John Wilson of SE Fairfield Co., SC

John Wilson of SE Fairfield left a will, dated 1799. In that will he specified his heirs as:

wife--.Rebechah
son--James
son--Theophilus
son--Jesse
daughter--Nancy Mitchel
daughter--Susanah Rush
daughter--Martha Norris
son--Jack
Grand Son William Wilson the Son of John Wilson
Grandson James Wilson
Grandson John Norris
Daughter Mary Laughon
Son William
Samuel Lawhon (Grandson?)
John Rush (Grandson?)

One finds members of the above John Wilson family everywhere in the Fairfield Co. records of the early 1800’s and it is a continuous problem to separate them from some of the William Wilson family with the same names.

William Wilson of late 1700’s, Fairfield Co., SC

William Wilson and his family begin to appear in the Fairfield Co. records in the early 1770’s as he acquired land halfway across the county from the John Wilson family. An 1820 map shows a homesite several miles west of Winnsboro called "Wilson" that we believe specified the location of William Wilson’s homeplace. Today that area is primarily in timber and what little is farmed is in pastureland.

In the 1790 census, William Wilson appears with 3 males and 4 females in his family. In the 1800 census, he appeared with 4 boys, himself, and two females, one of which would be his wife. In the 1810 census, he appears with 3 males and 2 females, including himself and wife. We do not find William Wilson in the 1820 census but we do find a female head-of-household, Margaret Wilson, with 3 young males and two female, the older of which would be Margaret. Margaret stands a good chance of being widow of William Wilson. Therefore we believe that William passed away in the latter part of the 1810’s.

In 1823, the four sons of William Wilson divided up their father’s farm property through an agreement that was documented in two separate deeds by which John Wilson and James Wilson bought out the other heirs. The brothers signed the agreements in 1823 and their wives signed, belatedly, in 1833. William Wilson was mentioned in one of the deeds as having obtained some of the property by land grant, a good sign that William was father of the brothers. One Elizabeth Wilson was also mentioned as having signed one of the documents in 1823. She was probably as sister, or the mother, of the brothers. We currently are leaning toward her being a sister.

The brothers and their wives were listed as follows.

James Wilson--Rachel R. Wilson
William Wilson--Margaret Wilson
David Wilson--Mary Wilson
John Wilson--Nancy Wilson

There is no doubt in our minds that James Wilson and Rachel R. Wilson listed above are Mary Wilson Spinks’s great great grandparents.

James Leroy Wilson and Rachel

It is our belief that James Leroy Wilson and Rachel Ray Shannon married in the early 1820’s based on the ages of their children in the 1850 census. As stated in a previous paragraph, they purchased some of his father’s property in 1823. They can be identified in the 1830 census in Fairfield Co., SC, with 2 boys, 3 girls and 2 older ladies one of which is aged 70-80 who we believe to be James’s mother. They can be identified in the 1840 Fairfield Co., SC, census with 5 boys and three girls and no older ladies. If one wants to believe that the 70-80 year old lady of 1830 was James’s mother than one can conclude that she passed away in the 1830’s.

In Feb. of 1846, James Wilson and Rachel R. Wilson sold their Fairfield Co. property to one James Cathcart, evidently in preparation to move to Mississippi. The property consisted of 460 acres total, part of which was granted to William Wilson in the 1770’s. Both James and Rachel’s signatures were on the document, leaving little doubt that they were our Chickasaw Co., Miss. Wilsons.

James and Rachel Wilson are in the 1850 Miss. Census as follows:

1850 Miss. Chickasaw Co. Page 608
Wilson, James M 55 Farmer $3,040
Rachael R F. 51
W. H. M 27
Margaret G. F 24
Martha F 22
John S. M 19 Farmer
David M 14
Samuel M 12

All of the above born in SC

Note that Charles James Wilson, Mary Wilson Spinks’s great-grandfather is not included in his father’s 1850 census. However, a Charles Wilson is recorded as an apprentice in the Miss. home of a Mr. Baker, a gunsmith. This Charles Wilson was listed as l7 years old and born in SC. We believe this Charles Wilson to be our Charles James Wilson.

