John McCurdy Williamson

John McCurdy Williamson still eludes me in most ways, but thanks to my cousin, Cheryl VanHoose, and her finding of the family tree page out of an old family bible, we now know the names of John M’s parents.

John Williamson – who John M indicates as being born in Ireland or Virginia, depending on which census you believe.

Harriet McCurdy who was born in South Carolina according to John M on census records.

 

  John, the elder, is just as elusive as his son at this point, and Harriet is proving difficult as well…. so I traded one brick wall for 3.

 

  Census records indicate John M. was born in 1819 (give or take) and the accepted birth date amongst the family is 14 Feb 1819.

  I have no information whatsoever until John M. shows up in the US Army, enlisted for the Mexican War. I managed to find electronic copies of his Mexican War records, they will be posted soon here, and are on my Ancestry.com page if you’d like to have access, just ask.

  According to a document signed in 1898 by a Colonel F. Aimsworth, John M. William(scrawl) Pvt. Co. G, 3rd Reg. Tenn. Inf was enrolled Sept. 20, 1847 and mustered in Oct 6(to date Oct 4)1847 at Nashville Tenn and Mustered Out as John M. Williamson with Co, a privt. July 24 1848 at Memphis, Tenn.

  The above is copied as best as I can read the writing on the copy I have that is stamped Oct 10, 1898. It also states that there was no other soldier in the 3rd regiment, Tenn. Inf named John or John M. Williamson, so this must have been him.

  I then lose track of John again (elusive man, never shows up on any census I can find) until he marries Sarah ‘Fox’ Lee in March of 1863. Sarah was a widow, her first husband having died of pneumonia in Bolivar, TN in early Nov 1862 while serving in the Union Army during the War of Northern Aggression. Sarah was the mother of two daughters, having lost two more as infants it seems. Descendants of Sarah’s daughters are listed in these pages also, since the families tie in and out more than once.