The last half dozen posts covered the descendants of Rebecca Davidson Murphy, the eldest daughter of Sarah Montgomery Davidson (1824-1918), and granddaughter of Caleb Montgomery and Elizabeth Callin. At long last, we get to move on to Rebecca's brother:
II. William Montgomery Davidson (1845–1939)
William M. Davidson was born on 8 April 1845, in Rochester, Fulton County, Indiana. He was the second son of Henry and Sarah Montgomery Davidson, who came to Oregon with their family in 1845 and settled on a 320-acre homestead three miles north of Halsey. Mr. Davidson attended the Halsey public schools and during 1863-64 attended the Christian college at Monmouth. In 1865 he went to eastern Oregon where he engaged in stock-raising. The following year he returned to Linn County where he resided for the rest of his life.In 1867 he bought a place two and one-half miles east of Harrisburg, and on 2 June of that year, he married Sarah Rosetta "Rose" Morris (1848–1928). Rose was born on 24 October 1848 in Moniteau County, Missouri, to George Jackson Morris (1818–1896) and Eliza Ann Cook (1825–1903). (Records suggest her full name might have been "Elizanna Matilda Cook".) The Morris family were also pioneers and crossed the plains in 1853.
Rose and William had the following seven children:
A. Clara M Davidson (1868–1950)
B. Henry Bruce Davidson (1870–1953)
C. Laura Elsie Davidson (1872–1913)
D. John Halbert Davidson (1877–1953)
E. Iva E. Davidson (1879–1881)
F. Oral Everett Davidson (1883–1955)
G. Lydia D Davidson (1886–1975)
(We have time to talk about Clara's family today, and the rest will follow in the coming weeks.)
The Davidsons lived on the farm until 1874 when they sold it and bought a home 5 miles east of Harrisburg. They lived there until 1907 when Mr. Davidson retired from farm work and moved to Brownsville. Rose died in Brownsville on 17 February 1928 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon. Soon after, William made his home in Albany with his daughter, Mrs. Clara McCoy. He died there on 26 May 1939 and was buried with his wife.
They were survived by five of their children, 17 grandchildren, and 11 great-grandchildren.
A. Clara M Davidson (1868–1950) was born in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon, on 16 June 1868. She married Clyde McCoy (1869–1942) in Harrisburg in 1888. Clyde was born on 7 February 1869 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon, to William McCoy (1817–1900) and Margaret Ann Downey (1849–1931).
Clyde was a businessman who ran a drug store and was a part-owner of a building in downtown Halsey but lost a great deal in a fire that destroyed several businesses in January of 1895. After that, he is listed as a laborer, farmer, and salesman when his occupation is listed.
Clara and Clyde had three children together over the 12 years they were married, but they divorced in 1900. He moved to Portland after that, and he died there on 21 October 1942.
Clara lived in Albany for 34 years but in 1948 she moved back to Corvallis. She had also lived at Harrisburg, Halsey, Brownsville, Salem, in Crook county, in Seattle and in Washington, D.C. according to her obituary. After she suffered a hip fracture, she lived with her daughter, Gertrude Brown, in Corvallis. She died there on 26 October 1950 at the age of 82 and was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg.
1. Lilla Orlean McCoy (1889–1969) was born on 4 September 1889 in Linn County, Oregon, and lived all her life there. She never married, but for several years she operated the first Brownsville telephone exchange with her mother. She also was a legal secretary, working for the Linn County Court and Tripp and Tripp Realtors. Lilla died on 11 July 1969 at the Albany Linn Nursing Home after a brief illness and was buried in Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County.
2. Gertrude Doris McCoy (1891–1983) was born on 28 August 1891 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. On 11 August 1915, she married Lyn Arthur Brown (1891–1956) in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. He was born on 20 September 1891 in Carthage, Miner County, South Dakota, the son of Fred Martell Brown (1867–1938) and Lilian R Prescott (1870–1952). The Brown family moved to Oregon at the turn of the century, and Lyn grew up in Brownsville.
Lyn and Gertrude had two children and raised them in Corvallis. Lyn worked as superintendent of a cannery, and the couple was active in the local community. Lyn died on 6 August 1956 while visiting their daughter, Bette, in Roseburg. He was buried in the Masonic Cemetery in Harrisburg, Linn County. Gertrude died at the Corvallis Manor nursing home on 7 March 1983 and was buried with her husband.
They were survived by their son, daughter, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.
a. Bette Ann Brown (1917–2012) was born on 24 February 1917 in Brownsville, Linn County, Oregon. She attended Albany College and graduated from Oregon State College in 1939.
On 14 June 1941, she married Wallace Russell Wright (1918–1967), who was born in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon, on 15 January 1918. Wallace was the son of Alexander Lincoln Wright (1888–1960) and Odis Effie Wise (1890–1918), but his mother died when he was 8 months old, and her sister and brother-in-law, Ailey E Wise (1888–1959) and Albert Cleveland Cochell (1884–1946), took him in and raised him.
Wallace worked in the woolen mills while taking an extension study from the University of Oregon, later attending the Oregon College of Education. Bette taught in Independence and Central Point before settling in Roseburg. They raised a son and a daughter together. She and Wallace moved to Garden Valley in 1954. He died there on 28 July 1967. She later married Dick Scarborough.
