Williamson Thaxton – where did you go?
A while back, we wrote up a couple of things involving Williamson Thaxton, son of Hannah Williamson and Thomas Thaxton (~1744-1824). One was a summary of information we wrote in the ’90s about Williamson’s life and family. The other was an explanation of why we believe Williamson moved to the Indiana / Michigan border, had a large family there under the name William Thaxton, and died in Berrien Co., Michigan, in the early 1870s. A couple of Williamson researchers asked to see them, but I had a computer crash and thought I had lost them permanently. Recently I found the original Williamson summary on a disk. It’s just a draft, but I’m posting it here. Note: This is a large PDF (41 pages).
For those who don’t want to sift through the chaff to get to the “Were Williamson Thaxton and William Thaxton the same person?” stuff, here is a condensed version:
- Williamson Thaxton was born in Pendleton District, South Carolina, about 1808. William Thaxton was born in Pendleton District, South Carolina, about 1808. William’s birth place in the 1860 and 1870 censuses is listed as South Carolina, and in his Civil War enrollment, William stated that he was born in Pendleton, South Carolina.
- The only Thaxton family in Pendleton District, South Carolina, in 1800 and 1810 was that of Thomas Thaxton, father of Williamson Thaxton. We have also eliminated most other Thaxton families in other areas of South Carolina during that period.
- Our last known record of Williamson Thaxton is the birth of his son Richard in January 1837. Our first record of William Thaxton is his marriage in August 1837.
- We know that the separation occurred prior to the family heading west, since Mary Ann remarried in St. Louis in 1849, then went to Iowa and on to Utah in 1852. That it was a separation rather than a death may also be suggested by the fact that Mary Ann’s family waited until her death in 1886 to baptize Williamson. (In the LDS Church, baptisms are at times done by proxy, and may include persons who are deceased.)
- There is no duplication in the names of Williamson and William’s children.
- While serving in the Black Hawk War of 1832, Williamson spent time in the Lake Michigan area not far from the Michiana area in which William Thaxton settled a few years later.
Earl Thaxton’s trip to the Philippines (1900 Adrian, Mich.)
This interesting letter describing his voyage to “fight the Filipinos” was written by Earl Thaxton (son of John Franklin Thaxton of Adrian, Mich., grandson of Williamson Thaxton (aka William Thaxton) of Allen Co., Kentucky, and Berrien Co., Michigan, great-grandson of Thomas Thaxton and Hannah Williamson). From the Adrian Daily Telegram, 24 Jul 1900 (click on the images for full-sized versions):
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