William “Ranger” Davidson, the founder of South Point, remains the pivotal character in history
The following is taken from the “History of South Point Village” written by Art Ferguson and published by the South Point Centennial Committee in 1988.
Keel boating in 1798 to the southern tip of the future state of Ohio was the second major move westward by William “Ranger” Davidson. He was then 51 years old. Born November 20, 1747, in Suffix County, Delaware, he was the son of Lewis and Comfort Warrington Davidson. Lewis named William after his own father and grandfather. Genealogists identify the elder William as an “Emigrant” because of his emigration from Scotland to Maryland by way of Ireland in 1649.
With the surname, William so common in Davidson history, South Point’s founder is referred to as “Ranger” because of his Revolutionary War service in Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County Militia, Continental Line, known as the “frontier rangers.” As a young man, he moved from Delaware to the Pennsylvania frontier where land holdings are recorded in his name. His second major move westward was in 1798 to South Point which was part of the Northwest Territory’s Washington County with the seat located at Marietta.
He probably took advantage of the river’s high, swift spring current to carry him to the land that he had received for military service. Statehood for Ohio was still five years away and it would be 18 years before Lawrence County would be formed with Burlington as its seat. During the latter part of those years, South Point would be part of Gallia County.
Davidson landed on the northern Ohio shore directly opposite the mouth of the Big Sandy River. He knew by his map that the Big Sandy separated the old state of Virginia from the new commonwealth of Kentucky. He could see the mouth of Catlett’s Creek flowing into Ohio just below Sandy’s mouth. It was named after a pioneer settler on the Kentucky side and a city would one-day bear Catlett’s name. As Davidson built his cabin, he retreated at night to the point between the two rivers for a better defense against any renegade Indians roaming the area.
The land Davidson claimed fronted a mile of river and stretched far back to the hills and contained giant poplar, oak, and beech trees as well as other timber valued for building a homestead. Lesser stands fringed the deep, dark glades and bordered open marshes where buffalo had shaped ponds. It was rich sandy loam and extended downstream from Fayette into Perry township, making him the first landowner in both, but the first settler in Fayette. South Point’s founder died November 16, 1811, after carving vast farmland out of the wilderness.
His home was located on the riverbank facing the old river road near the junction of today’s Second Street and Hooper Street. The old river road, which would have been First Street had the village existed at that time, has since disappeared because of erosion. It was officially abandoned as a right-of-way in 1896 and the few feet of width still atop the embankment reverted to the fronting properties.
Children by William Ranger’s first marriage to Rosanna Hutchinson were
- John
- Lewis
- Comfort
- David
- Mary
Through his second marriage to Barbara McDole, the following were born:
- Margaret
- Elizabeth
- Sarah
- Abraham
- Thomas
- William Warrington
- Jesse
- Rose
- Joseph William
- Cynthia
Margaret, Sarah, Abraham, Thomas, William Warrington, and Joseph William remained with the land around South Point, marrying into other pioneer families and producing lines of descendants that touched almost every resident of South Point until the post-World War II residential “boom” resulting from industrialization.
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