ATKINSON FAMILY HISTORY

By: Archibald Atkinson

(Though he did not sign his name.)

 March 3, 1897 (should be 1879 – cls), my being in my eighty-third year, think that I could not remain here long, I determined to leave each of my family and  my wife’s family a history, for the benefit of my children and grandchildren. I will now begin with parents on the Atkinson and Warren side to the best of my ability.

My grandfather Atkinson moved from Virginia with one of his brothers and a sister soon after the Revolutionary War and settled in Wilkes Co., Georgia.

 My grandfather was named Nathan Atkinson, his brother Thomas, and his sister, Betsy. She married John Carroll of Virginia. They all came to Georgia together. The three are as far back as I have any account of.

 My father Tom is the eldest son of Nathan. He raised three sons to be grown to wit: Thomas, James, Josiah, and three daughters, Betsy Wingfield, Patience Smith and Rhody Rowland. All died in Greene County, GA.

 My father, when he became of age, went from Wilkes Co., GA to Burke Co., GA, where he married my mother, Rebekah Warren, the eldest daughter of Corlis Warren of Burke Co., GA. Corlis Warren had several brothers, but have forgotten their names. Some of his nephews were Josiah, Hinchey, Kitteral, Eddie (or Eali) and Lot. I had little acquaintance with my mothers people as I was raised some distance from them. Eddie and Lot were her cousins. They used to live in Houston Co., Georgia. My grandfather Warren married Hester Anderson before the Revolutionary War. They raised one son, Archibald, and four daughters, Rebekah (my mother), Rachel Lightfoot, Elizabeth Jones (then Bird), and Mary Caruthers. All died in Burke Co., Georgia except my mother, who died at my house in Henry Co., Georgia, July 28, 1857 with paralysis. She was upwards of eighty years old at her death.

 My father and mother were married in 1794. I was born in 1796. He died before I was six years old. My mother had three children, I was the oldest, then Elizabeth, and James last.

 I married Martha F. Dean the 11th of November, 1824. My sister married John Watkins, my brother married a Butler of Morgan County, GA. James is in Morgan Co., and raised his family there. Sister Elizabeth Watkins went from Alabama to Texas twenty or thirty years ago. If alive, she still lives there. Her oldest, Jack Watkins, is 68 years old and one of the best doctors in the county he lived in. Robert, his brother, was a very successful doctor. One of his sister’s daughters married a man by the name of Randle. I have forgotten the names of the family. Jack and Robert have moved to Texas in the last five years. I have lost sight of that branch of my family and have almost lost sight of brother James and family. It has been twenty years since I saw any of them, and can only give names of some of his sons and none of his daughters. His oldest were Thomas, William, James and Edward.

I will now go back to my father, mother and their grandchildren. They married in Burke Co. and father died there seven or eight years after marriage. My mother married William Jones in the fall of 1807. In the fall of 1808, he moved to Greene Co. where he died the following spring. That fall she, being left in a helpless condition on a good farm and no one to cultivate it as her eldest child was only thirteen and too small to plow, felt the necessity of marrying her third husband, Lewis Mosley.

I suppose they lived together some 25 or 30 years when he died. My mother lived a widow some eight or nine years, then died at my home in Henry County at eighty years of age.

My mother never had but three children, all of whom are living at this time as far as I know. I am the eldest of the three. There are only four years and nine months lacking seven days between the eldest and the youngest of the three.

I will now take up my own family. I was in my 29th year, from the 10th of June to the 11th of November when my wife and I were married. She was twenty-one years, seven days at the time. She had nine children, two died in infancy. The eldest, Sarah Ann, was born Oct. 24, 1826. She has been married twice, first to Henry McClendon. She had two sons James S. McClendon and Thomas McClendon. Both married. James married Branch Tavern’s daughter Sarah, they have one child. I have forgotten who Thomas married, but they have no children.

Sarah’s second husband was Dr. L. Coleman. She bore him three sons and one daughter Mattie. The sons were Henry Watson, Franklin, and Milton. None of them married.

I now commence Burkett. He was born the 4th of November 1831 and married Betsy Willet of Clark Co., Nov. 1856. He has nine living children, five boys and four daughters. They are Joseph E., Mattie, Lula, James, Sallie, Willie, Charles, Johnny and Carrie Grant Atkinson. All are single and three nearly grown.

Mary Jane was born the 13th of March 1834 and married G.W. Morris. She has nine children: Mattie, George, John and Ruthie, all about grown. The younger children I have forgotten their names. Mattie has two children, George’s wife one. She was Allen Cock’s daughter. Mattie married a Stubbs.

Elizabeth was born the September, 1836. She married John W. Henderson and has five children: Sanford, Mattie, James, Charles, and Walter Lee, all yet small.

Martha was born the 22nd of October, 1839. She has only two living children, John and William.

