Butts County GaArchives Photo document.....Libel for Divorce-Williamson, Nathan & Irena(Summerlin)Williamson March 1840
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Larry Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 October 13, 2004, 5:05 pm

Source: Butts County Superior Court Minutes-State Archives microfilm
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/butts/photos/documents/gph1205libelfor.jpg
Image file size: 81.3 Kb

To date, this notation in the March Term-1840, Butts Co. Superior Court 
Minutes, and a earlier jury trial verdict-September Term-1839, are the only 
legal records found of the divorce of Nathan C. Williamson and his first wife 
Irena(Summerlin)Williamson. Nathan had married Agness Thompson June 25, 1840, 
and many folks, me included, had simply assumed that Irena had died. Since 
Agness had apparently raised step-children Thomas J. and Winney A. Williamson, 
it was easy to believe that Irena was buried in Butts Co. at the "homeplace", 
near Nathan, in the Williamson/Knowles family cemetery. However, research into 
Nathan's father's estate in Jackson Co. GA led to these two court records, and 
many other family facts. (See the depositions of Jeese T. Gunn and George L. 
Thompson on this site; as well as other Williamson-related information, here, 
and on the Jackson Co. site)

In 1840 Irena(Summerlin)Williamson evidently was listed nearby in Henry Co., 
but by 1850 she had moved to Carroll Co. GA, to the household of Henry Summerlin
(a cousin?-whom she later married?). Her Butts Co. children remained with 
Nathan and Agness. Thomas J. Williamson married Eliza Ann Ingram Dec. 23, 1852. 
Winney(Ann?)Williamson married 1st-Thomas H. Stallsworth; then Eldridge Barlow 
(they moved to Quitman Co. GA).

Additional Comments:
We may never learn of the details which led to the divorce. However, records 
from the John Williamson Jr. estate in Jackson Co. are quite tantalizing. We 
learned that Nathan became crippled by falling in a well in Butts Co. No dates 
were given, but he returned to his father's home in Jackson Co. with his two 
children, and two small slaves(likely "Ben" & Jack" whom he had inherited from 
his grandfather, John Williamson Sr., in 1831). He remained in Jackson Co. for 
at least two years! There were questions about paying "board" in his father's 
estate records; and other records noting tuition for the children. But, there 
was no mention of Irena! Evidently, she stayed in Butts Co., with "Rachel"-the 
presumed mother of Ben & Jack.(See the John W. Moon deposition which mentions 
Nathan's crippling).

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/butts/photos/documents/gph1205libelfor.txt

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