Peter Davidson
Peter Davidson, of Butler township, who is in his 88th. year, is one of the pioneers of the county. This biographical sketch is given in his own words: I came from Scotland to New York in the year 1836, landing the 10th. day of August. I came then to Ashland County, known then as Huron County. Ashland County was laid off in about nine years after I was there. I remember quite well the time Loudonville and Ashland had as to which would get the county seat, but Ashland was the victorious town. Every person seemed to rejoice for miles around and in Ashland ringing of bells and shooting of guns, etc. In 1837, I was married to Margaret Beaty and lived in Ruggles Township, Ashland County. I have had to go through quite a number of hardships during my career in life. When we were first married I have had to go as far as 45 miles to the city of Akron to get a grist of flour. The home mills were run by water then but owing to drought we were compelled to go to the above place. We would drive mostly with oxen and some had horses. I remember one night when I came from Huron with a load of wheat on my way to Milan where all hauled their wheat at that time, I stopped at Ruggles Corners. There were two hotels and there I counted 100 teams all headed for Milan with wheat. The price of wheat then was just like it is at the present time. It would rise and fall from 54 cents up to $2 per bushel. I will never forget the time I walked to Savannah, a distance of four miles, through the mud and carried butter and eggs and I got five cents a pound for butter and three cents a dozen for eggs. Coffee was worth a shilling a pound and sugar was mostly maple sugar. I remember of a man close by that made 1,000 pounds one spring. When I first came to this country there were but one buggy and two ox wagons in the entire county. Three years after I was in this country I made application for my papers of citizenship, then in two years proving myself a moral citizen, I got my papers at Norwalk. I voted with the Free Soil party, making the 12th. person for the party in the township. I always made it a rule not to vote for party alone but to vote for principle. The first president I voted for was James Birney, the Abolition candidate, who was defeated. I have voted every year since that time both for township, state and United States with the exception of two elections. It was sickness that kept me away. The Free Soil and Whig parties joined together and formed the Republican party, to which party I have given my vote ever since. During the late war, I was township trustee for two years. Up in this section of country in early days wild animals were not so numerous as they were in other parts of the country. I remember of seeing some deer and quite a number of Indians who were hunting and trapping, but we had no trouble with them. I have been married twice but both my companions are dead. I have five children living and two dead, three sons living in Ashland, two of them are engaged in the creamery business, the other a dealer in oil. My other two are daughters who are living with me at home at the present time on my farm of 100 acres of land where I expect to make my home as long as I live.
From Semi-Weekly News: 26 October 1897, Vol. 13, No. 86