GEORGE DAVIDSON

George Davidson is one of the prominent and well known farmers and stock-raisers of Cedar county, owning and cultivating the old homestead farm on sections 17, 20 and 21, Fremont township. The place comprises two hundred and forty acres of valuable land, which has been brought under a high state of cultivation and annually returns good harvests for the care and labor bestowed upon it. The present owner and occupant of this farm dates his residence in the county from 1861, arriving here when a lad of nine years. He was born in Thompsonville, Connecticut, January 7, 1852, and is a son of Joseph Davidson, a native of Ireland, who, when a young man, crossed the Atlantic to the new world, settling first in Connecticut. There he remained for about ten years. He had been married in Ireland to Miss Elizabeth McClellan, a native of the Emerald isle, and it was shortly after their marriage that they made the voyage to the United States. On leaving Connecticut in 1861 they came to Iowa and took up their abode where their son now resides, purchasing forty acres onwhich was a small house. The land had been partiallybroken and Mr. Davidson began to further improve and develop the property to which he afterward added as his financial resources increased, until he became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, constituting a well improved property upon which he rearedhis family. He died in 1876 at the age of fifty years, and is still survived by his widow, who resides with her daughter in Jones county, Iowa.

George Davidson supplemented his early education by study in the Mechanicsville high school, and remained with his father until the latter’s death. He afterward purchased the old home place of his brother and subsequently invested ineighty acres of land adjoining, so that he is now the owner of a good property of two hundred and forty acres, constituting one of the well developed farms of the county. He has added to and remodeled the house, has built barnsand other outbuildings, has fenced the fields and has carried on the work of improvement along modern and progressive lines. He has largely used woven wire to fence his place and the farm presents a neat and attractive appearance that indicates his careful supervision and painstaking, practical methods. Stock-raising is an important feature of the farm, his specialty being hogs, of which he feeds and fattens a large number each year. A sale of hogs, which he has recently made, netted him twenty-one hundred dollars. He also raises good horses and has a standard trotting Hambletonian.

Mr. Davidson was married in Fremont township in May, 1881, to Miss Mary E. Jackson, a native of Rock Island, Illinois, where her girlhood days were spent and her education was acquired. She is a daughter of Richard Jackson, Sr., and a sister of W. A. Jackson and Richard Jackson, Jr., of whom mention is made elsewhere in this volume. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Davidson have been born six children: Joseph R., who is married and follows farming in Palo Alto county, Iowa; Fred, who is associated with his brother Joseph in his farming operations; Harry, who assists in carrying on the home farm; Mabel, the wife of Charles Andre, a farmer of Pioneer township; and Lucille and Ethel, at home.

In his political views Mr. Davidson has always been a republican with firm faith in the efficiency of the republican party as a factor in good government. He has served for three terms as justice of the peace and has declined further political honors. He has, however, been a delegate to the county conventions and has done duty on both the petit and federal juries at Cedar Rapids. He and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church at Mechanicsville and Mr. Davidson belongs to the blue lodge and the chapter of the Masonic fraternity at that place, and to Anamosa Commandery, K. T. He is likewise connected with the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids and is regarded as one of the best posted Masons in the work of the order in eastern Iowa. He has filled the office of master of the lodge and is now high priest of the chapter and both he and his wife belong to the Eastern Star. He is thoroughly in sympathy with the teachings of the craft and conforms his life thereto. The history of Cedar county is largely familiar to him and events which are to others matters of record are to him matters of personal experience and observation, for over a half century he has been a witness of the county’s development and along material lines has aided in its growth.