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WHO WAS WHO in PLUM TOWNSHIP
~ Titusville Herald ~
By H. W. Strawbridge

James Franklin Davison

James Franklin Davison was born in Plum Township June 16, 1836. a son of John and Eliza Weekley Davison who resided between Bradleytown and Sunville. James was one of several children.
He attended the former old Independent school which sat a distance south of Bradleytown, and which would now be in Jackson Township, if standing. As part of their history lessons, one interesting thing taught to James and other pupils then was that George Washington and his party encamped their first night out of Franklin to Fort LeBoeuf at a spring about a mile north of Sunville. This was known as the Sam McClelland spring during the turn of the century. The place now is abandoned.
On Jan. 18, 1860, James was married to Miss Lucinda Matthews at her father’s home with Associate Judge W.W. Davison of Sunville performing the rites. Her parents were Samuel and Louisa Ambrose Matthews. Lucinda was born Feb. 14, 1838 in Armstrong County, Pa.
It is said that one of the wedding presents given to James and Lucinda was a pair of pigs (which was much appreciated in that day). The new Mrs. Davison fed the pigs so much buttermilk that “they just bloated up and died”, as she said years later.
They began housekeeping on five acres off his father’s farm. James built a house which stood north of the present house of Mr. and Mrs. Leo S. Bumpus. James F. Davison was Mr. Bumpus’ grandfather.
One day a windstorm swept through the Davison farm, blowing over several trees which were mostly oak. James’ father told him that he could have the lumber from these fallen trees if he would saw them out. So James cut the logs and sawed them out at nights in his father’s old up-and-down sawmill. He used this lumber to build his first barn which was a rather small structure. Years later James built a new and larger barn.
On Sept. 9, 1862, James enrolled for Civil War service at Franklin in Company E of the 16th Regiment of Pennsylvania Cavalry, and was mustered in on Sept. 27. A cousin, Wallace Davison, went with him. The group of men marched to Enon Valley, Butler County, thence to Harrisburg for training. From there they marched to Washington. This regiment was one of the very few that was of full strength. It had 12 companies, 100 men to each company, plus the officers. Thus 1200 men and officers with their horses, wagons and supplies made a very long procession.
A later Plum recruit who tented with James throughout the war was George Grove of near Sunville.
While in line of duty at the Battle of Hatchers Run, Va., on Oct. 27, 1864, James was struck on the left breast by a spent musket ball which required a day’s hospitalization. He had two belts over his shoulders, one over each shoulder. One was for carrying his canteen. The spent ball struck the spot where the two belts crossed.
It was necessary for James and the other men to do a lot of foraging during the war. Once James stopped at a farmhouse and bought milk with which he filled his canteen. As he was riding out the lane, some “Johnnies” came riding up the road. James spurred his horse and took out on high with the enemies in pursuit. He reached his company safely. He then opened his canteen to drink some milk and strangely only a few drops came out. He looked in and there was a roll of butter. He rode so fast that he churned the milk!
During the siege of Petersburg several corps of cavalry and infantry were sent around Lee’s entrenchments to his rear to cut his food supply. James participated in this in the late winter of 1865. They destroyed railroads and mills, generally seizing much flour and corn meal for themselves before firing the mills. They were nearly to the North Carolina border one day and they stopped and asked a negro what state they were in. He replied, “Sussex, suh, Sussex”. He knew the area as the county, not state.
James served quite often an orderly for Gen. J.M. Gregg. On March 31, 1865, James was riding through a woods at Dinwiddie Court House when all of a sudden two rebel gun barrels poked out at him, and there came the stern order: “Get off that horse, Yank!”. Thus he was held prisoner for nine days until Lee’s surrender.
He was engaged in about 18 battles, some of the more important ones having been Chancellorsville, Alden, Upperville, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Richmond.
He was discharged at Lynchburg, Va., on June 17, 1865. He and Wallace Davison went by train to Franklin, then walked up to Plum Township at night. (No railroad extended from Franklin three years previous when they enlisted).
James engaged in farming at home. Besides his first five acres, he eventually bought additional land from Jacob G. Bradley, William J. Lamberton and Lafayette Streite until he had 65 acres by 1878. James paid $40 an acre for the Bradley portion and it was so stony that he bought an additional one-eighth of an acre just to pile the stones on! A few more years later he bought more land from Elijah Kent and Burton Williams, making a total of 102 acres.
