Born in Pennsylvania, John Davidson (1735-1832) moved with his family to Rowan County around 1750, after his father's death. Davidson became a blacksmith and arrived in Mecklenburg County about 1760. He sold grain and livestock, and along with Thomas Polk, helped establish Charlotte as the Mecklenburg County seat.

Davidson was one of 27 signers in May, 1775 of a controversial document called the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence. During the Revolutionary War years, he served as a major in the local militia, even though he was older than most of his fellow soldiers.

In 1791, after the war, he became one of several investors in a profitable iron mine. By that time, Davidson had 26 slaves and owned several thousand acres of land. He married Violet Wilson and they had 10 children. Maj. John Davidson worked until he was 90 and lived to the age of 97. Few of his personal belongings remain today; Rural Hill, the family's plantation home on the Catawba River, burned in 1886.