Davidson, Alexander Caldwell

26 Dec. 1826–6 Nov. 1897

Alexander Caldwell Davidson, congressman and cotton planter, was born in Mecklenburg County near Charlotte. The names of his parents do not appear to be recorded. The family moved about 1830 to Marengo County, Ala. After secondary and elementary education in the local schools, he entered the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa in 1844 at age sixteen and was graduated four years later. For several years he read law under attorneys in Mobile, but there is no record of his being admitted to the bar or of his practicing law. Instead, he acquired extensive land in Perry County, near Uniontown, Ala., and became a successful cotton planter.

Davidson's general interest in public affairs led him into a political career that occupied his major attention for a decade. He was first elected to the Alabama legislature (1880–81), then to the state senate for four years (1882–85). In 1885 he was a successful Democratic candidate for the United States Congress, where he served four years as a representative from Alabama in the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth sessions (1885–89).

Afterward he returned to Westwood, his home near Uniontown, and resumed his farming operations. He died there and was buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery of the Davidson Memorial Church, Uniontown.