BIO: Hon. James J. DAVIDSON, Beaver County, PA
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BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES. This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches
of Leading Citizens of Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, N.Y.,
Chicago, Ill.: Biographical Publishing Company, 1899, pp.
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HON. JAMES J. DAVIDSON, deceased. It is a matter of profound regret that
death should intervene to cut short a life in its very dawn of great promise,
a life so efficiently equipped for usefulness to the community in which that
life unfolded from childhood to noble manhood - a life gemmed with rare
acquirements and high capacities, - full of encouragement to the many, who in
their weakness, lean upon others. Such was the life of the most worthy subject
of this memoir, Hon. James J. Davidson, who, although he lived but a few short
years, did not live in vain. It is a sacred pleasure for those who mourn, to
cherish the memory of his manly virtues and beneficent deeds. Eminent lives,
independent of years, command the homage of mind and heart.
James J. Davidson was born in Connellsville, Fayette county, Pa., November
5, 1861. He was a son of the late Col. Daniel R. Davidson, and grandson of
Hon. William Davidson. Birth and environment are the supreme forces that
mainly determine the success or failure of human beings. These forces
actingin concert as uplifting factors, success is almost assured; if
operating adversely, life often ends in failure. The influences, which give
them direction and potency, date far back in ancestral history. These
elements, in their most helpful form, as character builders, gave to James J.
Davidson his high standing in business circles and his initial success in
political affairs.
The grandfather of our subject hereof, William Davidson, was favored with
large practical ability, and was a noted iron master in the infancy of that
great industry. He was several times a member of the Pennsylvania
Legislature, and served as senator and as speaker of the House. He was
appropriately looked upon as one of the foremost men of the county of his
adoption.
Colonel Daniel R. Davidson, father of the subject of these memoirs, was
richly endowed with mental capabilities that would have secured eminence in
any of the learned professions, had the bent of his mind led in that
direction, but he chose to deal with great commercial enterprises. His keen
foresight and power of analysis secured for him large wealth, and constituted
him a leader in developing the vast mineral resources, which have made the
county of Fayette famous in the industrial world. The mother of James J.
Davidson belonged to a family which ranked among the best of Western
Pennsylvania, and was a woman of rare intellectual attainments and cultivated
taste, who made home life a school of moral and mental training. Such were the
marked and conspicuous
24 BOOK OF BIOGRAPHIES
antecedents of that life which it is the aim of these brief lines to record.
In the sixth year of Mr. Davidson's life, he removed with the family to
Beaver county, his future home, and the theater of those early and brilliant
achievements which gave such prominence to his short life. His preparatory
education was obtained at the Beaver public schools and at Beaver Seminary.
In 1878, he entered Bethany College, West Virginia, and afterward spent three
years at the University of Lexington, Kentucky, graduating therefrom, in 1883.
He returned to Beaver and spent the following two years in the study of law in
the office of Hon. John J. Wickham, now of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.
This fitted Mr. Davidson for the subsequent activities which made him a power
in the political and industrial movements of the county and state, as it was
not his intention to engage in the practice of the legal profession, but to
qualify himself with most thorough business acquirements. This was the height
of his ambition, and he made a study of practical matters among his first
mercantile enterprises.
In 1886, Mr. Davidson commenced his business career by entering the oil
trade as a new member of the firm of Darrah, Watson & Co., oil producers; he
was subsequently interested in several kinds of enterprises. In the course of
a few years, he became president of the Union Drawn Steel Works, of Beaver
Falls, Pa., one of the most prosperous manufacturing plants of the Beaver
Valley. Mr. Davidson was one of the largest stockholders of that
organization, and was its president at the time of his death. Early in life
the subject of this biography became actively engaged in politics, and was
soon recognized as an influential leader in the Republican party, supervising
partisan policies and giving direction to local and national campaigns. He
served seven years as a member of the Beaver Council and was an ardent
supporter of the public improvements, which in these later years have made
Beaver so attractive for family residences.
In 1894, Mr. Davidson received the unanimous nomination of Beaver county,
for Congress, but at the congressional conference held at Beaver Falls, he
withdrew in favor of T. W. Phillips, of Lawrence county. In 1896, Mr.
Davidson was again the unanimous choice of Beaver county, and at the
congressional conference held in Butler, he was nominated on the first
ballot. The nomination of so young a man in a district composed of four
counties, with numerous aspirants, is proof of a phenomenal ability to
control political forces, and was prophetic of a successful future,
paralleled by but few in the history of our nation. After his election to
Congress in 1896, Mr. Davidson went west to regain his health, but death
prevented him from taking the oath of office, and his first year's salary was
paid to his bereaved widow.
Toward the close of 1895, Mr. Davidson suffered an attack of "la grippe,"
which in after months developed into lung disease.
BEAVER COUNTY 25
His ambitions were beyond his constitution, and his energetic disposition
kept him from taking much needed rest. The failure of medical skill to master
this lung ailment, finally induced him to seek relief in change of climate. In
July, 1896, he left his home in Beaver, and accompanied by his wife and two
children, went to Salt Lake City. A month's sojourn in that city failing to
bring any special relief, he changed his location to Colorado Springs. After
a six weeks' stay there he removed to Phoenix, Arizona; but change of climate
and the most careful nursing and loving attention were powerless to arrest the
waste of physical forces, and he succumbed to quick consumption. On January 2,
1897, at the age of thirty-five years, the struggle ended, leaving a
grief-stricken wife, two interesting children, and a host of friends to mourn
his departure.
Mr. Davidson was a thirty-second degree Mason and was past officer of that
fraternity; he was a member of the Tancred Commandery, Knights Templar, and
of Syria Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. His Masonic brethren met his remains at
the home depot, and had charge of the memorial services, which were very
imposing. Mr. Davidson was also a member of the I. O. O. F. lodge, the
Knights of Pythias, the American Mechanics, and the Americus Club of
Pittsburg, whose members came in a body to his funeral.
January 31, 1889, James J. Davidson was united by the holy bands of
matrimony with Emma Eakin, an accomplished daughter of John R. Eakin, noted
as one of the solid men of Beaver county. This most happy union resulted in
the birth of three little ones: Philip James; Margaret, who died when only
three months old; and Sarah Norton. It was the most earnest desire of Mr.
Davidson to build a handsome home for his beloved ones in some attractive
spot, and to surround them with every convenience and comfort. But his
unusually busy life left him no time to attend to this matter before being
cut off by death, with this wish unfulfilled.
Mrs. Davidson and her two children are now residing in a pleasant home
located on the south side of Park street, and it is her desire to rear and
educate her little son and daughter in a fitting manner, that they may in the
future add other laurels to the honored name of their father, a further
account of whose ancestors may be found in the sketch of Frederick Davidson,
of Beaver Falls, to be found in this volume.
The publishers of this work take pleasure in announcing that a portrait of
Mr. Davidson accompanies this work, being presented on a preceding page.