Is there another forgotten Revolutionary War soldier from Scott County?
We know there were three brothers who served in America's war for independence and later moved to present-day Scott County. Turns out, there may have been a fourth.
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Scott County’s fourth Lawson brother?
Some months back, Echoes in Time featured a series of articles about Scott County’s three “forgotten” Revolutionary War veterans — Abraham Goad, Randolph Lawson, and Abel Peak. By “forgotten,” Echoes in Time simply meant that they were not included on Scott County’s Revolutionary War plaque when it was placed at the old county courthouse in Huntsville in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebration. Twelve other men are. (See the list here.)
As America’s semibicentennial (250th anniversary of the nation’s founding) is celebrated this year, 50 years later, a new Revolutionary War memorial is being built at the John John Yancey Memorial Park in Huntsville. It will include the missing names that aren’t included on the original plaque at the courthouse.
But it turns out that there might be yet another missing Revolutionary War veteran not yet discussed. This week, we explore the possibility. Settle in, because all the dates and names tend to get a little tangled up.
The move to Tennessee
Randolph Lawson, one of those three Revolutionary War veterans whose name was left off the plaque in Huntsville, was actually one of three brothers who fought in the war and then moved to Scott County. Joining Randolph here were brothers David Lawson (1758-1852) and John Lawson (1755-1838). They were all the sons of Bartholomew Lawson and Susannah Simpkins, who lived in Bedford County, Va., and had around 15 children. Two other brothers, Morman Lawson and William Lawson, also fought in the war but did not move to Scott County.
Fast-forward a few years, to the early 1800s.
Sometime around 1803, give or take a year or two, Abraham Goad led a caravan to New River, setting up a farm at what we now know as the Vanderpool Place, south of Huntsville. Born in 1740, Goad was the son of John Goad and Catherine Jennings of Virginia. He was the Joannah Sevier — whose son, John, was Tennessee’s first governor, and the man for whom both Sevierville and Sevier County are named.
Goad was an old man by the time he moved to Scott County. He was in his 30s when he served in the Virginia militia during the Revolutionary War. His wife, Ann Ayers, had died in 1788. Their children were all grown by the time Abraham loaded up his possessions and made the move to Tennessee.
We know that Goad settled on the Vanderpool Place for two reasons. One, he was buried at Vanderpool Cemetery in 1816. His grave is the oldest identifiable grave in Scott County. Two, his 100-acre plot was surveyed in 1808, and the document noted that it was located on the north side of New River, “including the bend.” This was a reference to the unique U-shape that New River makes as it curves around the Vanderpool Farm — land that is today owned by Huntsville’s Steve and Marla Howard.
Listed as a chainman on that survey record was Randolph Lawson — another of the forgotten Revolutionary War veterans. Lawson had served in the North Carolina militia and later married Susannah Cross. When he moved to present-day Scott County, he purchased a small parcel of land near the mouth of Paint Rock Creek. He was Goad’s next-door neighbor, so to speak.
Making the journey
What we don’t know is whether Randolph Lawson made the move to New River with Abraham Goad. What we do know is that Lawson had two brothers, David and John, who served in the war and also wound up in Scott County. Their names were both included on the 1976 courthouse plaque.
Also making the trip to Tennessee with Abraham Goad were several people: his son, Joshua Goad, and two of his daughters, Mary and Ann, along with all their spouses.
Joshua Goad was married to Sarah Smiddy (or Smithers). They had a huge family, including son Joshua Goad Jr., who married Elizabeth Emily Robbins and moved to Brimstone Creek, where the Walker farm is located today. (Their daughter was Almira Goad, who married Daniel Walker in 1866. Almira’s brother, John Goad, served as a sheriff of Scott County in the 1890s, and their sister, Etta Tennessee Goad, married school superintendent William Lee and was the grandmother of U.S. Congressman and Knoxville Mayor John J. Duncan Sr.)
Mary Goad was married to Thomas Phillips (1768-1841). Making the move to Tennessee with them was Thomas’s 15-year-old brother, Joseph Phillips (1787-1881). Thomas and Joseph were the sons of Revolutionary War veteran Tobias Phillips (1750-1808), of Grayson, Va. Their maternal grandmother, Hannah Goad (wife of George Phillips), was Abraham Goad’s first cousin. Shortly after they arrived in Tennessee, Joseph married Elizabeth “Millie” Lawson (1786-1838), the daughter of Randolph Lawson. Joseph and Millie settled at Little Bull Creek, and so established the expansive Phillips family there. One of their children was Jehu Phillips, who served as Scott County Trustee in the 1860s and later wrote a series of articles for the Cumberland Chronicle in 1904 that provide valuable insight into early Scott County. In Jehu Phillips’ writings, he made reference to a “Reynold Lawson” building Scott County’s first grist mill on Paint Rock Creek. This was likely a reference to Randolph Lawson, his maternal grandfather. The mill was probably located about where Paint Rock Falls is.
