The subject of this sketch, William Davidson, is the eldest of E.C. Davidson's family. He was one of the first white children born in the Solomon valley and is loyal to the place of his nativity. He was born June 3, 1871, on the old homestead, where he grew to manhood. He was educated in district No. 58. He farmed with his father until 1897, when he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land known as the Cal Lawrence homestead.

Mr. Davidson remembers when the Solomon valley was one vast prairie covered with the big stem blue grass and when there were neither fences nor trees. Born in a dugout, he grew up with the prosperity of his native state. He also recalls "hiding out" from the savages, who fortunately turned out to be emigrants in search of homes in the far West.

"Wid," as he is called, is a big hearted fellow who never seems to get tired and is a hustler without limit; another one of those typical hale-fellow-well-met western men, whose hospitality is proverbial. He owns one of the good farms of the Solomon valley, adjoining his father's land, which is rapidly undergoing improvement. Their residence is a neat cottage home.

His family consists of a wife and two bright little children, a daughter and a son, Vera, aged five, and Bryan R. aged three. Mrs. Davidson was Arvilla Williamson, a daughter of Enoch Williamson, (see sketch.) She is a women of refined tastes and matron over the domestic affairs of the farm. They were married in 1892.

Mr. Davidson has just finished a large and substantial barn which, standing as it does on a prominence of ground, can be seen for miles around the country. It is a basement bank barn fifty-four by thirty-six feet in dimensions. In seeking for water Mr. Davidson met with rather a strange phenomenon, He bored down seventy-five feet and struck a vein of strong salt water. A few feet to the west of this he bored down with a common post auger and struck water at the depth of eighteen feet, which is of a fine quality and quantity, supplying water sufficient for all his stock.

He keeps about twenty-five head of cattle and raises hogs, but his chief industry is wheat growing. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member of the I.O.O.F. and A.O.U.W. lodges at Glasco.