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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Sharp County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1889.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Sam H. Davidson, of Sharp County, was born near Camden, Benton County, Tenn., January 29, 1846. He is a son of John Wallace and Susan L. (Prance) Davidson, born in Huntsville, Ala., in 1814, and Montgomery County, Tenn., in 1818, respectively. The parents were married in Humphreys County, Tenn., in 1836, and lived in that State, at Camden, until 1865, when they moved to Graves County, Ky. In 1866 they lived a short time at Jackson, Mo., but during that year changed their residence to Randolph County, Ark., and in 1867 to Doniphan, Ripley County, Mo., thence to Evening Shade, Ark., in 1869, where the father died in October, 1870. Previous to 1852, the elder Davidson was clerk of the circuit court of Benton County, Tenn., and after that year he practiced law up to the time of his death. In 1859-60 he was a member of the Tennessee legislature, representing Benton and Humphreys Counties in the house, and was present at the extra session that paved the way for the secession of Tennessee, giving earnest support to the vigorous war measures of the governor, Isham G. Harris. For many years he was a zealous Mason, and was a member of the Methodist Church from 1865 until his death. His father, John Davidson, was born in Virginia or North Carolina during the latter half of the eighteenth century, removed to and was an inn-keeper in Huntsville, Ala., and died there in 1815. His mother was Mary Wallace, of Scottish ancestry, noted for her beauty and culture among the early settlers of North Alabama. The father of John Davidson was Abraham Davidson, a native Pennsylvanian, a soldier of the Revolution, who settled in North Carolina, and afterward in Montgomery County, Tenn., and who died in Benton County, Tenn., in 1838. The father or grandfather of Abraham, James Davidson, was a native of Scotland, who came with his family, and settled near the Susquehanna River, Pennsylvania, and claimed to be the first Davidson to settle in North America. The mother of Sam H. Davidson is still living, a devout Christian, and has been a member of the Methodist Church for more than forty years. She is a daughter of John Prance, of Scotch and Irish descent, who died in Montgomery County, Tenn. His wife, Mary Cooper, was born in Montgomery County, Tenn., and died in McCracken County, Ky. Sam H. Davidson is the seventh child of five sons and five daughters, of whom seven are still living. He attended the Camden (Tenn.) Academy until 1861, when the Civil War closed up the schools of West Tennessee, after which he pursued his studies at home until the latter part of the war, when he enlisted, serving first in the Tenth and afterward in the Nineteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and taking part in many sharp engagements and brilliant dashes, under Gen. N. B. Forrest, during his operations in Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi. In 1866 he began the study of law with his father, and in 1868 he was examined and admitted to practice in all the courts of the State of Missouri, by the circuit court of Ripley County, at Doniphan. In 1869 he came to Evening Shade, and at the first term of the circuit court of Sharp County, held by Judge (afterward Governor) Baxter, he was admitted to practice in the inferior courts of Arkansas. A few years afterward, on examination, he was licensed to practice in the supreme court of Arkansas, and his practice has extended through Fulton, Izard, Sharp and Independence Counties, and in the supreme court at the capital of the State. In 1870 he served as county attorney for Sharp County; in 1872 the Governor appointed him county superintendent of public schools. In 1872-73 he was editor and part owner of the Sharp County Herald, a Democratic newspaper. He has frequently been called by his brethren of the bar to preside as special judge of the circuit court in Fulton, Izard and adjoining counties. In 1874 he was defeated for delegate to the constitutional convention, but in 1876, after a sharp contest, he was elected to the lower branch of the General Assembly, and after his term expired he was re-elected without opposition, and at the organization, in 1879, received a very flattering vote for speaker of the house. He never sought office afterward, but in 1888, without any solicitation on his part, he was nominated by the Democratic party of the Second senatorial district as their candidate, and, after a hotly contested campaign, defeated the Union Labor and political Wheel nominee for State senator, carrying every county in the district, his majority reaching nearly 2,000; and, while he did not seek the place in any sense, he lacked but three votes, on several ballots, of election as president pro tem of the senate (lieutenant-governor) at the close of the legislative session of 1889. Mr. Davidson is a hold over senator, and will be a member of the session of 1891. He has been a Mason for about eighteen years, holding membership in the Lodge, Chapter and Council, and has been Master of his Lodge and District Deputy Grand Master, and for more than ten years has served his Chapter as High Priest. He is also a member of the Knights of Honor, and has held the offices of Past Dictator, Reporter and Grand Representative. In the State conventions of his party he has served several times on the committee to formulate a platform, and, in 1884, he was secretary of the convention held in Little Rock which nominated candidates for State offices, and selected delegates to the National Democratic Convention, at Chicago, that nominated Cleveland. Mr. Davidson was married in 1870, to Virginia, daughter of William and Frances French, and has five children. He has a pleasant and comfortable home at Evening Shade, a number of town lots there and in other villages, and about 1,000 acres of land in various portions of the county. He is devoted to his family and his friends, and an earnest worker for the promotion of the material prosperity of Arkansas.

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This family biography is one of 43 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Sharp County, Arkansas published in 1889.  View the complete description here: Sharp County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

View additional Sharp County, Arkansas family biographies here: Sharp County, Arkansas Biographies

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