William Lawson Sr (1733-1826)

CAUTION

 I can only try to piece together the further information that I have about our Williams. I cannot be sure at this point if the William documented below was a Revolutionary Soldier. I believe so...but I will keep digging his roots.

WILLIAM LAWSON, SR.

b. 26 June 1733 in Montrose, Scotland

d. 18April 1826, Snowflake, Scott Co., Virginia

**Revolutionary War Patriot

 SOURCES:

https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=patti%2Dlawson&id=I00086

This is a huge RootsWeb compiled by Patti Lawson and Barb Lawson. I have been in touch with them and have supplied information and sources for my Quillin line. Their research is highly documented. I’m building this biography based on their research. I’m leaving out much detail from the website, but encourage family members who are interested in documentation to visit this site.

William Lawson, Sr. was at one time thought to be the Scottish Rebel who notoriously fought at the Battle of Culloden, but in 2016, an excellent researcher, Nancy J. Lawson travelled to Scotland, did extensive research and determined that he was NOT our ancestor. It was a very rich history and one that is difficult to let go, but it is better to let go and document our true line than to jump track and claim a glorious story as ours. I have actually visited that sacred battleground in Scotland and was awed by this man who at first was deemed my ancestor. (see the letter Nancy Lawson sent out to the Lawson Family Heritage Assoc.) It is definitive. Some persist to attach our family to The Rebel or another William that was a prisoner during the Uprising, but neither of these are the correct age.

William Lawson’s story leads to the same area where my Quillin roots are found in Virginia. This brings together the lives of my John Quillin and my Rebecca Lawson.

 William Lawson, our William, was born 26 JUN 1733 in Montrose, Scotland. The Jacobite rebellions or the War of the British Succession were a series of uprisings and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. William would have been a child about 12 years of age and he would have vivid memories of this brutal time. He sought for passage to the New World to escape these atrocities and arrived in the American Colonies in 1750. I have no information about his immigration.

From Bill Porter's works:
“William was bound out to a plantation owner for what we assume was seven years of indenture. Family tradition holds that he was treated unkindly and ran away after a year or so. We have been unable to determine his exact location of indenture but his known children were born in North Carolina where we have strong reason to assume he went when he ran away.” I’m not positive if this is our William or one of the others, but this information is still up on the Lawson website and my William Lawson Jr was born in NC.

 In early American history, indenture was a form of labor contract. Beginning during the colonial period, employers in the largely agricultural economy faced a labor shortage. They addressed it in two ways: by buying slaves and by hiring indentured servants. The former were Africans who were brought to the colonies against their will to serve for life; the latter were generally Europeans from England and Germany who had entered a multiyear employment contracts. From the late 16^th c to the late 18^th c, approximately half of the 350,000 European immigrants to the colonies were indentured servants. During the 17^th c, these servants outnumbered slaves. An indentured servant agreed to a 4-7 year contract, and in return received passage from Europe and guarantees of work, food, and lodging.  Colonial courts enforced the contracts of indentured servants, which were often harsh. Employers were seen as masters, and the servants had not only to work for them but also to obey their orders in all matters. For some, indentured servitude was not a voluntary act. Impoverished women and children were pressed into servitude, as were convicts. Nevertheless, this servitude was not equivalent to slavery. Slaves remained slaves for life, whereas indentured servants were released at the end of their contracts.  Moreover, as parties to a contract, indentured servants had rights that slaves never enjoyed. The practice of indentured servitude persisted into the early 19^th c.

 It is said that he was married before 1761 on New River in either North Carolina or Virginia. Nothing is known of his first wife, but she was the mother of all of his children. There is no documentation of this part of his life.  His children were born before the Revolution, all said to be born in NC. He married his second wife sometime after 1773. Her name was Rebecca and no marriage record has been found, so her last name remains unknown. Some family trees continue to confuse her with Jane Banks and they list our William as married to Rebecca Jane Banks.  That is NOT correct. There is another William Lawson in the area that is married to Jane Banks.

 THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

 William Lawson, Sr. was sworn into Capt. Daniel Trigg’s Company on 13 Sep 1777 in Montgomery County, VA. This would have placed him at the Battle of King’s Mountain on October 7, 1780. The battle took place 9 miles south of the present-day town of Kings Mountain, NC, in what is now rural Cherokee County, SC. The Patriot Militia defeated the Loyalist Militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71^st Foot. He would have been nearly 50 years old at this time of service.

 March 31, 1781 – William is listed as a Sergeant in Capt. Daniel Trigg’s Company in Montgomery Co, VA. From the notes of Daniel Trigg’s Company: “Of those who were not fit were William Lawson, et.al.” It is presumed he may have had a temporary illness or injury.