James was a good teamster. He hauled oil barrels from the cooper shops in Sunville to Oil Creek. There he had them filled with oil, then hauled the oil to Shaw’s Landing on the old canal from Meadville to Franklin.
James had dark eyes, dark hair and was 5 feet, 8 inches tall. He was a good neighbor and took an active part in the organizations of his area. He had joined the Sunville Presbyterian Church when a young man and remained a lifelong member. He was ordained an elder in it on Oct. 9, 1885. He also presided over the annual congregational meetings for a few years. He served as Sunday School superintendent for a year too. He always had his individual pew in this church. He sat in the front pew, leaning his head against the west wall. This was next to the choir corner. He sang bass during the congregational hymns. Liking music, he often bought family tickets to attend singing schools held in either the academy or Presbyterian Church of Sunville.
He was a member of the Andrew Jackson Post No. 199, G.A.R. of Cooperstown, and the Union Veterans Union, No. 10 of Chapmanville. He was a charter member of the Bradleytown I.O.O.F. Lodge and served as its first noble grand in 1889. He was a member of the Sugarcreek Grange when it met in the old Plum Corners Church below Bradleytown. Although a loyal Presbyterian, he occasionally attended evening services in the Bradleytown Free Will Baptist Church.
He was a staunch Republican. He served as a township school director; served as an auditor around 1870; became a road commissioner in April, 1879 for a three-year term; and was also a tax collector. He was school director at the time the county elected Silas Prather as county superintendent in 1875.
Mrs. Lucinda Davison was also a member of the same Presbyterian Church. She was a busy woman. She had an ashery where she made soft soap. She used to make batches of apple butter in a copper kettle over a fire outdoors. She had long wooden ladles to stir the butter.
They had four children: Miss Letta Louisa Davison, born in 1862; Mrs. Elma Elizabeth Bumpus, born in 1866; Frederick Harrison Davison, born in 1870; and Mrs. Anna Belle Hartman, born in 1872.
Letta never married. She always worked at home. She died in Franklin in January, 1946.
Elma married Frederick Bumpus in 1888 and he, having been a good carpenter, died in 1926. She is the only living child and lives with her son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Shadle at Bradleytown. She is 92 and has exceptionally good health.
Fred married Cora Dingman. He attended State College and learned the butter-making trade, then ran a creamery in Bradleytown a while. He also had a store in Sunville. He was probably the first bus driver in the city of Franklin. He died in May, 1943, and he and his wife are buried at Franklin.
Anna Belle married Robert Hartman and they first rented a farm at Cherrytree. They then moved to Bethel where they remained the rest of their days. She died in January, 1942, and they are buried at the Union Cemetery near Bethel.
On July 1, 1889, James F. Davison commenced carrying mail from Bradleytown to Franklin and carried it for eight years. He also made stops at the postoffices of Mason and Cooperstown. In good weather he drove a three-seater rig and carried passengers from one place to another.
He never carried a watch, always depending on the “sun time”. He generally could come within 10 minutes of the actual time.
For a while in the olden days James and a neighbor, James Bradley, ran a pepperbox thresher and threshed at several places.
In 1886 or 87 his larger barn burned down, caused by spontaneous combustion. His brother-in-law, Lafayette Streite, had put his wheat on top of James’ north hay mow before the hay cured out. When it broke out afire, members of the family said it sounded like a big whirlwind striking.
For several years James used the little old barn, adding parts to it. Then in 1903 he had the present barn built with Curry Small doing the carpentering. Jacob Foster hewed out the timbers and Levi Shields hewed out the rafters.
The present house of Mr. and Mrs. Bumpus was built by James in 1888. He tore down the old one and used some of the lumber in the back portion of the new one.
James F. Davison died early Saturday evening, March 30, 1918, after a sickness of only around three days from kidney and stomach trouble. It seems that he had been lifting too much weight when moving the heavy sap kettles while making maple syrup. Probably he drank too much syrup, too. Then he also worried considerably about the World War battles in Europe at that time. All these factors led about to his last illness. His funeral took place on April 2 from the Sunville Presbyterian Church.
Mrs. Davison died of infirmities of old age in Franklin at the age of 89 on April 14, 1927.

Transcribed by Paula Harry
dharry@pa.rr.com

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription of information from both early and late (current contributors) work.