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

Isaac Davison

Isaac Washington Davison was born in Plum Township on Sept. 24, 1831, the second child of John and Eliza Weekley Davison. The Davison family was Scotch-Irish in descent.
Isaac’s father moved from Butler County to a tract of land immediately east of present Bradleytown in 1828. Here Isaac was reared, and he received his education in the former Independent schoolhouse which sat south of Bradleytown.
In May, 1857, he was married to Miss Clarissa Ann Miles of Plum Township. She was a daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth Foster Miles, and was born May 10, 1836, in Mercer County. She was the youngest of 10 children.
Isaac and Clarissa Ann first lived at Wallaceville where he operated the Miles farm a couple of years or so. They then moved to the hill west of Bradleytown where Isaac settled on 100 acres which belonged to his father. Isaac secured a deed for this in 1865.
When Isaac first took this farm, his father and two brothers, William and James Davison, cleared probably 20 acres the first summer. Isaac shovel-plowed it and planted wheat.
Isaac also owned 70 acres in Jackson Township which apparently adjoined his farm. He appears to have lived on that portion in the mid 1870’s, but moved into a new house which he had build on his Plum section in 1877 or 78.
He sold 50 acres of the Jackson piece to his sister, Mrs. Fanny Williams, in 1881, and sold the remainder in 1884 to J.H. McDill of Wayne Township.
His wife died on April 11, 1863, the cause of her death now unknown. She lacked a month from reaching her 27th birthday.
They had three children, born as follows: John Milton Davison, Feb.26, 1858, Lewis Miles Davison, Sept. 3, 1859, and Clara Elizabeth Davison, Feb. 13, 1863.
John was married to Miss Blanche E. Richards at Red House, N.Y., on May 14, 1896. They lived in the Kane – Mt. Jewett area where he labored in a glass factory. Due to an injury he lost a leg, and during his remaining years he had a wooden leg. He died in February, 1945, and his wife preceded him in death. They are buried at Kane. They had the following children: Hugh M. Davison, Mrs. Clara B. Everetts, Ulsura L. Davison, deceased, Mrs. Sara B. Slagle, Luella M. Davison, deceased, and John L. Davison.
Lewis was married to Miss Alfaretta (Allie) Boal of Cooperstown on Oct. 6, 1891. They lived in Oil City where he worked for the National Transit Co. for years. Upon retirement they moved to Meadville where he died on Oct. 29, 1943, and she on July 21, 1960, aged 94. They are buried at Sunville. They had two children, Howard B. Davison, deceased, and Mrs. Helen Norton.
Clara was married to William S. Davison of Sunville on April 22, 1890. They lived in Franklin for years where he worked in a shop. They then moved to Erie for the remainder of their lives. He died Oct. 16, 1941, and she on Feb. 18, 1955. They are buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Erie. They had two children, Mrs. Ruth H. Hodge and Mrs. Ellen E. Marshall.
Isaac married a second time to Miss Mary Ann Duncan who was born Feb.3, 1834, and was reared at Poland, Ohio. Their wedding took place Sept. 20, 1865. The first names of her parents cannot be found, but her mother was a Latimer.
They resided on his farm west of Bradleytown. Mary Ann was a kindly woman. Both Isaac and she became members of the Sunville Presbyterian Church on Feb. 17, 1866. That very Sunday was indeed the banner Sunday in the history of that old church. Forty new members were added to its rolls that day. Mary Ann died of quick consumption on April 10, 1873 – lacking just one day of having been exactly 10 years following the death of his first wife.
Five children were born to this union. They were Eliza Jane Davison, March 23, 1867, Frank William Davison, Feb. 2, 1869, Albert and Alvin B. Davison, twins, March 18, 1871, and Celia Amanda Davison, Oct. 15, 1872.
Eliza Jane was married to Harry B. Brown on Aug. 9, 1892. They then moved to Rocky Grove, and he worked an oil lease on the Galloway hill. He last worked at the Eclipse before retirement. He died May 3, 1941, and she on Sept. 30, 1949. They are buried at Franklin. They had three children, Glenn E. Brown, deceased, Mrs. Genevieve R. Strawbridge, deceased, and Mrs. Lucille A. Miles.

Worked in Oil Fields

Frank was married to Miss Cassie Belle McAlevy of Sunville on aug. 14, 1892. They first lived at Sunville, then moved to Woodville, Ohio, where he worked in the oil fields for 12 years. They then moved near Sunville where Cassie died in 1908. They had two children who reached maturity, Mrs. Mary M. Wilcox and Maurice E. Davison, and two girls who died in infancy. Mrs. Wilcox of Cherrytree Township and a relative, Mrs. Velma King of Rocky Grove, rendered considerable assistance towards this sketch. On Nov. 26, 1913, Frank married a second time to Miss Marie Carlson. They lived near Sunville where he farmed, and they retired and moved to Titusville in 1941. Frank died on Aug. 12, 1956, and Mrs. Davison still resides in this city. They had six children, Mrs. Garnet M. Dempsey, Mrs. Gladys L. Bloom, Mrs. Marian L. Spratlan, Mrs. Edith E. Greer, Frank W. Davison Jr. and Richard E. Davison.
Alvin was married to Miss Cora A. Dick on July 29, 1899, at Fostoria, Ohio. They lived in that area where he worked in the oil fields. He died June 18, 1948, and she on Nov. 12, 1962. They are buried at Fostoria. They had no children, but they raised Lewis Davison, the youngest son of Albert Davison.
Celia was married to James Hyle Russell of Cherrytree on Aug. 23, 1894, at Chautauqua, N.Y. They lived at Wallaceville where he blacksmithed, then they moved to Woodville, Ohio, working in the oil fields. Then they moved respectively to Sunville, Franklin, Oklahoma, and again near Sunville where he died in April 1915. He is buried at Sunville. They had two sons, I. Leroy Russell and Louis W. Russell, both deceased. Celia married J.E. Hasson on May 1, 1917, and they farmed. He died at Utica in May, 1928, and is buried there. Celia died Oct. 22, 1958, and is buried beside her first husband.

Married Third Time

On Aug. 7, 1876, the subject of this sketch, Isaac W. Davison, was wed a third time to Mrs. Mary Jane Borger of Sandy Lake. The wedding took place in the Cooperstown Methodist parsonage by Rev. O. Babcock. She was born Sept. 4, 1841, a daughter of Washington and Sarah Porter Vogan. She first married Samuel Borger, and they had a family of five children, all of whom preceded their mother in death.
Isaac and Mary Jane first lived on the hill west of Bradleytown where he continued the farming activities. They had one child which died at birth.
In the fall of 1876 Isaac executed two oil leases with the Brawley brothers of Petrolia. One dealt with his own farm, while the other dealt with the land which had belonged to his late father east of Bradleytown. There appears not to have been any worthwhile results of those two leases.
On April 2, 1884, Isaac sold his farm to Henry Houck of Union City for $4,500, and two days later he bought the Samuel Axtell farm just southeast of Sunville for $3,572. One of the principal reasons that they moved was the fact that they were nearer to their church. Isaac also bought an additional seven acres the next year from Pete Davison.
His third wife had also joined the Sunville Presbyterian Church during the time of her marriage to Borger. Isaac and she were regular attendants. Leo S. Bumpus of Bradleytown recalls that his great uncle Isaac sat on the left-hand side just ahead of the stove.
When Isaac bought the Axtell farm there was on it a nice house with a grape arbor nearby, also a large barn. The next year, 1885, he built a horse barn. This place was recently purchased by the State Game Commission. The vacant house still stands, as also the horse barn. The original barn fell in many years ago.
Down by the spring run Isaac built a slaughterhouse. He piped water from the spring to this building. Isaac butchered every week and peddled meat in a buckboard over the country, especially in Oil City. He bought many cattle to be butchered. The late Hunter Grove helped him to butcher.

