Davidson. I Lucretia Maria, an American poetess, born at Plattsburgh, N. Y., Sept. 27, 1808, died Aug. 27, 1825. She wrote verses at four years of age, having learned in secrecy to copy the letters from printed books. The earliest of her productions which are preserved were written when she was nine years old. At 16 she was sent to school in Troy, where her application soon undermined her health; but she was allowed to continue her studies, even when under medical treatment. This induced a hectic consumption, which soon proved fatal. A great part of her compositions were destroyed, but 278 pieces remain, some of which were published in 1829, under the title of "Amir Khan and other Poems," with a memoir by Mr. S. F. B. Morse, afterward republished with a life by Miss Sedgwick. A new edition of her poems, with illustrations by Darley, edited by her brother, M. 0. Davidson, was published in New York in 1871. II. Margaret Miller, sister of the preceding, born March 26, 1823, died Nov. 25, 1838. She had the same sensibility and precocity, and began to write at six years of age.

At ten she wrote and acted in a passionate drama in society at New York. Her poems were introduced to the world under the auspices of Washington Irving, and the works of the sisters were published together in 1850.