Both James Leroy and Rachel Wilson are buried in Friendship Presbyterian Church near Van Vleet, MS. Their stones read as follows:

JAMES WILSON
DIED
June 3, 1860
in his 66 Year

RACHEL R. WILSON
DIED
Aug. 18, 1871
In her 73 Year

The last time we were at the Friendship Cemetery, James’s stone was on the ground and broken into several pieces. Rachel’s stone was standing and in one piece.

Near James and Rachel in Friendship Cemetery is a stone of the same design as theirs and marked as follows:

ELIZABETH WILSON
DIED
? 14, 1868

So far we have not identified this Elizabeth Wilson. Could she MAYBE be the Elizabeth who signed the 1823 deed between the brothers?? We need to examine the stone more closely to see if there is an age given at the bottom and also examine the 1850 and 1860 censuses to see if Elizabeth is mentioned anywhere--maybe as head-of-household.

William Wilson and Margaret

William Wilson, brother of James Leroy Wilson, appears to have spent his life in Fairfield Co., SC. Per his gravestone, he was born in 1785 and we believe he and Margaret married in the early 1820’s. He is in the 1830 census with wife, 1 boy, and 3 girls.; and in the 1840 census with wife, 4 boys and 4 girls. In 1823, William signed the deed to brothers James and John, and Margaret signed in 1833. One would guess that they settled in Northern Fairfield Co. because they were associated with Concord Presbyterian Church which is near the Chester Co. line. They are both buried there:

Wilson, William
8/1785-1/5/1862
Ruling Elder of Concord Church - 35 yrs
[h/o Margaret]

Wilson, Margaret
8/31/1802- - 1/8/1871
w/o William Wilson

The 1850 census records for the William Wilson family is as follows:

Name; age; sex; occupation; real est worth; place of birth

William Wilson, 65 M Planter $3.600 Fairfield
Margaret Wilson 48 F Fairfield
Elizabeth Wilson 27 F Fairfield
John Wilson 25 M Fairfield
Margaret Wilson 23 F Fairfield
Nancy Wilson 21 F Fairfield
William J.? Wilson 17 M Fairfield
Robert Wilson 15 M Fairfield
David Wilson 10 M Fairfield
?? [may be Samuel] Wilson 4 M Fairfield

Note that the ages of William and Margaret correspond to dates given by Concord cemetery records.

In 1867 there is record of the estate of one Robert McCreight of Fairfield Co. that speaks of one of his heirs as being Margaret, wife of William Wilson, IMPLYING that Margaret’s maiden name is McCreight and that her father (or brother) was Robert McCreight. The same document speaks of the children of David Wilson, IMPLYING that their mother was daughter (or brother) of Robert McCreight.

In the Columbia, SC, archives, we found a book that gave a list of marriages that were implied by probate records. Among the entries were two. One for one David Willson and Mary McCreight and another for William Willson and Margaret McCreight, both ladies were listed as daughters of one John McCreight. The same references were given for both entries--APT 84, File 226, Frame 058, year 1846. Not sure what all that means but next time we are in Columbia, we want to look more into these marriages.

David Wilson and Mary

Thor Lewis of Mississippi has done an excellent job of researching one David Wilson who we believe is a good fit for being brother of James Leroy Wilson. Thor writes:

******
David Wilson was born about 1790 in South Carolina. He married Mary. She was born about 1795 in South Carolina. She died on September 20, 1860. He died on January 30, 1861.

They were members of the O. S. Presbyterian Church in Fairfield County. They moved to Tipton County, Tennessee in the fall of 1849 and became members of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church at Salem in the spring of 1850 (according to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Death & Marriage Notices from the Christian Magazine of the South, the Erskine Miscellany, and the Due West Telescope, 1843-1863, which I obtained from Ancestry.com) .

They are listed on the 1840 Census in Fairfield County, SC, (at page 172) and 1850 Census in Tipton County, Tennessee (at page 341) with his occupation as a farmer.

