| Notes |
- He always took great interest in studies and became probably one of the best Mathematicians in the Country. Advanced as far as possible at the old Cobb's school house and at Grafton Centre, then attended New York Normal School at Albany, NY. commenced teaching when eighteen and followed it for a great many years. When he married, he bought out the heirs to the old homestead and resided there a number of years. He then sold out to Simeon Corbin and came west. Bought land west of Minonk, IL of the Illinois Central Railroad Co., and made a nice home. Followed farming, surveying and teaching. He has been County Surveyor nearly forty years. March 25, 1902, he and his wife celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of their marriage. Takes great delight in figuring out difficult problems and does surveying in other parts of the State. (Almond Alexander Davison, brother of Daniel Harrison Davison)
(The following was copied from the Minonk, IL newspaper at the time of his death, by Elsie Arvilla Davison-Simpson.)
DATE: September 17, 1914
DEATH PICKS OUT A SHINNING TARGET
Earthly pilgrimage of Daniel Harrison Davison closes on last Sunday night.
Long an Illustrious Citizen.
Funeral Services held at Late Home at 3:30 p.m. yesterday and Burial in Minonk Cemetery.
Daniel Harrison Davison, for many years one of Minonk’s most illustrious citizens, died at his home in this city on Sunday night at 9:45 o’clock. He had lived longer than his allotted three score years and ten, the active part of his life covering that period of time. Two years ago he began to show the feebleness of age, and death was surreptitously hastened when a stroke of paralysis overcame him one day last week, which caused the aged man to sink gradually into eternal sleep of death. His age was 88 years, 3 months and 19 days.
The life history of Daniel H. Davison, is full of intense interest. As we turn over the pages which record from birth to death this man’s career, we feel that there is written something deeper, something greater than we are accustomed to read. Born at Grafton, Rensselaer County, NY, on May 25, 1826, he came of ancestry that can be traced back as far as 1611, when Nicholas Davison, was born and who, as early as 1639, came to America and landed at Charleston, Mass., as the agent of Matthew Cradock, a merchant of London, and the first nominal governor of Mass. The Davisons were closely connected with all the events of those momentious times, various members of the family taking part in the Revolutionary War and the French and Indian Wars. They lived through the Puritan days and saw witchcraft come, and saw witchcraft go.
All of the hardships of those pioneer days were met with that perseverance and that determination which implanted in the decendants the strength of character, the virility, the ambition, which resulted in success for so many of them.
Daniel H. Davison, grew to manhood in the Empire State, and while still a resident of that State, he was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Ann Bly. Mr. Davison, became the owner of the old homestead, which was owned and improved by his great grandfather, and which had been in possession of the family from that time until 1855, when it was finally sold to other parties. In the meanwhile Daniel H. Davison, turned his attention to School teaching and to topographical surveying. The latter occupation took him at different times to Maine, Massachusetts, and to Pennsylvania, and these journeys afforded him much experience and general information.
In 1857, Mr. Davison, came to Illinois and invested in 80 acres of praire land lying three miles west of Minonk, IL, for which he paid $16.00 per acre to the Illinois Central Railroad Co. The prairies at that time swarmed with wolves and at the very site where he later built his home, he waged a fierce battle with a den of the animals. From time to time Mr. Davison added to his possessions and for the evening of his life he had acquired a rich competence.
During all these years, Mr. Davison, gained an enviable reputation as a Surveyor. He was a stanch Democrat and for more than fifty years he was elected and served as County Surveyor for Woodford County. His surveying expeditions took him to many localities and to many counties in the State. He was on the commission appointed to survey Hudson Township, McLean County, and he also surveyed Milan Township, Macon County. So accurate and well-known was his knowledge on the subject that he was frequently called as a witness in contested cases of boundry lines. He also did the surveying for all of the mines in this part of the State. His various surveys, when subjected to the decision of the Court were invariably approved.
But this man of brains needed more to occupy him than this. He was also a great Mathemetician and as such he gained a nation-wide reputation, many of his problems having been published throughout the United States and Canada. He composed many problems and theorems, and wrote many articles on that subject, most of them being published in the School Visitor of Ohio, which receives contributions from many of the ablest mathematicians in the United States.
What a marvelous life to contemplate and what a rich heritage to those who come after him! A life which touched the life of every President of the United States, except that of George Washington. (Also, though he did not know it, that of President Kennedy, who was born after his Death.) John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, living at the time of his birth, both passed away on the same day, July 4, 1826. Mr. Davison saw the wonderful development of the nineteenth century, and its application to the arts of life in this great twentieth century. He has seen history made in four Wars. Has seen Presidents and Generals come and go. Railroads and telephones and telegraphs and the wireless mode of communication developed. Automobiles and flying machines perfected, and to the very last his keen intellect followed with deep interest and progress that the world was making.
Some years ago, Mr. Davison retired from the farm and with his wife, moved to this city. Mrs. Louisa Ann Bly-Davison, departed from this life about five years ago.
Common in dress, common in speach, common in every day life, almost eccentric in his commoness, Mr. Davison was a familiar figure in the city. Unostentatious at all times, his worth, like that of all men of finer clay, was but realized after it grew beyond our reach. Mr. Davison lived to be the oldest of all the generations in the history of the Davison family.
The following children survive: Mrs. Ada C. Taylor, of Minonk, IL; Joseph a. Davison of Ft. Myers, FL; Daniel Melvin Davison of Bloomington, IL; Cyrus Elmar Davison of El Campo, TX; Mrs. Minnie A. (F.W.) Wilcox of Minonk, IL; Dr. Dexter H. Davison of Bombay, India; and Orris Merton Davison of Woodrow, FL. Mary H. Davison died in childhood, and William Archer Davison, passed away in 1891. There are also twenty-two grandchildren who survive, and seven great-grandchildren, and one aged brother, Almond Alexander Davison of Manito, IL.
Short funeral services were held at the residence yesterday afternoon at 3:30, being conducted by Rev. J. Clark Oranger of the First Baptist Church. The music was furnished by a quartette composed of Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Parks, (son of Louisa Malinda Davison-Parks, daughter of Daniel P.M. Davison, and nephew and niece and their two children.), Miss Louisa and Harvey Parks.
The Rob Norris Lodge, A.F.& A.M., of which the deceased had been an honor member for many years, led the funeral procession to the Mononk Cemetery, where they conducted the impressive Masonic burial services, Louis Zinger of Pekin, officiating.
Those from out of town who came to attend the funeral were, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Hedrick, (daughter of his son Joseph,) and Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Davison, (son of Joseph,) of Polo, IL. Mrs. Hattie Webber-Davison, (wife of William Archer Davison,) and Miss Nellie Webber, (her sister,) of Rutland; Edward Wilson, Mrs. Dr. Mammen and Daniel Melvin Davison and family, (Daniel M., is son of D.H., Edward Wilson, D.M.'s brother-in-law; Mrs. Mammen, is Sarah Malinda Parks-Mammen, fifth child of Louisa Malinda Davison-Parks, a neice of Daniel H. Davison;) all came from Bloomington, IL. Cyrus Elmer of El Campo, Texas; and Orris M. Davison of Woodrow, FL, (a son). Because of the European War, all efforts to reach Dr. Dexter H. Davison, (a son) of Bombay, India were unavailing.
The family wishes to express their sincere thanks for the many kindnesses shown by their friends.
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1826 - 1914 (88 years)