Finally, Ann Goad was married to Robert Lawson in Montgomery, Va., on Aug. 1, 1793. The coincidence — Robert Lawson had the same last name as Randolph Lawson, who was Goad’s next-door neighbor on New River — was always striking, but it was always believed to be just that: a coincidence. Robert Lawson has traditionally been believed to be the son of William Lawson (1731-1826) and Anne Harvey (1715-1775), and not closely related to Randolph and his two brothers.
A fourth Lawson brother?
William Lawson migrated from Scotland to Virginia and is referred to by genealogists as “The Scottish Rebel.” However, modern DNA testing is casting doubt on whether he is truly the father of Scott County’s Robert Lawson.
DNA testing shows little evidence of a connection between Robert Lawson, husband of Anna Goad, and William Lawson, the man long presumed to be his father. Genealogical researchers now suspect that Robert Lawson was connected to the group of Lawsons from Virginia that they refer to as “The Falling River Lawsons” — a group that includes brothers Randolph, David, and John.
Some genealogical records list Robert Lawson as the son of Jonas Lawson (1707-1771) and Millie Lawson (born about 1710). Jonas Lawson was a brother of Bartholomew Lawson, who was the father of Randolph, David, and John. If this were true, it would make Robert and the other three Lawsons first cousins.
However, other genealogists take the connection a step further. They list Robert Lawson as the son of Bartholomew Lawson and Susannah Simpkins — a brother to Randolph, David, and John.
These assumptions are supported by tax records from Henry County, Va., dated 1789 and 1790. Those tax records place Robert Lawson with the other “Falling River” Lawsons. The records list Mormon Lawson (a brother to Randolph, David, and John) and David Lawson, in addition to Robert. Additional records list Bartholomew and his wife, Susannah, along with David, Thomas, Jacob, and Robert.
Taken at face value, these records strongly suggest that Robert Lawson was a brother to Randolph, David, and John Lawson.
Meanwhile, there are court records from Montgomery, Va., that reference a council meeting that took place on April 28, 1778. The records discuss Capt. Johnathan Isom’s company from the Revolutionary War. Among the men in the company are Abram Goad, Randolph Lawson, Robert Lawson, Robert Lawson Jr., James Goad, and James Goad Sr.
This is not confirmation that Robert Lawson served in the Revolutionary War, but with DNA evidence that he was not the son of William “The Scottish Rebel” Lawson, it’s reasonable to suspect that he was part of the Bartholomew Lawson family and served in the Revolutionary War alongside Randolph Lawson and Abraham Goad.
This record also explains how Abraham Goad and Randolph Goad wound up being next-door neighbors on New River: they knew each other from their Revolutionary War service. Given that Randolph Lawson was in Scott County by 1808, when Abraham Goad’s land was surveyed, it makes sense to assume that he was part of the Goad caravan — especially if Robert, who was married to Abraham’s daughter, Ann, and was part of the caravan — was also part of the journey.
Life in Tennessee
Robert Lawson died in 1837, some 12 years before Scott County was formed. His wife, Anna, died in 1850. It isn’t known where either of them are buried.
Robert Lawson was listed in Campbell County when the 1830 census was taken. The Huntsville area was a part of Campbell County prior to 1849. Anna Lawson doesn’t appear in the 1850 census — she may have died before it was taken — so we do not know for sure that they actually lived in Scott County.
However, there are some records to support the assumption that they did. One is an 1810 land grant for 100 acres on New River, adjacent to Randolph Lawson and “the Goads.” There was also an 1836 land entry referring to a tract of land along the “Montgomery Fork of New River.” This area would have been in Scott County when it was formed in 1849. Most conclusive of all is Anna Lawson’s court petition to request a dower of her late husband’s real estate, which was filed on April 3, 1837, in Campbell County. The court appointed a commission that included Allen McDonald and Blackburn Thompson. Both McDonald and Thompson lived in the Huntsville area, suggesting that Robert and Anna’s property was also located in the Huntsville area.
All of the evidence is circumstantial, but it supports the idea that there was a fourth Lawson brother in Scott County: Randolph, David, John, and Robert. And, if that much is true, it must also support the idea that there is a fourth Revolutionary War veteran who was “forgotten” when the courthouse plaque was placed in 1976: Robert Lawson, brother of Randolph, David, and John Lawson, husband of Anna Goad, son-in-law of Abraham Goad.
Robert and Anna had at least four children: Sophronia Jane Lawson, Lucretia Lawson, James Robert Lawson, and David Lawson. Sophia (1794-1880) married Richard Griffith, a son of Revolutionary War veteran Joseph Griffith of Brimstone Creek.
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