Davidson, William (Marion Co., IL)

Born: 1805 Kentucky

Died: 1847 Marion County, Illinois

Flourished: Marion County, Illinois

The eldest of ten children, Davidson moved with his extended family to Marion County, Illinois, in 1820. Appointed overseer of the poor in Marion County in 1823, he also served on the county's first grand jury that same year. He was one of the first purchasers of lots in the newly established county seat of Salem, and he received the contract to build the first county jail. He served as sheriff between 1826-1836 and represented Marion County in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1836 to 1838.

Davidson married Betsy Jennings in 1829. Following her death, Davidson married Rhoda Hudson in 1831, with whom he raised two children. In 1847, Davidson married Elizabeth Erwin.

J. H. G. Brinkerhoff, Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County Illinois (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen, 1909), 44, 47, 53, 178, 601; John Clayton, comp., The Illinois Fact Book and Historical Almanac, 1673-1968 (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1970), 205; History of Marion and Clinton Counties, Illinois (Philadelphia: Brink, McDonough, 1881), 68, 71, 76; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Marion County, 3 April 1829, 2 June 1831, 19 August 1847, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL.