Lawson Hugh Black (1838 - 1865)

Born 23 Oct 1838 in Lincoln, North Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 15 Apr 1865 at age 26 in Gaston, North Carolina, United States

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Biography

Lawson was born in 1838 in Lincoln County, North Carolina. He was the son of Samuel Black and Ann Carpenter^[1]

He moved to Texas sometime in the late 1850s, and in 1860 was living in Rusk, Texas with the Andrews family, possibly working as a farmhand.^[2]

In November of 1860 he married Susan Andrews, the oldest Andrews daughter.^[3]

On March 15 1862 he enlisted as a corporal in Company D, 14th Texas Infantry. In the muster rolls he is listed as sick in Monroe, Louisiana from May through September 1863, and was furloughed back home to Rusk, Texas in Jan 1864. The regimental rolls list him as "died of disease" on 15 April, 1865 in Rusk, so it appears he never returned to duty.^[4]

Lawson and Susan had at least one son who was listed in his grandfather's probate: Lawson Hugh "Dock" Black, Jr.^[5] Dock was born in 1862 in Texas but lived most of his life in Gaston County.

There's a marker for Lawson in the Black family cemetery, noting his service in the Texas Infantry. It's unknown if he was actually buried there.^[6]

Research Notes

After Lawson's death it appears Susan moved to North Carolina and lived next door to Samuel Black, Lawson's father. She can be found with three children next to Samuel in the 1870 census: Susan age 27, Lawson age 6, Margaret age 4, and James age 3.^[7]

If those ages were correct the younger two are likely too young to have been Lawson Sr's children. Additionally they weren't listed in as Samuel's grandchildren in his 1882 probate. On the other hand, census takers were notoriously inaccurate especially with ages. It's possible they had died or even moved away before the probate was filed.

Sources

1. ↑ "US Census, 1850,” database with images, FamilySearch; Gaston, North Carolina, USA; pg. 444B, family 79, dwelling 795, lines 1-8, 2 November 1850; National Archives Microfilm M432, Roll 630.
2. ↑ "US Census, 1860,” database with images, FamilySearch; Beat 11, Rusk, Texas, USA; pg. 103, family 678, dwelling 660, lines 1-9, 11 July 1860; National Archives Microfilm M653, Roll 1304.
3. ↑ "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977," database, FamilySearch, Lawson H. Black and Susan Andrews, 16 Nov 1860; citing Rusk, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 1,020,943.
4. ↑ "Texas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865," database, FamilySearch, L H Black, 1862; from "Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Texas," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : n.d.); citing military unit Fourteenth (Clark's) Infantry, NARA microfilm publication M323 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1961), roll 372.
5. ↑ Samuel Simpson Black, loose estate papers, Gaston County Estate Papers, Box B, North Carolina Department of Archives and History, Raleigh.
6. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #12242708 retrieved 17 September 2017
7. ↑ "US Census, 1870,” database with images, FamilySearch; Cherryville Twp, Gaston, North Carolina, USA; pg. 12, family 84, dwelling 84, lines 11-14, 11 November 1870; National Archives Microfilm M593, Roll 1138.