Lewis County, West Virginia Biography of ED G. DAVISSON This biography was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 490 Lewis ED G. DAVISSON is one of the leaders in finance and busi- ness affairs in West Virginia, is president of the National Exchange Bank of Weston, and in former years was a wholesale merchant. The power he wields in business is supplemented by an intelligent and public-spirited attitude toward all the best interests of his home community and state. Mr. Davisson was born at Jacksonville, Lewis County, West Virginia, November 19, 1867, son of Capt. George I. and Elizabeth (Morrow) Davisson. His father was born at Clarksburg, August 30, 1842. The Davissons have for several generations been prominent in official and business affairs of the state. His grandfather, Granville G. Davis- son, was clerk of the Harrison County Circuit Court from 1836 to 1850. Capt. George I. Davisson was reared in Clarksburg to the age of sixteen, then removed to Weston, where he continued his education in a private school. At the beginning of the Civil war he enlisted in the Confederate army, in the Twenty-sixth Virginia Cavalry, and served until captured. The last eighteen months of the war he was a prisoner at Camp Chase, Ohio. After the war he became a merchant and farmer, and owned about 600 acres of land in Lewis County. He represented the county two terms in the Legislature, and was one of the influential democrats of the state. He and his wife were members of the Episcopal Church. They had eight children, four of whom are living: Ed G.; Lelah, wife of R. B. Phillips, of Clarksburg; Flora, who is married and living in California; Mary, wife of F. H. Clater, of Pittsburgh. Ed G. Davisson grew up on a farm, attended the country schools and as a boy began learning business as clerk in his father's store. This was a general store, and he learned all the details of country merchandising. At the age of twenty-one he engaged in the hardware business, as a mem- ber of the firm Williams & Davisson, at Weston, and sub- sequently removed to Clarksburg, where he was active in the wholesale hardware business until-he sold his interests in 1902. Mr. Davisson became cashier of the National Exchange Bank of Weston in 1895, and has rounded out more than a quarter of a century of faithful service to that institution, now one of the strongest banks in the state. From cashier he was promoted to vice president, and since 1904 has been president. The officers of the bank are E. G. Davisson, president; R. H. Harrison, vice president; J. W. Ross, cashier; J. B. Mitchell, assistant cashier; while the directors are E. G. Davisson, R. H. Harrison, J. W. Ross, George A. Hatzel, John Riley, Ira S. Hardman, Walter A. Edwards. The bank still keeps its capital at $60,000 but it has an earned surplus of $140,000, undivided profits of $80,000, while its total resources aggregate $2,000,000. Mr. Davisson is also president of the public utilities at Weston supplying water, light and ice. He owns thirteen acres of farming land in Lewis County. He has been a vestryman of the Episcopal Church since 1894 and is a democrat in politics. In Masonry he is a past master of Weston Lodge No. 10, A. F. and A. M., a member of Bigelow Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., St. Johns Commandery No. 8, K. T., and Osiris Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Wheeling. He served two years as district grand master of the Grand Lodge. Mr. Davisson married Miss Anna Harrison, daughter of M. W. Harrison and member of one of the prominent families of the state. They have eight children: Emma, wife of T. J. Blair, Jr.; Elizabeth, wife of Ira S. Hard- man ; George I., who graduated from the Shenandoah Academy and from the law department of the University of Virginia; Edwin, Jr., a graduate of the Weston High School and now in the West Virginia University; Dianna, a graduate of Weston High School; Fannie, also a high school graduate; Mary W., attending high school; and John G., in grammar school.