John Lawson (1751 - 1838)

Born 17 Jan 1751 in Bedford, Virginia

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Lawson — married Jan 1775 in Surry (now Stokes), North Carolina, British Colonial America

Descendants

Died 4 Jan 1838 at age 86 in Albany, Clinton, Kentucky, United States

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Biography

John Lawson was born 1751 in Bedford County, VA to Lawson-471 - Bartholomew Lawson and SImpkins-162 - Susannah Simpkins, he later moved to Cumberland County, NC, and then Surry County, NC.

He married his first cousin Anna “Anny” Lawson on 29 Jan 1775 at the home of John Hart on the edge of Surry (now Stokes) County, NC. They had nine documented children in birth order as noted in his Application for Pension: Betsey, John, Joshua, Lydia, Patsey, Runnels, William, Staples, Melinda, as well as five others that came later.

John was an illiterate farmer who owned 200 acres of land in Surry County, NC on both sides of Little Peters Creek in 1788 (Land Entries 1778-1781, Grant 588). He moved with his wife to Morgan County, TN sometime before the 1830 Census [101a] to live with his wife’s family who moved from Virginia. He died 4 Jan 1838 in Morgan County, TN at the age of 86 of abdominal swelling and spitting blood (Anna Lawson, Application for a pension, 24 Dec 1838).

There is a plaque in front of the Scott County, TN courthouse in Huntsville that lists John Lawson and David Lawson among their hometown soldiers (see photo).

While living in Cumberland County, he entered the service to fight in the Revolutionary War in the fall or early part of winter as a private and substitute for David Lawson, a presumably more-wealthy cousin. His officers were Capt. Charles Gholston, Lt. Smith, Col. Buttus, and Gen. Linelton at Elizabeth Town. Me marched from Elizabeth Town to Wilmington, was at Wilmington for two months, then marched to Columbia, stayed about 15 days, then marched to Raft Swamps for a battle there and then marched to Guilford and was stationed there until the battle fought by Gen. Nathaniel Greene and Lord Cornwallis (the battle at Guilford Court House took place 15 Mar 1781). He then marched to Keillsboro for that battle, then to Crofs Creek where he was station for roughly two months. He marched to Elizabeth Town and then after Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown (19 Oct 1781) he marched to Salem where he was discharged after serving eleven months (Application for a pension, Morgan County, TN, 16 Apr 1833, http://lawsondna.org/Media/NC-Counties/Cumberland.html).

Sources

• [1] Rev War App
• United States Senate. The Pension Roll of 1835.4 vols. 1968 Reprint, with index. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1992.
• 1830; Census Place: McMinn, Tennessee; Series: M19; Roll: 178; Page: 137; Family History Library Film: 0024536
• 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Smith, Tennessee; Page: 31; NARA Roll: M33_125; Image: 83
• Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M246, 138 rolls); War Department Collection of Revolutionary War Records, Record Group 93; National Archives, Washington. D.C.

• Children are named in the Widow's Pension Application