THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
William Marion
Jackson and Rebecca Goforth Jackson
Continuing the
saga of the Jackson Family in Union County, today's account will
look at a
son of William Jackson and Nancy Stanley Owenby Jackson. William
Marion
Jackson was born, as he recounted to his children "near Yonah Mountain
in
Habersham (now White) County, Georgia on May 9, 1829. He died
March 12,
1912. On December 19, 1850, he married Rebecca Jane Goforth who
was born
in Burke County, North Carolina on March 3, 1833 and died June 5,
1901.
Those interested in seeing the graves of these two early settlers in
Union
County can find them in Old Liberty Baptist Church Cemetery, Choestoe
District.
Rebecca Jane
Goforth was a daughter of Miles
Goforth. This family of Goforths migrated from Burke County, NC
to Union
County, Georgia about 1840. It is believed that the Goforths and
Jacksons
were neighbors in North Carolina and also in the new county of Union.
When they
married in 1850, there was already talk
of secession from the Union. The Jacksons were pro-Unionists and
he would
prove his loyalty by joining the U. S. Army.
William
Marion and Rebecca began to rear their
family. They had a farm, probably on acreage his father owned at
Town
Creek, Choestoe. William Jackson (1798-1859) and Nancy Jackson
(1793-1861) died a few years after William Marion and Rebecca
married.
The grandparents Jackson saw some of William Marion's children before
death
claimed the first-generation paternal grandparents. These
children were
born to William Marion and Rebecca:
(1) Nancy
Jackson (named for her grandmother), born
November 21, 1851. She married John W. "Rink" Souther (b. June
15, 1833). Nancy and John moved to Pueblo Colorado and reared
their
family there.
(2)
William Miles Jackson (August 30, 1853-January 8, 1910) married on
February 24,
1873 to Nancy Souther (December 25, 1883 - May 8, 1899), daughter of
Jesse and
Malinda Nix Souther. Second, Miles married Nancy West (March,
1863 -
February, 1939). Miles and his first wife Nancy were buried
at the
Old Choestoe Baptist Church Cemetery.
(3)
Sarah Catherine Jackson (October 12, 1858 - March 21, 1909)
married on
February 17 to James M. Hood (September 23, 1856 - February 6,
1913).
Sarah Catherine was buried in Old Liberty Church Cemetery, but James
Monroe
Hood moved to live near Rome, Georgia where he married again. He
was buried in Aragon, Georgia Cemetery.
(4) Mary
Louise Jackson (January 14, 1861 - February 13, 1934) married on
January 1,
1881 to Archibald Benjamin Collins (October 19, 1862 - April 4,
1897).
These were the parents of Dr. Mauney Douglas Collins, for 25 years
Georgia's
state school superintendent. This family's story has been
recounted in
earlier articles.
(5) Martha
Ann Jackson (1866-1916) married first William Hunter on August 18,
1889.
Following his death, she married John Pruitt Collins. Martha Ann
and
William Hunter had a son, Vanus, who became a dentist and practiced in
Commerce, Georgia and a son, William (1894-1952). Martha and John
Pruitt
Collins had three children, Watson, Parker and Rosa.
(6) Thomas
Kimsey Jackson (1867-1951) married Mary Jane Collins (1869-1887)
and
Mary Caroline Collins (1872-1952). Their family history was
recounted in last week's column.
(7)
Frankie Jane Jackson (February 6, 1870 - November 18,
1962) married James
Eli Collins (October 3, 1868-January 8, 1938), a son of Dallas and
Roseanna
Souther Collins. Frankie Jane and James Eli helped Archibald
Benjamin
Collins in his store at Choestoe until after A. B.'s death and the
store
was closed. Frankie Jane and James Eli then migrated to
Weatherford Texas.
(8)
Fairlena Dorothy Jackson (August 4, 1873 - September 9, 1962) married
on
December 29, 1889 to Joseph Souther (April 24, 1870 - September 21,
1922). He was a son of Jesse Washington Souther (1836-1926) and
Sarah E.
Collins Souther (1840-1872). Fairlena and Joseph went to
Taos, New
Mexico where he worked in copper smelting. They had nine
children.
After Joseph's death, Fairlena married George Harris.
William
Marion Jackson enlisted in the U. S. Army
during the War Between the States. His enlistment was from
October 1,
1863 through August 16, 1865 with Company D, 2nd Regiment, North
Carolina
Volunteer Mounted Infantry commanded by Colonel Bartlett. In his
application for pension, he stated that at Cumberland Gap in August
1864, he
was "taken sick with rheumatism and dysentery and sent to the hospital
at
said Gap." There he remained
until March, 1865, when he received a "sick furlough." He
was to be given a medical discharge, but told his commander he lived in
Georgia
"within the rebel lines," and could not, therefore, safely
return to his home. In his pension statement, he declared he was
"a
farmer by occupation," but due to his "illness and physical
incapacity was unable to perform manual labor." Records show that
finally $379.00 were received for his nursing care, physician's
charges, and
undertaking charges following his death.
After Rebecca
died in 1901, William Marion Jackson married again to Jane Davis who
lived only
a short time. He married third to Mandy Seabolt. He
outlived her.
His final days were spent with his youngest son, Thomas Kimsey Jackson
and T.
K.'s wife, Mary Caroline Collins Jackson.
Living
through the Civil War years and struggling to make a livelihood when
the chief
breadwinner was disabled from the war was not an easy task. It is
reported by family members that William Marion and Rebecca Goforth
Jackson were
staunch Christians, and "devout Baptists." They found ways to
"make do" with what they had.
c2004 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published April 22, 2004 in The Union Sentinel, Blairsville,
GA.
Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail edj0513@windstream.net;
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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