WILLIAM N. DAVISON, Our Yesterdays, Jefferson Co., MT USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. "List transcribed and organized by Ellen Rae Thiel, thieljl@aol.com All rights reserved." Copyright, 1998 by Ellen Rae Thiel. This file may be freely copied for non-profit purposes. All other rights reserved. WILLIAM N. DAVISON William N. Davison took a homestead in about 1885. He was not married at the time; but one day not too long after that a young girl got off the stage in Boulder. She was pretty enough for the young bachelors standing around to look her over and some to wink at her. But she was not for them. Soon Ella and William Davison were married. They settled down in the Valley to raise their family, three boys and a girl. But both being hot-headed and, no doubt, stubborn, they had a stormy life together. Davison took off and went to Boulder to live, leaving his family on the homestead. One day he came home and he and Ella got to arguing hot and heavy. He started beating her and threatened to horsewhip her unless she came around. Their son, Merrit, discovered what happened and it really made him see red. He jumped on his old white horse and loped to Jack Dawson s house where there was a telephone. After cranking the country phone he got Central at Cardwell and asked Mrs. Johns to get the sheriff in Boulder. When he was connected with Paddy Manning, Jefferson County Sheriff, he shouted, "Sheriff, this is Merrit Davison. Pa's just beat my mother real bad. If you won't take care of him I will!" and hung up. He ran out the door, jumped on his horse and loped down the road until he caught sight of Davison approaching the gate to the road riding in his one- horse cart. Merrit pulled up his rifle, took aim and fired. The horse leaped forward and threw the old man off the cart, so Merrit thought he d killed him. As it turned out later at the trial, William Davison testified he had grabbed for his rifle when he saw Merrit coming, so Merrit was turned loose on self defense. Ella Davison was a hard working woman. She had a garden, chickens, a few cattle, some horses and a few pigs. She took butter and eggs to Elkhorn to sell. She was a lean, spare, weather-beaten looking woman and never spent much time on her personal appearance. Ella was a fair hand with horses she could break them, ride them, and drive them. She was also a good hiker sometimes hiking quite a few miles to visit a neighbor lady. William and Ella s daughter, Effie, married Ed Morgan, a local rancher at the time. A son, Clem, lived in Anaconda and worked as an electrician until his retirement. Another son, Harry, went to Deer Lodge where he worked for the railroad. Merrit made his home in the valley except for time spent in the Army during World War I. Merrit was a colorful character. There will never be another just like him. He never married, but he was always interested in the new teacher who would come to teach at the Cold Springs School. If he was riding a colt that would get kind of humpy, he would put in appearance at the John Flaherty home where the teacher boarded so he could show off his good horsemanship. If he had a good team, he d lope them up to the door on a Sunday afternoon and loudly holler, "Whoa," so the teacher would look out. Then sometime during the afternoon he'd do sit-ups, like the Army taught, for all to see. All the many Flaherty boys would egg him on and the poor teacher would be embarrassed. At a dance one night he called another young fellow to task for dancing with a girl he wanted. He shouted, "Come on outside you ___ __ _ _____ and I'll show you how a hog eats cabbage!" Merrit Davison also took up a homestead in the Valley. For a time, he lived in a small cabin that had belonged to a man named Mark Hauser. This cabin burned down and Merrit bought a small trailer house. He once said to some neighbors, who stopped in that his trailer was so small, "when I cuss the cats, I get hair in my mouth!" Another time he had the wash tub in the middle of the floor and was taking a bath. A knock came on the door and Merrit called, "Come in," have no idea who it was. When the man opened the door and entered there was Merrit naked as jay bird sitting in the tub. He said, "I'm having a canary bird flutter, ha, ha." Merrit raised goats and milked them. After his death they went wild and scattered to the hills. William N. Davison lived out his life in Boulder, a lonely man and a loner, you might say. He was a good gardener. He raised herbs of various kinds and mixed them into medicinal potions. He also raised many beautiful flowers. All of this was not an easy task for he had lost a hand earlier in his life from cancer. SUBMITTED BY MR. AND MRS. GEORGE DAWSON