Nov. 12, 1782. Montgomery Co.,Va. –  There had been a tax imposed at a late assembly for the purpose of recruiting troops to serve the Continental Army. William must have been delinquent in paying his taxes and was ordered to do so by Nov 20. Source: Written by Col. William Preston to a Collector, Nov. 12, 1782, published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography by the Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Va., January, 1920. Land records reveal that William promptly paid 15 pounds for 100 acres and another 15 pounds for 260 acres.

24 August 1786 – Col. Daniel Trigg and James McCorkle were ordered to divide the militia in the bounds of Lorton's Company, equally between Capt. Lorton and Capt. Englis. Minutes in the Court Order Book 1, page ? , show William Lawson named Lieutenant in Lorton's Company. (There has been some confusion as to which William Lawson was appointed Lieut. William Sr. was a Sergeant in Trigg's 1781 militia and this appointment represents a promotion in the newly formed militia. It would be highly improbable for William Lawson Jr., who had only six months of service at the age of 16-17 as a substitute who did not rise above the rank of Pvt., to be promoted to Lieutenant with command over this group of seasoned, experienced militiamen. William Lawson Sr. is first shown on Trigg's militia swearing oath in 1777.)
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 1776-1797

Prior to the War, William Lawson Sr. had settled 300 acres in Montgomery County, Virginia, in 1776. This land was on Laurel Creek, a small branch of the Little River (Laurel Creek is located in present-day Floyd County, VA.)

 William fought in the Revolutionary War and was granted land for his service. On 3 Aug 1782, William received 200 acres from Israel Lorton. William was a Lieutenant in Lorton’s Company. This land transaction is detailed on the RootsWeb site. These 200 acres were on Sugar Run another branch of Little River, several miles north of his original Laurel Creek property. (Sugar Run is located in present-day Pulaski County, VA.) On 2 Dec 1785, the land grant for Sugar Run was signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. William Lawson Sr. paid Land Taxes and Personal Property Taxes in Montgomery Co. VA from 1782-1796.

 William continued to serve in the Militia, and in 1786, research indicates that he was promoted to Lieutenant in Lorton’s Company. Once again it appears that he was granted land for his service and he expanded his property on Sugar Run by 200 acres that was assigned to him by James Hines. This adjoining land ran north to Tarepine Run, and the land grant for this property was signed by Henry Lee, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia on 15 February 1793.

 On 26 July 1788, William sold 105 acres of Sugar Run to Eliazer Cole and it appears he sold the rest of it to Eliazer Cole on 14 Nov 1796. This coincides with William’s move to Russell County.

 1797-1826

William paid property taxes in Russell Co from 1797-1810.

William’s son, William Lawson Jr (my ancestor), had married in Montgomery Co, but he moved to Russell Co VA around 1794. William Lawson Sr. also purchased land in Russell County in August 1798 from John and Mary Frazer. (Russell County later became Scott County.) This purchase was for 155 acres on Big Mockason (Moccasin?) Creek, on the north fork of Holstein (Holston?) and known by the name of the Little Valley at the foot of Clinch Mountain. He later sold 75 acres of this land to John Wood. (1807) On June 3, 1816, his second wife Rebecca (maiden name unknown) was part of a transaction to sell 50 acres to John Smith, documented in Scott County Deed Book 1, pp 249-250. In Oct 1816, it read, “being of age she was separated and examined apart from her husband and gave voluntary deed consent.”  Did this mean that she had consolidated her property with William after their marriage? It’s unclear to me why she would have to give separate consent.

After his move to Russell Co VA, William is found in two separate volumes of VIRGINIA LAW ORDER BOOK (see website). These entries reveal that he received a servant on two separate occasions from John Frazer. William had purchased his land from Frazer so he probably inherited the servants, as well. It appears that William Sr also gave his son William Lawson Jr. three servants. These Law books show that William Sr and several others were called to appraise the slaves and personal estate of Jonathan Wood, Sr., decd.   Then some time after that, William received a servant from Jonathan Wood.

 William Lawson Sr was found in the 1820 Census dated August 7, 1820 in Scott Co.VA. He is engaged in agriculture and there are 2 free white persons living in his household. This would be in reference to William and his second wife, Rebecca. He was 87 at the time of this census. He would have been living very close to his son, William Lawson Jr (my ancestor).  It is said that he died 18 April 1826 in Snowflake, Scott Co. VA at the age of 92 and is buried in the Lawson Confederate Cemetery just outside of Snowflake.