Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 03.djvu/165

 DAVIDSON

DAVIDSON

of the department of the Missom*i, 1866-67 ; pro- fessor of military science in the Kansas agricul- tural college, 1868-71, and commanded posts in Texas and Idaho, 1871-77, and the district of Upper Brazos, Texas, 1877-78. On March 20, 1869, he was promoted colonel of the 2d U. S. cavalry. He died at St. Paul, Minn., June 26, 1881.

DAVIDSON, Lucretia Maria, poet, was born in Plattsburg, N.Y., Sept. 27, 1808; daughter of Oliver and Margaret (Miller) Davidson. Her father was a physician and her mother an author. The child was remarkably well read before she was twelve years old, and was the author of numerous verses before she was nine. Her pro- pensity for writing verses was checked for a time by her parents who denied her pen and paper. She was largely a creature of impulse and would stop in the midst of pleasure or work to write. In 1824 she attended Mrs. Willard's school at Troy, N.Y., but application to her studies undermined her health and she was taken home. She left in manuscript 278 poems including five of several cantos each. In speaking of her accomplish- ment, Shelley, the poet, said: " In our own lan- guage, except in the cases of Chatterton and of Kirke White, we can call to mind no instance of so early, so ardent and so fatal a pursuit of intel- lectual advancement." Her sister, Margaret Miller, had a similar sensibility and precocity and her poems were introduced to the world by Wash- ington Irving. She died when fifteen years old. Their brother, Levi P., was a lieutenant in the U.S. army and also " wrote verses with elegance and ease." He died when twenty-five years old. Lucretia's poems were published under the title Amir Khan and Other Poems with a sketch by S. F. B. Morse (1828; new edition, illustrated by Darley, 1871) ; and the works of the two sisters in 1850. She died in Platt.sburg, N.Y., Aug. 27, 1825. DAVIDSON, Robert, educator, was born in Elkton. Md., in 1750. He attended Newark acad- emy, Del., was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1771 as valedictorian, taught for a time, and studied theology. In 1774 he was ap- pointed to the chair of history and belles-lettres in the University of Pennsylvania and in the same year was licensed to preach. He was or- dained by the presbyterj' of Philadelphia in 1775 as assistant to the Rev. Dr. Ewing of the First church. He was professor of the Greek and Latin languages in the University of Pennsyl- vania, 1780-82, and of liistory, 1783-84. Upon the organization of Dickinson college at Carlisle, Pa., in 1784, he accepted the vice-presidency of the institution, together with the chair of history and belles-lettres. He was acting president from its organization to the time of the arrival of President Nisbet from England in June, 1785, and again in 1786 when the president temporarily

resigned for a few months pending the adjust- ment of a difficulty with the faculty. In addi- tion to his duties as vice-president Dr. Davidson was professor of history, geography, chronology and rhetoric, 1785-1804, and of moral philosophy, 1804^09. On the death of President Nisbet, Jan. 18, 1804, he succeeded to the presidency of the college and resigned in 1809, when he was suc- ceeded by Jeremiah Atwater. He was pastor of the Presbyterian church, Carlisle, 1784-1812. He was married to Margaret, daughter of the Hon. John Montgomery of Carlisle. He was elected a member of the American philosophical society in 1783, and received the degree of A.M. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1780, and that of D.D. in 1784. He is the author of: Epitome of Geography in Verse (1784) ; The Christian's ABC (1811) ; and Xeio Metrical Version of the Psalms (1812). He died in Carlisle, Pa., Dec. 13, 1812.

DAVIDSON, Robert, clergyman, was born in CarUsle, Pa., Feb. 23, 1808; son of Robert (1750- 1812) and Margaret (Montgomery) Davidson. He was graduated at Dickinson in 1828 and in the- olog}' at Princeton, in 1831. He was ordained by the Cumberland presbytery as pastor of the sec- ond Presbyterian church, Lexington, Ky., in 1832, resigning- in 1840 to accept the presidency of Transylvania university. He resigned the presidency in 1843 and removed to New Bruns- wick, N. J., where he was pastor, 1842-59. In 1860 he was made pa.stor of a church in New York city, in 1864 of the church in Huntington, L.I., and in 1868 removed to Philadelphia. He was a member of the A.B.C.F.M. ; permanent clerk of the General assembly, 1845-50; and a delegate to the General assembly. Edinburgh, Scotland, 1869. He received the degree of D.D. ' He pub- lished: History of the Presbyterian Church in Ken- tucky (1847) ; Elijah, a Sacred Drama, and Other Poems (1847) ; and The Christ of God (1870). He died in Philadelphia, Pa., April 6, 1876.

DAVIDSON, Robert H. M., representative, was born in Gadsden county, Fla., Sept. 23, 1833. He attended Quincy (Fla.) academy, studied law at the University of Virginia, was admitted to the bar, and became a lawyer in Quincy, Fla. He was a member of the Florida house of repre- sentatives, 1856-57 and 1858-59 ; and was a state senator, 1860-62, retiring in the latter year to enter the Confederate army as captain of infan- try. He attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the 6th Florida infantry and on May 28, 1864, received a wound which rendered him unfit for duty. He was a member of the state constitu- tional convention in 1865; a presidential elector on the Greeley and Brown ticket in 1872 ; and a Democratic representative from the 1st district of Florida in the 4oth-olst congresses inclusive, serving, 1877-1891.