History of Newberry County South Carolina United States of America

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James Wood Davidson, author, was born in Newberry district, S.C., March 9, 1829; son of Alexander and Sarah Jones (Weed) Davidson, and grandson of Alexander Davidson, Sr., who was born in Scotland, moved to Ireland, married there, and then immigrated to Craven county (now Newberry county) South Carolina. He studied the languages under private tutors and was graduated at South Carolina college in 1852. He was professor of Greek in Mt. Zion college, Winnsboro, S.C., 1854-59, and principal of Columbia male academy, 1859-61. He served in the Confederate army as adjutant in Jackson's corps in the army of Northern Virginia, 1862-63. In 1865 his home in Columbia, S.C., his manuscripts ?the accumulation of ten years' labor? and his library had been burned during Sherman's march through the place. He then became a correspondent for the Columbia, Charleston and New York papers, and in his letters exposed the corruption of the reconstruction government of the state. In 1871 he removed to Washington, D.C., and in 1873 to New York city, where he engaged in literary work. He was the American correspondent of the London Standard, literary editor of the Evening Post and educational editor for a publishing house. In 1884 he was married to Mary Josephine Allen, a native of Bristol, England, and removed to Figulus, Dade county, Fla., where he engaged in the culture of tropical fruits and in literary work. He was a delegate to the state constitutional convention of 1885; represented his county in the state legislature of 1887, and removed to Washington, D.C., the same year. His published works include: Living Writers of the South (1869); School History of South Carolina (1869, new ed., 1886); The Correspondent (1886); The Poetry of the Future (1888); and The Florida of Today (1889). He also edited Lyrics and Sketches by William M. Martin (1865); and The Educational Year Book (1872). In 1899 he had in preparation A Dictionary of Southern Authors, a work on the cause of the war of secession, and a book on theology.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Newberry County South Carolina

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