Georgia Rebecca was born the 22nd of November, 1841, and died the 11th day of March, 1878. She was twice married – first to Stell Henderson who was killed at the first Murphreesboro fight. She had a Henderson child, Stell. Then she married B.F. Morris and bore him two sons, Oliver Cromwell and Francis Archibald. That ends that branch.

The next, my youngest son, James Archibald, was born the 28th of April, 1846. He has five living children. He married Rebekah Wilson of Haralson County. The first child was Thomas, then James A., Ola, Mattie, Samuel, and William. That ends my children and grandchildren.

I will now fall back to my wife’s family, the Deans and Carltons as her mother was a Carlton. My wife’s father, Burkett Dean, married Sarah Carlton, the daughter of Thomas Carlton, about 1800. He was for many years the Clerk of the Superior Court of Greene Co. He lived in Greensboro for a long time then moved to Madison, Morgan Co. and there died before I married his granddaughter. He has a brother by the name of Henry Carlton, a regular sportsman. He died an old bachelor without any lawful heirs nearer than his brother’s and sister’s children and grandchildren. He died possessed of a certain of land known as the Madison Race Tract. The greater part of Madison is on that tract or parcel of land. I believe that Ben Hill or Stephens could recover that land for the Carlton family. Twenty years ago I was by Colonel Lowes of Clark Co. He was very knowing of the whole matter, but now he is dead.

Now I will go back to Thomas Carlton and family. He had two sons and six daughters. The first son was Thomas, then Henry. Sarah married Burkett Dean. Elizabeth married John Allen; she kept a hotel in Milledgeville for many years. After John’s death, she married Dr. Brown of Monroe Co. A few years later, she died without any children. Rebecca married Alexander Jarrett, raised no children. Martha married Edward Butler, reared sons and daughters. Susan died before marriage. Nancy married John Marler, a mechanic of Milledgeville.

My wife, Martha, was the oldest daughter of Burkett Dean. Thomas was the eldest son, then Gabriel, George, John and Burkett of the boys. Sarah never married. Elizabeth married three times, the first to James Jarrett, then Isaac Boring a Methodist preacher of some note, then Bradfield, a mechanic of some note. She had children by all three of her husbands, then died. Believe I can’t give names of her children. Mary, the youngest child, married William Turk of Baldwin Co. He moved to Troup Co., stayed a few years, then went to Alabama some 18 miles below Columbus. There, the wife died leaving sons and daughters, but I cannot give any of their names.

I think I have gone through my family the best that I can. I now count the outside relations of the Dean and Carlton generations. My wife claimed them as her relations. George Heard was her father’s sister’s son. Some of the Ramsey’s married into the Heard family. The Popes were on the Dean side, the Nelsons on the Dean; Jarrett's on the Carlton. The Sampson's were related, also the Finches.

I will now go back to my grandfather’s brother and sister: Thomas Atkinson and Elizabeth Carroll. They first lived in Wilkes Co. The first son Armistead lived and died in Greene Co., near the Wilkes line. I do not think he reared a son to be grown, though his daughters lived to be grown – Mrs. Dickenson for one and Mrs. Battle, but she soon died. That is all I can say of the family.

Thomas Atkinson raised his family in Morgan County, near Sandy Creek Church. He had sons and daughters. Henry Phillips married one and Hiram Elliott married Mary. Porter Morrow married Nancy. I do not remember any more names.

I now take up Lemuel Atkinson, who lived part of his days in Pike County and died there. He raised one son Tollison and if still alive lives near Dalton. A man by the name of Williams married his daughter Elizabeth. That is all I know of them.

I will now take up John Atkinson. He left his parents some 75 or 80 years ago and went to South Carolina near Augusta, GA and then I think the family lost sight of him. No doubt he went back to Virginia where he was born. The family heard he was married and was supposed to be in SC. He could have written his family where he settled and married and my family would not have known, since we did not live near in my growing up days.

Thomas Atkinson married his second wife and raised one son who was younger than John. His name was Nathan. He raised a large family of sons and daughters in Greene County and died there. He had one son – James, and John and Lemuel. That is the most I can say of that part of the family.

I know but little of the Carroll family. He came to Georgia soon after the Revolutionary War. He reared sons and daughters. It is said that he had a son in Irwin County. He has a grandson in Dekalb County, Nathaniel Carroll. He had several sons and daughters, but I can’t give their names.

This is quite an extensive generation, but I never heard of one of the generation that was hanged or put in prison or committed suicide. Some of the generation lived to be ver old. Both of my grandfathers lived to be eight-odd, so handed down to me and grandmother about the same, and also one of my father’s brothers. I will be eighty-three on June 10, 1879. Benjamin Futrell married a cousin of mine. He has been dead 10 years. He was at his death 99 years, 5 months and 14 days old.

*The names “Carroll”, “Mosley” and “Dickenson” wee spelled several different ways in this History.

