The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 43

JUDGE JOHN B. DAVIDSON.

Judge John B. Davidson, serving for the second term as judge of the superior
court at Ellensburg and since 1883 a valued and representative member of the
Washington bar, was born near Rochester, Indiana, March 14, 1860, a son of
Stephen and Catharine B. (Brown) Davidson, the former a native of Ohio, while
the latter was born in Abbeville, South Carolina. The Davidson family is of
Scotch ancestry. The father was a son of Andrew Davidson, whose father came to
America from Scotland prior to the Revolutionary war, crossing the Atlantic
about 1760, when sixteen years of age, at which time he took up his abode in
Pennsylvania. Later representatives of the name became pioneer settlers of Ohio
and thus aided in advancing the trend of western civilization. The father of
judge Davidson was a farmer by occupation and removed to Indiana, where he
passed away in 1877. His wife, coming to the west, died at the home of her son,
judge Davidson, in Ellensburg in 1897.

An academic training followed Judge Davidson's completion of a public school
course and later he entered the Michigan State University at Ann Arbor. He was
also for a time a student in the Valparaiso University at Valparaiso, Indiana,
and he began reading law in Rochester, Indiana, with M. L. Essick, a leading
member of the bar at that place. Subsequently he became a law student in
Indianapolis, Indiana, and in 1883 was graduated from the Albany Law School of
New York. His training was thus thorough and comprehensive and well qualified
him for the active duties of the profession.

In the same year judge Davidson removed to the northwest, attracted by the
better opportunities which he believed he could secure in this great and
growing section of the country. He made his way to Yakima county, was admitted
to the bar the same year and then located in Ellensburg, Washington, where he
has since followed his profession. At different times he has been called upon
for public service. He filled the position of city treasurer, was also city
attorney and in 1889 was elected mayor of Ellensburg, in which connection he
gave to the city a business-like and progressive administration, characterized
by various needed reforms and improvements. In 1896 he was called upon for
judicial service, having been elected judge of the superior court, after which
he served upon the bench for four years. He then retired and resumed the private
practice of law, but in 1916 was recalled to that office and is the present
incumbent. His rulings are strictly fair and impartial, based upon the law and
the equity in the case, and his work upon the bench is characterized by a
masterful grasp of every problem presented for solution. In addition to his work
as lawyer and judge he has conducted a fine ranch which he owns.

On the 31st of March, 1886, Judge Davidson was married to Miss Jean C. Schnebly.
a daughter of D. J. and Margaret A. (Painter) Schnebly. Her father was at one
time editor of the Oregon Spectator and he afterward established the Ellensburg
Localizer in 1883 and conducted the paper successfully until his death in 1901.
To Judge and Mrs. Davidson have been born three children: Philip A. was educated
at the University of Washington and is now a resident of Seattle; Mary V. was
educated at Sweet Brier, Virginia, and also pursued a two years' course in art
at Berkeley, California, and one year in general interior decorating and
designing in New York city; she is now the wife of F. A. Kern, an attorney of
Ellensburg; Margaret A., a teacher in the State Normal School at Ellensburg, was
graduated from the University of Washington and also from the Emerson College of
Oratory at Boston, Massachusetts.

Fraternally Judge Davidson is connected with the Elks Lodge No. 1102, of which
he is a past exalted ruler. His political allegiance has always been given to
the democratic party and it has been the recognition of his public-spirited
devotion to the general good that has occasioned his being called to office at
various times. His recall to the bench is positive proof of the confidence which
the public has in his judicial fairness.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.