Resident Recalls Events

John Williams, 88, of Bradleytown, and a nephew of Isaac, worked an entire summer for Isaac when he was around 17 years old. This was probably the summer of 1894. John recalls many incidents while there.
Isaac bought a bull from a Mr. Lesh on the hill outside of Cooperstown. John and a young neighbor, Charles Hoover, walked there to lead the bull to the Davison slaughterhouse. Just after they started leading him the ring slipped out of the bull’s nose and he was free. The angry bull chased Charles up a water beech tree, and John hustled back to the Lesh farmyard and opened the fence. Soon the bull came back through the fence and back into the barn.
During the summer Isaac planted a large acreage of buckwheat in his large field next to the Goodwin line, and also on the adjoining McClelland place. On a fall day the men commenced threshing it after supper, and they threshed all night with the aid of many lanterns strung around. The machine sat in the big field, and what a huge strawstack there was. The granary was brimming full, and they covered over the rest of the grain with straw, then hauled it in the next day. There must have been 500 bushels.
Isaac raised a quantity of buckwheat every year, had it ground into flour and shipped several hundred pounds each fall to Woodville, Ohio, where some of Isaac’s family lived. It was very popular with the native residents of that community.
John said that Isaac generally kept an extra horse or two. He had two gray mares, one of which was a bit crazy-headed. Either she would go too fast, or not at all. Once John was hauling a load of wood below the barn. The mare stopped, backed up, twisted the wagon around, and several chunks of wood fell off. As if that wasn’t enough, she got her head under the neckyoke, and John and Isaac had a dickens of a time getting things straightened out!
John also helped dig potatoes in a seven-acre field for Isaac. Two others hired in this job were Ernest McAlevy and Tommy Boles.
Isaac generally had a hired man all the time. Besides John Williams and Hunter Grove, he also employed Camey Grove and Bill Pratt at different periods.
O.T. Bower, 88 of Bethel, Venango County, but a former Sunville resident, recalls that his first work away from home was at Isaac Davison’s farm. As a boy he got 75 cents and afternoon for haying, and $1.25 a day for hauling corn.
Isaac once had a flock of turkeys, and when about to butcher them, they got out. They flew into the trees and it was impossible to catch them. Discouraged, he called young Mr. Bower to come over with his rifle to shoot them. Orie spent all afternoon shooting them in the heads, which was a difficult task because about the time he was ready to squeeze the trigger, the turkey would move his head. However, he managed to get most of them, Isaac once had a nice team of oxen which had very large horns. The horns from one of those oxen were mounted by Isaac’s son, Alvin. They have a spread of 35 inches from tip to tip. Clair Goodwin of Cherrytree Township, a great grandson of Isaac, presently owns the horns.
Isaac sold a small piece of land to the trustees of the Sunville Cemetery in September, 1895, for the purpose of enlarging the burial grounds.
In July, 1899, he also conveyed 36 perches of land to the trustees of the Sunville Presbyterian Church as an added convenience to their original lot.
He executed an oil lease on 50 acres of his farm in 1905 with James Dunmire of Rocky Grove. It is not known for sure if any successful drilling was done.
In July, 1908, Isaac gave a right-of-way to the Tide Water Pipe Co. to lay pipe across his farm for the transportation of petroleum. The line was buried at least 20 inches deep, and Isaac received 50 cents per rod on cultivated lands, and 25 cents per rod through uncultivated lands.
Isaac ran for Venango county commissioner on the Republican ticket, probably after the turn of the century. He rode around the county campaigning in his horse and buggy. Hoverer, he did not win the nomination.
Isaac was a tall, stout man, weighing probably 160 to 170 pounds. He could place a bag of buckwheat on the third tier of a wagon easier than an ordinary man. He was sort of a droll, witty person, and he was proud of the fact that in his last years he did not have gray hair. He had dark brown hair. He often tipped his hat on purpose that people could see his hair. He did wear glasses during his last years.
He made it a point to give a blessing at the table prior to each meal, and he always finished his meals with a crust of bread soaked in coffee.
Isaac suffered a stroke of paralysis, and he lived about a week. His death occurred in his home on Wednesday, Feb. 9. 1916.
His funeral took place on the following Saturday afternoon in the community’s Presbyterian Church, and he was buried beside his first two wives in the Sunville Cemetery.
Mary Jane Davison, his third wife, was a fine lady and she was a fair sized individual. She fulfilled the duties of a farmwife, such as going down to the cool slaughterhouse at nights to stir and attend to the milk and cream. She was a good cook, and many bragged about her coffee.
She became crippled with rheumatism. Following an illness of pneumonia of about a week’s duration, she died in the old home on Dec. 23, 1925. She was buried in a different family lot in the community cemetery.

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.