Wood County, West Virginia Biography of William J. DAVIDSON, M. D. ************************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: Material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor. Submitted by Pat C. Johns ************************************************************************** The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923. The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York. Volume II Pg. 475-476 WILLIAM J. DAVIDSON, M. D. West Virginia lost one of its ablest surgeons in the death of William J. Davidson of Parkersburg. Highly skilled in that branch of his profession, Dr. Davidson used his talents for the benefit of humanity. His was a professional career singularly dedicated to service. While he was the last of this branch of the family, there were hundreds and perhaps thousands who mourned his untimely death as a personal and irreparable loss. His father, Curtis Davidson, was born in Taylor County, West Virginia, in 1837, and spent his entire life there, dying in 1904, at the age of sixty-seven. Against adverse conditions he achieved honor and success, growing up on his father's farm, acquiring a common school education, and as a young man teaching in district school. In a community where partisanship divided neighbors and relatives against each other, at the time of the war he espoused the Union cause and became a private in Company C of the Third Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He rose to the rank of lieutenant and was a captain when the war closed. He was in some of the great battles and campaigns of the struggle. After the war he resumed farming in Taylor County. He married Abbie Fleming, daughter of Maj. J. C. Fleming. Their three children were: William J.; John N., who died June 13, 1899; and Lucy, who died in infancy. William J. Davidson was born on the home farm in Flemington May 29, 1867. He attended the public schools and West Virginia College at Flemington. He had the routine of a farm experience, and left the farm to form a partnership with his cousin, J. W. Davidson, the firm W. J. and J. W. Davidson conducting a mercantile establishment at Webster in Taylor County. Two years later their stock was removed to Flemington and consolidated with another business, subsequently conducted as H. P. Davidson & Company. William J. Davidson after about a year of experience as a merchant determined to prepare himself for a medical career, and at the age of twenty-two entered Louisville Medical College, graduating three years later. He also attended the Atlanta Medical College and for two years was in the New York Polyclinic, the greater part of that time being house surgeon of the Polyclinic Hospital. For a year he was special assistant to Dr. John F. Wyeth, founder and president of the New York Polyclinic Hospital. In 1898 Doctor Davidson began his professional work at Parkersburg, and some five years later went abroad and supplemented his personal skill and experience in surgery by attending instruction and clinics conducted by famous English surgeons of London, and also traveled widely over the Continent. Doctor Davidson was chief surgeon of St. Joseph's Hospital at Parkersburg, and few surgeons had such uniform success in their practice. He was a member of the American Medical Association, the County and State Medical societies, and Governor Hatfield appointed him a member of the Public Health Council of the state, in which department he served from April 1, 1913, to June 30, 1917. Governor E. F. Morgan again appointed him for a term of four years, beginning July 1, 1921. Governor Cornwall made him a member of "the court of last resort," whose chief function was to determine questions affecting men in the draft during the World war. Doctor Davidson was a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a member of Nemesis Temple of the Mystic Shrine, but social organizations and activities could count on only a nominal participation from a man so thoroughly devoted to his professional work. He was unmarried. Perhaps the one hobby he indulged was the collection of weapons, ancient and modern, from all lands and he spent much time and money in accumulating an arsenal said to be the finest collection of the kind in West Virginia. Doctor Davidson was in the full tide of his working strength and efficiency when, following a visit to his old home in Taylor County and what he regarded as an insignificant bruise on a finger, blood poison set in, and in spite of all specialists could do he died in Parkersburg July 13, 1921. His was a life that touched and benefited the entire community, and for that reason it thoroughly deserved the praise and tribute bestowed in the words of the following editorial taken from the Parkersburg News: "Big of heart, big of body, big of brain, benevolent and beloved, possessing that rarest of all gifts, personality, Dr. William Johnston Davidson, one of the princes of the earth, an idol of the people of Parkersburg and for miles around on both sides of the Ohio River, has passed on to that 'bourne from which no traveler returneth,' and is his passing this city and the profession of which he was an honored member sustains a loss that will be lasting through all time. "Not only will residents in the upper walks of life miss Dr. Davidson because of his association, but the loss will be particularly heavy on those in the lower classes, to whom he ministered in his profession. None were too lowly for him to attend, and his deeds of benevolence and goodness, of which few knew, run into thousands of cases in which the persons cared for owe their lives and health to his ministrations. "Doctor Davidson was an idealist with a philanthropic mind. When known he impressed his friends with having the ability to give life and pay any price to do this deed for the benefit of humanity. The impression would also be given that he was too thorough to be far wrong in any premise, and too fundamentally truthful to deceive others or himself. "No review of his splendid life will be attempted here. It would not be possible, justly, to appreciate the achievements in charitable aid to suffering humanity which this man gave. But knowledge of his good Samaritanism is embalmed in the hearts of the people of this community and will live forever."