Jackson County GaArchives Photo tombstone.....Williamson, John Sr. & Micajah
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Larry Knowles http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00012.html#0002854 August 24, 2004, 11:51 am

Source: Williamson - Knowles Cemetery, Conyers, GA
Photo can be seen at:
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/jackson/photos/tombstones/williamsonknowle/gph907williams.jpg
Image file size: 115.3 Kb

Williamson Cemeteries-Butts & Jackson Co. GA

This composite photo shows the tombstones of Revolutionary Soldier, John 
Williamson Sr., and one of his many grandsons, Micajah Williamson of Jackson 
Co. John Williamson was born in Ireland c.1740. He came to America as an infant 
or small child. In Virginia he married an Irish widow-Margaret(Lesley)Mitchell, 
who had come to America with a son-James, supposedly leaving two other children 
in Ireland. After the war, John claimed bounty land in Wilkes Co. Georgia. A 
weaver and dyer by trade, he purchased 1150 acres in Franklin Co. in 1792. This 
parcel was taken into newly formed Jackson Co. in 1796. John Williamson 
evidently moved to Jackson Co. shortly thereafter. With a trade, good land, and 
a growing number of slaves, the family became relatively prosperous. John, or 
his son John Jr., built a small mill along Curry("Little"?)Creek. In August 
1804 John Sr. deeded that 350 acre property to John Jr., who had married Winney 
Camp(c.1803). That marriage proved quite industrious, and fruitful, producing 
17 children over a nearly thirty year span. Sixteen children reached adulthood-
and are named in John Jr.'s. will. "Mike" was their third son. Sickly as a 
child, he later managed the Williamson "plantation", while his father ran the 
mill. In February 1849, John Jr. completed a "fine new mill", and when he died 
in October, had nearly forty slaves. His will was quickly contested. The case 
pitted Mike and widow Winney(and the younger children)against the older 
children, who had previously received benefits from their father. The will was 
set aside in Jackson Co. in August 1853, and the decision was upheld in the 
Georgia Supreme Court in October. But, the legal wrangling continued for seven 
or eight more years!

In the early 1800s, grandfather John Sr.(initially in a dispute about weaving)
had become estranged from his wife, Peggy(Margaret). He admitted to being 
a "fractious man". Peggy soon moved into the household of her bachelor son, 
William. Between 1821 & 1825, John Sr. began distributing the remaining land 
and slaves to his children. About 1826 he moved to Butts Co. to land he had won 
in the 1821 Land Lottery(#250/8D.-origianlly in Henry Co.). He soon purchased 
two adjacent parcels. On the 1830 Butts Co. census he was listed, age 80-90, 
with eight or nine slaves. In late 1830 or early 1831, grandson Nathan C. 
Williamson(Mike's oldest brother-John Jr.'s first-born)moved to Butts Co. His 
grandfather died in October 1831. His will named Nathan as coexecutor with John 
Jr. Nathan inherited 600+ acres and three slaves; his father, who came to Butts 
Co. to retreive stock & slaves, received everything else(his named siblings got 
$1 each)!

The left photo was made in the early 1990s at the Williamson-Knowles cemetery 
in Butts Co. It is located on the original Lottery parcel. The tombstone was 
erected by the DAR(date unknown). The gravesite was identified by my great 
grandfather, Oscar B. Knowles, whose mother, Lavonia Catherine(Williamson)
Knowles was Nathan C. Williamson's daughter(wife of James B. Knowles). Ruins of 
Nathan's log house remained nearby until the early 1960s. The second photo was 
made about 1999. Harry E. Alexander-late, of Ellenwood GA is shown beside the 
grave of "Micager"(spelling on stone). Harry assisted in clearing trees and 
brush in our several cemetery visits.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/jackson/photos/tombstones/williamsonknowle/gph907williams.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/

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