John Davidson was born in 1785 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. As a child, he moved with his family to Kentucky. In 1808, he married Mary West in Bracken County, and the couple later settled in Georgetown, Ohio. In 1836, Davidson relocated with his wife and children to Van Buren County. He subsequently served as a delegate to Iowa’s first Constitutional Convention in 1844, which convened in Iowa City. Later he moved to Texas, where he resided with his son Benjamin. Davidson died in 1873 in Marion County, Texas.