Yolo-Solano-Lake County CA Archives Biographies.....Lawson, Perry Pinckney 1851 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com January 13, 2006, 11:12 pm Author: Tom Gregory (1913) PERRY PINCKNEY LAWSON The genealogy of the Lawson family extends back in America to the colonial period of our national history and the entire record is one of high principles expressed in patriotic loyalty to country and affectionate devotion to family and friends. For many years the name was limited to the eastern coast of the new world, but the spread of civilization led them toward the central west and eventually they became identified with the Pacific coast in a permanent citizenship. John and Elizabeth (Deering) Lawson, natives respectively of North Carolina and Virginia, lived after their marriage on a plantation in North Carolina, where their son, James Madison, was born. A desire to realize the greater opportunities offered by the valleys of the Mississippi and the Missouri led them to leave the beloved scenes of their old-time home. With their scanty possessions loaded in a "prairie schooner," they started for the frontier. The wagon was drawn by oxen and the journey necessarily was tedious, but at the expiration of the uneventful trip they settled four miles north of California, the county seat of Moniteau county, Mo., where they found conditions strictly those of the wilderness. For many years they labored in the same locality, but finally during the '70s they came to California and settled near Madison, Yolo county, where they continued to reside until death. It was never the privilege of James Madison Lawson to see the great west. While still in the prime of manhood he died on his Missouri farm in August of 1861, leaving five children, of whom only two survive. His widow, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Bailey and was born in Indiana January 8, 1828, still resides in California, Mo., where after the death of Mr. Lawson she married William H. Welch, having one daughter by that union. The oldest child of her first marriage, Perry Pinckney Lawson, was born at the old homestead near California, Moniteau county, Mo., on the last day of the year 1851. Reared on a farm, he early learned the rudiments of agriculture, and this occupation he followed until he left Missouri. March 14, 1875, he arrived at Dixon, Solano county, Cal., and from there he went to Lake county, where he was engaged in teaming for several years. A resident of Yolo county since 1880, Mr. Lawson has here found various occupations to engage his attention. First he confined himself to the raising of grain and stock and to kindred pursuits of agriculture. About 1894 he began to operate a butcher shop and during 1904 he opened a shop at Guinda. Besides his meat market he conducted a confectionery establishment. Meanwhile from January of 1907 until January of 1911 he filled the office of constable for Guinda and Rumsey townships. The county board of supervisors appointed him in August of 1911 to the position of warden of the Yolo county hospital and he began his duties on the 16th of the same month, since which time he has devoted himself to the economical and practical management of the institution. In connection with the hospital there is a farm of sixty-five acres, of which thirty-five acres are in alfalfa and vegetables. The balance is utilized for grain and for the buildings. A dairy herd is kept on the farm and milk and butter are provided for the table. Another feature of the farm is the raising of hogs. The previous experience of the manager in the raising of stock and his knowledge of the butcher and mercantile business helps him here, as does also his general farming experience, and he is filling the position with manifest judgment, intelligence and trustworthiness. A friend of his early life became the companion of his mature years when Miss Malinda Ellen Jobe, a native of Moniteau county, Mo., was there united with Mr. Lawson. She was the daughter of Bartholomew and Rebecca Jobe, the former a resident of Missouri, while the latter is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson became the parents of four children. The only son, E. Gray Lawson, is employed on the Southern Pacific Railroad and makes his headquarters at Roseville, Placer county, this state. The three daughters are as follows: Mrs. Sallie Elizabeth Curry, of Lincoln, Placer county; Mrs. Jessie Floyd Searcy, a resident of Calistoga, Napa county; and Mrs. Ella May Van Dyke, who makes her home at Lincoln. Additional Comments: Extracted from HISTORY OF YOLO COUNTY CALIFORNIA WITH Biographical Sketches OF The Leading Men and Women of the County Who Have Been Identified With Its Growth and Development From the Early Days to the Present HISTORY BY TOM GREGORY AND OTHER WELL KNOWN WRITERS ILLUSTRATED COMPLETE IN ONE VOLUME HISTORIC RECORD COMPANY LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA [1913] File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/yolo/bios/lawson341bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 5.3 Kb