/Fam #726
• 5. 1900 Federal Census, Smith County, Texas
  • 15 June, Justice Precinct 5, Garden Valley, Disrtict 108, page 8B, Hse #137, Fam #138
• 6. Libby Beliew, email correspondence to Orville Boyd Jenkins, October 2008