Major Correction in the Clark Family Tree!!

Last week, I received an inquiry on Ancestry.com which caused me to do some major research.   It read, "I think you have made a mistake in the last name of the wife of James E. Clark.   I believe she was Ann Lawson, not Ann Larson."

I immediately brought out the original copies of the two photographs I have of James Clark's wife.   They were both given to me by my paternal grandmother, Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark.   I had asked both my grandmothers to identify the photographs they gave me, and they complied.    One of the photos of Ann has a wide black broader.   Grandmother Mabel must have had a hard time writing on it but chose pencil.   Sure enough, I had mis-read what she had written.   Using a magnifying glass, I carefully examined the writing and found the name on the back to be:   Ann Lawson Clark.    I looked on Ancestry.com, and I believe that several distant cousins have copied my genealogy work there.   As a result, you will all need to change Ann "LARSON" to Ann "LAWSON," wife of James E. Clark.

This is a photo of Ann LAWSON Clark taken about 1890.   She and her husband James E. Clark were both photographed at the same time, but separately.

 

 

 

This is the photograph of James E. Clark taken about 1890 and a companion to the photograph of Ann Lawson Clark above.

 

 

This is a photograph of Mrs. Ann Lawson Clark taken in 1910 after the death of her husband, James E. Clark.  The handwritting is that of Mabel Rachel (Jones) Clark.

 

 

I knew that Ann and James E. Clark moved from Putnam County, Indiana to the Snokomo Community, Newbury Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas in 1878.    I had searched the U. S. Census for 1850 and 1860 but had found no Ann Larson or any Larson family that could have been the parents of Ann Larson.

 

 

Now that I know the name was incorrect, I began a new search of Clay and Putnam Counties in Indiana, this time looking for Lawson.    It didn't take long at all to find Ann with her family living on a farm in Washington Township, Putnam County, which her father had purchased from the Federal Land Office in Vincennes, Indiana in 1843.    This farm would have been about five miles from the farms of the extended Clark family near the little settlement of Harmony in Clay County, Indiana.

 

As I did further research, I found other marriages between the Clark and Lawson Family and also that one of Ann's brothers, James Lawson, had moved his family from Indiana to Mission Creek Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas and is shown there on the 1880 U.S. Census.

 

Here is what I know at this time about the Lawson Family.    The parents of Ann Lawson Clark were:

 

Willis Lawson born in 1794 in Virginia, and his wife Mary, whose maiden name I have not yet found.   However census information indicates that his wife Mary was also born in Virginia in 1804.  I have not found the exact death date or location for Willis Lawson but it is believed he died in Putnam County, Indiana in about 1845.    Mary died in Putnam County, Indiana in 1860.

 

There may be more children, but I'm pretty certain they were the parents of the following:

 

Leason Lawson, born in Shelby County, Kentucky in 1820 and died March 20, 1854 in Vigo

                             County, Indiana.

James Lawson, born Shelby County, Kentucky in May 11, 1825 and died at Soldier, Shawnee

                          County, Kansas on December 28, 1901.   He is buried in Rochester Cemetery,

                          Shawnee County, Kansas.

 

Martha Elizabeth "Betsy" Lawson born 1834 and married James Graves

 

Sarah Ann Lawson, born 1837 and died 1915

 

Nancy Lawson, born 1840 in Putnam County, Indiana

 

Amanda Lawson, born 1842 in Putnam County, Indiana

 

Ann Lawson, born 1845 in Putnam County, Indiana and died 1917 in Wabaunsee County, Kansas.

 

Since Ann Lawson was born in the year her father likely died, she is the youngest and last child of Willis and Mary Lawson.

 

 

I'm still doing research on the parents and grandparents of Willis Lawson, but they are believed to be

Robert and Anne (Goad) Lawson of Montgomery County, Virginia and William "The Scottish Rebel" Lawson and Rebecca Jane (Banks) Lawson of Scott County, Virginia.    I'll report more on that after I've done considerably more research.

 

I have more information about the siblings of Ann Lawson Clark and will write about that at a later date.   I wanted to get this major error corrected as soon as possible for I do ask for forgiveness from others who I have send down the wrong genealogical road.