Bette taught biology and physical education at Sutherlin High School until she retired in 1979. Dick died on 18 August 2009 and was buried in Roseburg National Cemetery in Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon. Bette moved to Clearwater Springs in Vancouver, Washington in 2009, where she died on 7 November 2012. She is also buried in Roseburg National Cemetery.
Bette was survived by her son, daughter, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
b. Lyn Arthur Brown Jr (1920–2005) was born on 13 July 1920 in Corvallis, Benton County, Oregon. On 12 August 1942, he married Dorothy Ann Winter (1921–1987), daughter of Raymond Robert Robinson (1899–1983) and Vera Catherine Gantz (1902–2003) (Her biological father was Raymond Herbert Winter (b. 1899); records don't suggest whether he and Vera divorced or if he died.)
Dorothy was born on 3 January 1921 in Portland and moved to the Corvallis-Philomath area as a child. She was the secretary for the Corvallis School District for many years, retiring in 1984.
Dorothy died on 5 July 1987 in Philomath, Benton County, Oregon. Lyn died on 3 Jun 2005 in Corvallis. They were survived by two daughters and a son.
3. Charles William Henry McCoy (1894–1970) was born on 2 October 1894 in Halsey, Linn County, Oregon. His parents divorced when he was about six years old, but Charles and his siblings grew up living near his mother's family, appearing in the 1900 Census in his grandparents' household in North Harrisburg, and living with his mother and sisters next door to the Pugh family (his mother's sister and brother-in-law) in Brownsville in 1910. During World War I, he served with the Marine Corps as an instructor of the machine gun, rifle, and pistol.
Charles married his first wife, Violet L Stellmacher (1904–1994) on 24 August 1920 in Linn County, Oregon. She was a daughter of Alfred Conrad Stellmacher (1861–1941) and Ida Louisa Spink (1869–1953), born in Oregon on 24 June 1904. The couple had a son and a daughter in Albany before they divorced.
By 1930, Violet had remarried and was living in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, with her daughter and new husband, Tom Tomson Leal (1905–1976). Violet and Tom had a son and daughter together and raised their family in Los Angeles. Violet died on 17 October 1994 in Placer County, California, where she had lived with her third husband, John A. "Jack" Doyle Jr. (1911–1992).
Charles married his second wife Guinevere L Kerns (1907–1954) on 29 May 1931 in Josephine County, Oregon. She was born on 17 October 1907 in Oregon to John Wesley Kerns (1868–1951) and Jennie Houck (1885–1978). They also had a son and daughter together whom they raised in Medford.
Guinivere died on 30 September 1954 in Rogue River, Jackson County, Oregon, and was buried there in Woodville Cemetery. Charles died on 17 March 1970 in Rogue River and was buried with Guinivere. He was survived by all four of his children and eleven grandchildren.
Two of his children are still living.
a. Alfred Lee McCoy (1922–2006) was born in Albany on 4 February 1922. When his parents divorced, he went to live in Calapooia, Linn County, Oregon, with his maternal grandparents, Alfred and Ida Stellmacher, where he appeared on the 1930 Census. He graduated from Albany High School in 1941 and briefly attended Oregon State University.
Lee joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 during World War II and served in the Pacific Theater as an electrician's mate. He also served in the Korean Conflict in 1950. Upon his discharge from the Navy, he married Patricia Gertrude Richey (1924–1995) in 1945 in San Francisco. She was born on 24 June 1924 in Washington, District of Columbia, to Thomas Beall Richey (1895–1953) and Winifred Mary Benbow (1893–1951).
Patricia's family moved to San Francisco from Washington, D.C. when she was two years old. She graduated from George Washington High School there in 1942, and after high school, she worked for Graybar Electric, at a detective agency and at an insurance company in San Francisco. Lee worked as an electrician in Los Angeles before moving back to Oregon in the late 1940s. About 1946 they moved to Albany, where Lee worked for Pacific Power & Light and Patricia worked for a title company and for Dr. Wade. In 1952 Lee transferred to the Linn County Telephone Company in Lebanon (currently CenturyTel) and worked as a construction superintendent for many years. Later, he became a safety engineer until his retirement in 1986.
Patricia died in Lebanon on 6 November 1995. Lee was later married to his old high school sweetheart, and they lived in Albany, where Lee died on 1 December 2006. Patricia and Lee are survived by their son and daughter, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
b. Margery Ann McCoy Holly (1924–2004) was born on 14 August 1924 in Medford, Jackson County, Oregon. She was married in 1948, and they lived in the Los Angeles area for many years before moving to Palm Springs.
Margery was vice president of Palm Springs Camera and Sound, Inc. for 12 years. Her paintings were featured at a one-woman show and received numerous awards from the Indio Date Festival and other venues. Her civic involvement included serving two terms on the Palm Springs City Art Commission, president of the Desert Art Center, chairperson of the Auditorium Project, a docent at Palm Springs Desert Museum and a volunteer at Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
Margery died on 28 February 2004 in Palm Springs, Riverside County, California. She is survived by her husband, daughter, son, and five grandchildren.
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As always, if you've found one or more of your relatives mentioned in this blog, please get in touch. You can comment below (anonymous comments are usually not as helpful), or email "mightieracorns" at Gmail.com.
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Until next time... Happy Hunting!
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