Clay Township, Pike County, Indiana

   Clay Township of Pike Co., Indiana is located in the northwest corner of the county, just across the line from Washington Township, Gibson Co. where my Josiah Davisson lived in 1840.  Many of the early settlers of this township are related to the ones in Washington Twp., Gibson Co. or lived in Washington Twp. as well as Clay Twp. 

    

   Clay Twp. used to be part of Gibson Co. until 1824.  Part of it, west of Conger's Creek, used to be in White River Twp.,Gibson Co.   This is important to notice when reading old census records.  The first settlement of Pike Co. was in this Clay Twp. when this area was part of Knox Co.  There was a Davidson/Davisson settlement in Clay Twp. in the early days.  Early settlers included Jonathan, Sebastian and Levi Conger, Peter, Sebastian and Michael Frederick, Henry,James and John Hillman, Fielding, George and William Colvin, James and Thomas Lawnsdale, Andrew Knight, John and Joseph Davidson, William M. Wright, John, James and George Chambers, Joseph Shawhan, James Thornton,John Decker,Frederick Lindy, Samuel Dedman, James Oliphant, Phillip Catt, Jacob McAtee, Charles White, Robert Crow,Captain Reedy and many more.  All these people are clues to more information about my Josiah Davisson.

    

   Dr. Joseph Davidson, who lived in Washington Twp. of Gibson Co., also lived in Clay Twp. near the town of Union.   In 1816, another Joseph Davison, with wife Edith and six children, moved to Clay Twp.   This Joseph was related to the large Davisson family of Harrison Co., West Virginia; I believe his parents were Joseph Davisson and Mary Burns; his grandfather was Andrew Davisson who moved from Harrison Co., WVA to Mason Co.,Kentucky by at least 1792.  Joseph married Edith Davison, daughter of John Davison of Mason Co., Kentucky.   Joseph died in 1818 and is buried in the Hornbrook Cemetery near Union, Clay Twp.  Dr. Joseph Davidson is also buried in this same cemetery. 

    

   Another Davidson family in Clay Twp. was John Davidson, born ca 1773, and wife Mary, with a son, Joseph Davidson (b. 1798 VA), and daughter Matilda    These also came from Kentucky around 1815/16.   Joseph married Elizabeth Conger in 1824 and Matilda married Sebastian Conger in Pike Co.   I have not figured out if these Davidsons are related  to Dr. Joseph Davidson or Joseph and Edith Davison.  Joseph Davidson (b. 1798) of Clay Twp.,Pike Co. lived right among the same people as my Josiah Davisson in 1840.

    

   There were several families living in Clay Twp. that came from Kentucky, knew each other in Kentucky and probably came together about 1816.   At this time I believe that Edith and Joseph Davison along with Elizabeth (Davison) and Fielding Colvin went from Kentucky to Indiana together in 1816.  Edith's husband, Joseph, died in 1818 in Pike Co., Indiana.  Exactly when Mary Ann (Davison) and John Hillman arrived in Pike Co., Indiana is unknown to me at this time.   (See my post about Mary Davison and the Hillmans) 

  
    In 1860, my Josiah Davisson's daughter, Nancy Ann Davidson Kelly, and her family also lived in Clay Twp., Pike Co.  Her neighbors were John Hornbrook on one side and John L. Hillman on the other.  These are very common names in Clay Twp.  An older John Hillman, of Clay Twp., was married to Mary Ann Davison and they came from Mason Co., Kentucky.  When John Hillman was an older man and widower, he lived with Richard and Dorcas Colvin who lived by my Josiah Davisson in 1840 in Washington Twp.,Gibson Co.

Washington Township, Gibson County, Indiana

    First doctor of Washington Twp. in Gibson Co.,IN was Dr. Joseph Davidson/Davisson.  Washington Twp. is bounded on the south by Patoka and Center Twps.  This township was located in the northeast corner of Gibson Co. and was bordered on the northeast by Clay Township of Pike Co.   The White River was its northern border.   Washington Twp. was formed from White River Twp.,Gibson Co. in 1824.     Gibson County was once part of Knox Co. until 1813.  Next to Washington Twp. was Clay Twp. of Pike Co.   This area was once part of Gibson Co. before 1824.