David and Mary's children were:

Sarah Wilson was born about 1828 in South Carolina.
Elizabeth Wilson was born about 1830 in South Carolina.
Nancy Wilson was born about 1833 in South Carolina.
William J. D. Wilson was born about 1836 in South Carolina.
******

We found David Wilson in the 1830 Fairfield Co., SC, census, p. 382, himself, wife, 1 boy and 3 girls. One of the girls, 15-20, looked out of place age wise, and was probably a sister and not a daughter. Both David and his wife were listed as being between 30 and 40.

We found the David Wilson family in the 1840 Fairfield Co., SC, census, p 172, with himself, wife, 2 boys and 4 girls. Both David and wife were listed as being 40-50 years old.

John Wilson and Nancy

So far we have done little follow-up research on John Wilson, brother of James Leroy Wilson, though it should be easy to do. One should look in the deed records for deposition of the land he purchased from his brothers in 1823 and into the census records. We probably already have census records on him but have just not taken time to parse them out. It should be done and we will do it eventually because it might shed some light on our part of the Wilson family.

John Shannon, father of Rachel Ray Shannon Wilson

Back several months ago, Thor Lewis made contact with Doneva Shepard of Oregan whose husband descended from one Charles John Shannon of SC; and we have communicated with Doneva a number of times since Thor’s first contact. It is documented in Fairfield Co., SC, records that John Shannon, father of above Charles John, passed away around 1800 and left three orphan children, Charles John Shannon, Mary Shannon, and Rachel Shannon. At the time (1800) orphaned Rachel was an infant which fits well with the gravestone record of our Rachel Shannon Wilson being born around 1798. The three children were raised in the Winnsboro, SC, area and money was available from their father’s estate for their education. We have noticed that our Rachel Wilson signed the courthouse records--no X’s. Doneva writes that Mary Shannon married into the Winn family for whom Winnsboro was named and remained in the Fairfield Co. area. Charles John Shannon moved to Camden , SC, and became a prominent and successful member of that community. Until Thor and the Spinkses came along, Doneva Shepard knew nothing about what happened to Rachel Shannon, sister of her husband’s ancestor.

In the Fairfield Co. records, we found precious little about orphaned Rachel Shannon. She is document by one little line in an accounting of the estate of deceased father, John Shannon--nothing in marriage records, nothing in court records, and nothing in deed records until our Rachel Wilson signed the 1823 deed in 1833, along with her sisters-in-law. However, I am ready to accept orphaned Rachel as our Rachel Wilson by default. That is, we have found nothing that would tie orphaned Rachel to anyone else and we have found nothing that would reject orphaned Rachel as being Rachel Wilson. What little we have does seem to fit together.

We do have a little info on John Shannon, Rachel’s father. Per what Doneva has sent us, John Shannon immigrated from Ireland in the mid to late 1700’s and settled in SC. In the Revolutionary War, he served the colonial cause-as a SPY; but survived. We know nothing about John Shannon’s wife, not even a first name. Since the children were orphaned at their father’s death, we assume that the mother’s death preceded John’s.

There is one caveat to the Rachel Shannon Wilson story. There is record of one Rachel Shannon marrying Archibald McClurkin in 1844 in Chester Co., SC By then orphaned Rachel would have been 46 yrs old; the groom in the 1844 marriage was documented as being 34 yrs old. Would a 34 yrs old man be marrying a 44 yr old woman? I think not. For that reason, I reject the Chester Co. Rachel as being Rachel, daughter of John Shannon. Stay tuned. We intend to look into this further.

Conclusions

Over the last couple of years, we have proven that our James Leroy Wilson family came from Fairfield Co., SC, and that his father was in all probability William Wilson and that MAYBE his mother was named Margaret. In addition we probably have found Rachel Ray Shannon Wilson’s family--her father, sister, and brothers.

In this report, we have deliberately left out the details and references. If anyone is interested in those details and references, please let us know. Will be glad to share whatever we have.

Albert H. Spinks
Mary Wilson Spinks
September 28, 2003