Skip to content

John Lawson

Back to the Early History Profiles index

Evidence assessment

Supplemental early settler, verified as a Lowndes grand juror by 1833 through a contemporary-record transcription and indexed as a household head in 1840. The traditional 1823 arrival and exact Barney-district land remain secondary-supported.

Evidence

The previous audit left John Lawson as a traditional candidate with no secure civil identity. Two leads materially improve that assessment.

First, a Lowndes grand-jury presentment reproduced from a contemporary Milledgeville paper lists John Lawson among the jurors. The article describes the term as May 1833, while the reproduced footer carries a conflicting June 12, 1832 date. The original newspaper image has not been inspected, so the event is best stated as service by 1833 with the date conflict disclosed.

Second, a published 1840 Lowndes census transcription lists a John Lawson household with two males and one female. The entry appears near Simpson Strickland and Daniel Lawson. This supplies a specific household locator, but the original census image remains uninspected and proximity does not prove kinship.

William Harden's 1913 descendant biography says John was born about 1783 in North Carolina, first lived in Laurens County, settled land in what became the Barney district, later moved to Colquitt County, married Rachel Green, and had Eliza, Ashley, Greene, and Daniel. The same source explicitly identifies Ashley as John's son. These family and land claims are secondary-supported, not verified by an inspected deed, probate, Bible, or parent-naming record.

Family and identity controls

  • Rachel Green as wife: secondary-supported.
  • Ashley, Eliza, Greene, and Daniel as children: secondary-supported.
  • John as father of Ashley: secondary-supported, consistent with Ashley's chronology but not original-record verified.
  • Daniel Lawson's nearby 1840 entry is an association, not proof of sonship.

Barney relevance

Harden explicitly places John's land in the later Barney district. Because no tract, lot, deed, or plat was supplied, this is a secondary-supported Barney connection, not verified title or residence at the townsite.

Remaining targets

Inspect the 1840 census image, original grand-jury publication, Laurens/Irwin/Lowndes/Colquitt deed indexes, tax digests, Rachel Green marriage evidence, probate and cemetery records, and a tract-level test of the Barney-district claim.

Sources

  1. Ray City History Blog, “Lowndes Grand Jury of 1833,” reproducing a contemporary presentment: https://raycityhistory.wordpress.com/2018/06/09/lowndes-grand-jury-of-1833/
  2. Genealogy Trails, “1840 Lowndes County Georgia Census,” later transcription.
  3. William Harden, A History of Savannah and South Georgia, vol. 2 (1913), pp. 862–865.
  4. Ashley Lawson dossier and deed evidence, preserved local research.