1896- Deposition of Adam Brevard Davidson

The following is a copy of the testimony provided by Adam Brevard Davidson concerning his grandfather’s involvement in the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence.

 Daily Charlotte Observer 8/16/1896

See a scan of the original article.

Written for the Observer. The recent death of the late Adam Brevard Davidson, of this city, was the passing of one of the last links which connected the present generation with the Revolutionary fathers. The grandfather of Mr. Davidson was a major of the Mecklenburg Militia of the Revolution, being appointed "second major" on Saturday, September 9th, 1775, by the Provincial Congress, which met at Hillsboro, N. C. (VideColonial Records, N. C., Page 206, Vol. X)

  Subsequently it was discovered that there was a number of Tories in the various regiments, who were soon dropped from the rolls. Some of them were in the Mecklenburg regiment and at the Provincial Congress held at Halifax, N. C., on 22nd April, 1776. John Davidson was made first major of the Mecklenburg Militia. (Colonial Records, N. C., Vol. X, page 531.)

  In order to establish this evidence the following paper contains the last signature of Mr. Davidson and is of great historical value.

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA Mecklenburg County, ss Personally appeared before me in the court house of said county and State at Charlotte, North Carolina, this 8th day of June, A. D. 1896, Adam Brevard Davidson, of said county and State, who, being first duly sworn, deposes and says that he was born at Rural Hill farm in said county and State, situated on the Catawba River near Toole's ford, on the 13th day of March, A. D., 1808.  

That he, the said Adam Brevard Davidson, is one of the sons of John Davidsonn, of the said county and State, and of Sally Harper Brevard, wife of the said John Davidson. That said John Davidson, the father of this deponent, died on the 26th day of April, A. D. 1870, in the ninety third year of his age.  

That the said John Davidson, popularly known as "Silver-headed Jacky," because of a surgical operation of trephining in his head when a young man, was the second son of Major John Davidson, of said county and State, who was a major of the Mecklenburg Militia in the War of Independence, and who was one of the signers of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, and who signed that document in the court house at Charlotte in said county and State on May the twentieth, seventeen hundred and seventy-five (1775) A. D.  

That the said Major John Davidson was the grandfather of this deponent whom this deponent knew personally and intimately as his grandson for nearly twenty-four years.  

That the grandfather of this depnonent, the said Major John Davidson of the Revolutionary War, and who died and was buried at the family burying ground on Rural Hill farm, said county and State, Jan. 10th, 1832, in the ninety-seventh (97th) year of his age, frequently conversed with this deponent concerning the events of the War of Independence, and related to this deponent that he was a major in the War of Independence, and that he was a signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence on May  (20th) twentieth, A. D. 1775.  

That this deponent was the owner of the horse pistols of the said Major John Davidson his grandfather, aforesaid, for many years. That said pistols were given to this deponent by the said Major Davidson, who told him that he, the said Major John Davidson, had carried them in the service as major of the Mecklenburg Militia in the War of Independence. That the said pistols were destroyed by fire in the old homestead at Rural Hill from said county and State, A. D. 1886.  

That this deponent was present at the burial of his grandfather, Major John Davidson, on the tenth (10th) day of January, A. D. 1832, and that his remains are to this day in the family burying ground on said Rural Hill farm, said county and State, over which is a marble slab containing the name of Major John Davidson aforesaid with the date of his death.  

That my mother was Sally Harper Brevard, who died on the 18th day of January, A. D. 1864; that she was a daughter of Adam Brevard, of said county and State, who was the brother of Dr. Ephraim Brevard, whom my grandfather informed me in his lifetime was the author of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence promulgated at Charlotte, said county and State, A. D. 1775, on May 20th of said year.  

[Signed]   A. B. DAVIDSON  

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 8th day of June, A. D. 1896, by Adam Brevard Davidson, who is personally known to me to be the deponent in the above affidavit.  

[Signed]   J. M. MORROW  

Clerk Superior Court, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. (Seal.)