Copied by Frances Gresham Mitchell – Pulaski Chapter N.S.D.A.R. This history was not signed by Archibald Atkinson, but research by descendants of Thomas Atkinson, brother of Nathan, has facts to prove the above history written by Archibald Atkinson.

“The Atkinson Family History was unsigned by the writer, Archibald Atkinson. The descendants have kept this history and prize it highly, but seem to think that since it was unsigned, that it is practically worthless, but taken with the idea of proving the data, it becomes very valuable.

 Below are some items that prove that he definitely knew what he was writing about, and I hope that some future generations will complete and publish this history.”

  Frances Gresham Mitchell

The will of Nathan and his brother Thomas Atkinson will be found in the first Will Book of Greene County, Georgia.

 In the deed records of Nash County, NC will be found deeds in which it says “John Carroll, the brother-in-law of Nathan Atkinson”.

 Marriages performed in Georgia are as follows:

Archibald Atkinson to Martha Dean – 11/07/1824, Morgan Co., GA

James Atkinson and Mariah Butler – 10/27/1825, Morgan Co., GA

Elizabeth Atkinson and John Watkins – 09/18/1816, Greene Co., GA

Lewis Mosely and Rebecca Jones by John Turner J.P. – 10/12/1809, Greene Co., GA

Porter Morrow and Nancy Atkinson – Morgan Co., GA

Hiram Elliott and Mary Ann Atkinson – Morgan Co., GA

Roger Dickenson and Catherine Atkinson – 1825, Greene Co., GA

Elizabeth Atkinson and John Battle – 1819, Greene Co., GA

 Lemual Atkinson died in Pike Co., GA. He first married Nancy Townsend, 2nd, Mary Ann. Estate records give the names of Tollison T. Atkinson and Elizabeth Williams.

 Thomas Atkinson and his wife Rhoda Ivey Atkinson along with the sister of Thomas are buried at the old Sandy Creek Cemetery in Morgan Co., GA.

 Armistead Atkinson married Sally Thomas, they died in Greene Co. (later Taliaferro Co.)

 We have in our possession many such items that prove beyond any shadow of doubt that Archibald Atkinson knew what he was doing when he wrote this above history. The will of Henry Carlton is in Morgan Co., GA along with other data pertaining to the above history that shows the writer was fully acquainted with the families of which he wrote.

 Miss Mary Gresham,  Gainesville, FL

Robert E. Mitchell, Zebulon, GA

Mrs. J. S. Moore,  Gainesville, FL

are descendants of Thomas Atkinson, the great uncle of Archibald Atkinson and they can be contacted by descendants for proof.

         Frances Gresham Mitchell

NOTE: This document was retyped by Marc Atkinson with the following note: “As I copied this “copy” of this history, I made a few spelling and punctuation corrections in order to make this information easier to understand. This history was found in the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) books at the George Archives in Atlanta. It was published around 1965. I have written to the above people, but received no replies.

   Marc L. Atkinson  07/27/1996

The only word of caution I would have is, this information is just what Archibald Atkinson , at age 83, knew and remembered about some of the members of this large family. For instance, Archibald list his youngest son, James Archibald Atkinson and his wife, Rebekah Wilson, as having 5 living children.( at the time of his writing this history, 1879). Thru another " cousin" I learned that James A. Atkinson and Rebekah W. Atkinson had 2 more sons, born after 1879/ they were, Archibald Shelby Atkinson b. 1882, in Ga. and d. 1964, in Little Rock ,AR. and Howell Atkinson , b. 1884 in Ga.

It is very possible, that Archibald died before these 2 grandsons were born, I have not found any information on Archibald Atkinson's death or burial. I did find an Archibald Atkinson on the 1880 death census for Coweta Co.,Ga. his age matched my Archibald's age, and it's possible he moved in with a relative when he became too old or ill to care for himself..

Celeste Atkinson Bogosian.

Note from another descendant -

Note from another descendant -

I have just read on your website Archibald Atkinson's family history.  In about the middle of it, in a paragraph beginning,

"I think I've gone through my family the best I can."  He goes on to name some others including "the Finches".

 Burkett Dean's wife Sarah Carleton, was the daughter of Thomas Carleton, Jr. and his wife Martha Finch.

 Martha Finch was the daughter of Brothers Finch and his wife, Sarah Vaughan.

 Sarah Vaughan was the daughter Rabley Vaughan and his wife, Mary Cocke.

 Mary Cocke was the daughter of Edward Cocke, Sr. and his wife, Mary Hamlin.

 Edward Cocke, Sr. was the son of Mary Aston and Richard Cocke.

 If you will go to Gary Boyd Roberts' book, THE ROYAL DESCENTS OF  500 IMMIGRANTS, you will find the descent of George Herbert Walker Bush from Henry II, King of England.  In the 18th generation you will find Mary Aston married to Richard Cocke.

Good Hunting,

Tom Sullivan

Henry County Family Biographies Index

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