[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

DAVISON, James, Jr [ca1848-1919[

The Occidental Mill

1909

watercolor on card stock / 5.5 inches by 3.5 inches

The historic Occidental Mill ground Agincourt’s flour from 1860 well into the 1930s, and marketed the “Occidental” brand within a fifty mile radius. The mill was owned and operated by James and Kesiah Davison, early immigrants from Pennsylvania, and later with assistance from their sons Hiram, Isaac, and James Jr. When the mill ceased operation, it fell into picturesque disrepair until acquired and restored by the Fennimore Co. Historical Society and merged with the society’s other historic property, the adjacent Vakkerdal Farm and Creamery. Sixty-year-old James Davison Jr painted his family’s legacy in 1909, probably from the Milwaukee Road railroad bridge—although it seems more recollection than record.

This watercolor and its delightful Neo-Classical frame were acquired from the James Davison III family now living at Plattsmouth, Nebraska.