   The names Davidson, Colvin, Hillman, Hornbrook, McClellan, Nixon, and Decker are found on a plat map in 1881. This is the township that my Josiah Davisson moved to before 1840.  Here his neighbors were Richard, Fieldin and Peyton J. Colvin.   Other interesting neighbors were Abraham Nixon, Samuel and Henry Decker, and James W. Lawnsdale.   Abraham Nixon married Eliza Whipps, daughter of Elizabeth Davison Whipps Colvin.   His brother, Andrew Nixon, married Ingiba Whipps, daughter of Elizabeth Davison Whipps Colvin.  James W. Lawnsdale, I believe is the son of James Lawnsdale and Mary Hillman.

  As of now, I believe Dr. Joseph Davidson, the Colvins, the Hillmans and the Lawnsdales are important clues to my Josiah Davisson.   Colvins, Hillmans, Whipps, and Lawnsdales knew each other in Kentucky and probably moved to Indiana together about 1816.  

Josiah's Marriage

     Josiah Davisson married Sarah Todd on May 11, 1819 by Robert Armstrong--(Marriage Record Volume A Page 84).   Sarah Todd was the daughter of James and Sarah Jane "Jennie" (Buchanan) Todd.  She was born about 1799 near Nashville in Davidson Co., TN.   Her father, James, was born 1749 in Ireland.  He came to Lancaster Co., PA about 1764.  It's thought that he met the Buchanan family there and followed them to South Carolina, on to Kentucky and then to the Nashville, Tennessee area in 1779.   James married Jane (or Jennie) Buchanan and all their children were born near Nashville.  Sarah was the youngest of their children being born about 1799.  The Todd family moved to Xenia, Ohio about 1805. Was Josiah Davisson a relative of Dr. Andrew W. Davisson, who married Sarah's older sister, Rebecca Todd in 1807?

Josiah and Sarah Move to Gibson County, Indiana

  Sometime between 1832 and 1840, Josiah and Sarah moved from Xenia, Ohio to Washington Township, Gibson County, Indiana.   In searching for why they moved to that particular place, I found some interesting neighbors.   They were not the only Davissons/Davisons or Davidsons in that area of Gibson County.  Is it a coincidence that Josiah's next door neighbors just happen to be connected directly or indirectly to Davisons?  In the 1840 Gibson Co. Census, one neighbor is Fieldin Colvin on one side and Peyton J. Colvin on the other.  Just above the name, Fieldin Colvin, is Richard Colvin.  Checking into these Colvins I found that Fieldin was married to Elizabeth Davison Whipps.  She was the daughter of John Davison of Mason Co., Kentucky and had married James Whipps first.   Richard Colvin married  Dorcas Hillman, niece of John Hillman from Mason Co., Kentucky.   John Hillman married  Mary Ann Davison, daughter of John Davison of Mason Co., Kentucky also.  Josiah's neighbor on the other side was Peyton J. Colvin who married Malinda M. Smith, a niece of Hannah M. Davisson Smith, daughter of Josiah Davisson of Greenup Co., Kentucky,  a former part of the old Mason Co. Ky at one time. 

   At first I thought Josiah moved to Indiana to live by relatives.  And this may be true but I also had to take into consideration the fact that other unrelated people of Greene Co., Ohio also bought land in Gibson Co., Indiana about the same time. Some of these were George Galloway, John McClelland, Hugh Watt, William Sterett and others.  Also Sarah's sister, Mary Todd Casebolt and husband, Robert, also moved to Gibson Co.and bought land in 1837 located in either Center or Columbia Twp.  

   I have yet to figure out why Josiah and Sarah moved to Gibson Co., Indiana.  Was it to live by Josiah's relatives or were they moving along with Sarah's relatives, the Casebolts, or did they join a general migration of Greene Co., Ohio people to Gibson Co., Indiana?