James Wood Davidson

Background

James Wood Davidson was born on March 9, 1829 in Newberry County, South Carolina, United States. He was the son of Alexander and Sarah Davidson.

Education

Davidson's parents were in hard circumstances, but he early developed such a regard for education that he determined to pursue it even though he knew it would be necessary for him to work his way through college. He graduated from the South Carolina College in 1852.

Career

Davidson taught Greek in one village or another, in Winnsboro for five years, till 1859, when he went to teach in Columbia.

During the Civil War he was adjutant of the 13th Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, serving in Virginia with the army corps of Stonewall Jackson. After the war he returned to teach in Columbia and to work as a graduate student at his alma mater.

As late as 1868 he was still so impoverished that he was wearing his old army uniforms.

Later he worked with newspapers, first for two years in Washington and afterward for ten years in New York, where he was on the staff of the Evening Post.

In 1869 he published A School History of South Carolina and Living Writers of the South. In the former, while clearly holding orthodox Southern views, he succeeded admirably in the desire expressed in the preface, to be “as little as possible tinged with sectional feelings. ” The Living Writers is made up of specimen pieces from many Southern writers, accompanied by biographical and critical notices. It has been justly characterized as “incondite and curious, but interesting” (Wauchope, post), and it is certain that it is highly informative about important matters not to be learned of elsewhere.

In 1884 he moved from New York to a home near Lake Worth, Florida. In 1886 he was a member of the Florida constitutional convention, and in 1887 he was in the state legislature. In 1886 he published The Correspondent, a handbook for persons wishing to write conventional letters. Soon after this, he went to live in Washington where for a long time he was a clerk in the Treasury Department. In 1886 he was a member of the Florida constitutional convention.

Learned without being pedantic, it exhibits remarkable perspicacity in its maintenance of rhythm as perhaps the only technical requirement of verse. His Florida of Today, the handbook of a sincere enthusiast, appeared in 1889. From the time of his preparation of the Living Writers to the date of his death, he was engaged upon a dictionary of Southern authors which comprised at last, it is said, 4, 000 names. This has never been published. He also wrote a long but undistinguished poem, “The Bell of Doom. ”

Achievements

• Davidson's critical volume Poetry of the Future is undoubtedly his most urbane memorial.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Living Writers of the South (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Living Writers of the South The Author'...)

  • The Poetry of the Future (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Poetry of the Future This conclusion in...)

  • School history of South Carolina

    (This book was originally published prior to 1923, and rep...)

  • The Florida of To-Day; A Guide for Tourists and Settlers

    ( About the Book College Guides are books or on-line serv...)

  • The Correspondent

    (Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)

Connections

In 1884 Davidson married Josephine Allen, a widow.

Father:

Alexander Davidson

Mother:

Sarah Davidson

Wife:

Josephine Allen