Dr. David Dekalb Davisson

DAVISSON, DEVECMON, JENKINS

Posted By: Kent Transier (email)
Date: 1/11/2010 at 12:44:56

“History of Madison County Iowa and Its People”
Herman A. Mueller, Supervising Editor
Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1915

Dr. David DeKalb Davisson was born in Clarksburg, Virginia , August 29, 1828, and his parents were David and Maria (DeVecmon) Davisson, both natives of the Old Dominion. He was there educated in a military academy, in which one of the instructors was "Stonewall" Jackson. He later studied medicine in Baltimore, but before completing the course decided to abandon the profession, and came west, locating in Washington county, Iowa, in 1847. As there were no physicians in that locality, he was forced to begin practice. He was later a resident of Nebraska for a time and upon his return to Iowa, in 1853, settled in Winterset, where he was married and continued to reside until his death, with the exception of about a year spent in Adel, Iowa.

He continued to practice and as he was always a student and read widely on medical subjects, he kept abreast with the developments of medical science. His practice covered a large territory, as was usual in the early days, and he often rode many miles over very bad roads. He continued active until about a year before his death, which occurred December 28, 1902, when he was seventy-four years of age.

He was a man of magnificent physique, six feet and one-fourth inch tall, and weighed from one hundred and ninety to two hundred and twenty pounds. His strong constitution and great vitality enabled him to endure the hardships of pioneer life and to perform the arduous duties that devolve upon a successful physician. Fraternally he was a member of the Masonic order.

His wife, who was in her maidenhood Miss Mary Amanda Jenkins, was born in Carrollton, Ohio, and was a daughter of William Jenkins, a merchant, who in the spring of 1844 removed to the eastern part of Iowa. Subsequently he took up his residence in Mahaska county, where he entered land and became one of the pioneer farmers, but later engaged in business in Winterset, where he passed away in 1865.

Mr. Jenkins’ daughter, Mary A., was but a girl when the family came to Iowa and was at Fort Des Moines at the time when the Indians signed the treaty giving the land which is now Madison county to the government. Her girlhood experiences here were very interesting, and her reminiscences cover an important chapter in the history of the state. In 1853 she accompanied the family to Madison county and her father built the house in Winterset now owned by her son, Dr. Robert Davisson. Her brother, Wilton A. Jenkins, became colonel of the Fifth Kansas Regiment, having gone from Winterset to Kansas to enlist. After the war he located in Chicago, where he was living at the time of the great fire and where he engaged in the hotel business with good success. Mrs. Davisson passed away in 1898, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church. She was the mother of four children: Ralph, who died when young; Kate, who died at the age of fourteen years; Robert R.; and Ross, who died in infancy.
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Transcriber's note: This biography was embedded in the biography of Dr. Robert Davisson, David's son. Dr. David Davisson is such an important figure in Madison county history that we decided to extract his biography from that of his son and make it a separate entry. It has been edited slightly to provide clarifcations.

Madison Biographies maintained by Linda Griffith Smith.
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