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(This portion is taken from "ALDEN WILLIAMSON GENEALOGY: A GENEALOGICAL RECORD
OF ALDEN WILLIAMSON'S FAMILY IN PIKE, MARTIN, FLOYD, JOHNSON, LAWRENCE AND BOYD
COUNTIES IN KENTUCKY AND MINGO, WAYNE, LOGAN, LINCOLN, CABELL AND WYOMING
COUNTIES IN WEST VIRGINIA" written by Joseph W. Alley, a Great-Grandson of
Rebecca Williamson.) "Alden Williamson, the subject of this book, was born, according to all our
family records, in New Kent County, Virginia, in the year of 1750. He enlisted
for military service in Finecastle County which is near Roanoke, Virginia.
After the war was ended, Alden migrated westward to Tazewell or Russell County.
He married Isabel Thompson. The date and place of their marriage is unknown.
Mrs. Geraldine Geiger of Ashland (Kentucky) has an item and a hunch (sic) of
interest concerning Isabel. The item is: 'Rebecca Cecil, sister to Marion
Cecil, of Pikeville, told me that a Richard and Millie Thompson raised a boy
named Hammond Williamson and another Williamson boy, children of Alden and
Isabel Williamson.' The hunch is: That the Thompsons of Lawrence County are
relatives of Isabel. That should be interesting for a genealogical researcher
to follow. Part One of this genealogy is a record of Alden and Isabel's children's
families. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 do give considerable genealogical records of
the families of Benjamin, born in 1779; John, born in 1781; Richard, born in
1786. The record of Hammond is blunt (sic) as he moved to Indiana about 1835.
He was born in or about 1783 and married Ruth Ford in 1803. Hammond was a
Baptist Minister. A daughter, Ann, is listed in family records. Some state
she died young; others that she married and remained in Virginia. Isabel died young, probably about thirty years of age. The exact date or place
of her death is unknown. Though the date was not long after the birth of her
son Richard, who was born in 1786." (from the INTRODUCTION of the same book) "This book, titled ALDEN WILLIAMSON, is primarily a genealogy of his
descendants in and adjacent to the Big Sandy Valley in Eastern Kentucky and
Southern West Virginia. The author has made no research east of the Cumberland
Mountains. Information contained herein was obtained by visitations, by
correspondence, by searching the public records in various counties in this
territory and from a partial record of this family, made before 1900, by Peter
H. Alley, a great uncle of this author. The Huntington Herald-Dispatch Information Bureau of Washington, D. C., writes
thus: "The surname 'Williamson' is Welsh and English. It means the son of
William, which means resolution or helmet." The name, William, is prominent in
English history, one being designated, William the Conqueror, a title which
would suggest a man of resolution. His second and favorite son, William Rufus,
heir to his father's throne, fills the requirements of the Information Bureau.
He was the most famous son of the most famous William of English history. Thus
the surname 'Williamson' originated. Family records state that Alden Williamson was born about 1750 in New Kent
County, Virginia, the son of Hugh Williamson, who came to America from Wales,
England, in 1720. New Kent County is in the James River Valley, east of
Richmond. We next notice Alden in the military records of Virginia. In Annals
of Southwest Virginia, 1769-1800, Private Alden Williamson is listed in Captain
William Campbell's Company, in the Fincastle County Battalion. He is also
listed in Robert Doak's Company of Militia in the Battle of Point Pleasant in
1774. All our family records state Alden Williamson's first wife was Isabell
Thompson, but none give definitely when or where they were married. Records
partly official and partly traditional are to the effect that after the
Revolutionary War was over, Alden came to the Clinch River Valley in Western
Virginia. Whether he had married in Fincastle County and they together or they
were married in Tazwell County is not known. Alden and Isabel's family; Benjamin born in 1779, John born in 1781, Hammond
born in 1783, Ann born in 1784, and Richard born in 1786; were born in the
Clinch River Valley and Isabel died there. Tradition states that Hammond and
Richard were reared by their mother's parents. After the death of his first wife, Alden married Mary Elizabeth Jackson who was
several years younger than himself. Most family records do not have the name
Mary as part of his second wife's name. It is added here in order to conform
with the Wayne County records which list her name, Polly. Since Polly is a
substitute name for Mary and Mary Elizabeth is a popular name combination, we
conclude that her name was Mary Elizabeth. We will now take up the subject of the date of Alden's migration to the Big
Sandy Valley. All our family records state that they came between 1775 and
1790. Local historians say there were no Williamsons in the Big Sandy Valley
in 1793. The Census Bureau states that Alden's children were born in Virginia
as late as 1801. There is a rumor that Alden first settled in the Big Sandy
Valley at the mouth of Laurel Fork of Pigeon Creek, then in Virginia, but now
Lenore in Mingo County, West Virginia. This would take care of the Census
report that his children were born in Virginia up to and including 1801, and
allow him to have come any time after 1793. This report, however, of his
settling at the mouth of Laurel Fork of Pigeon Creek, is not supported by later
known records of the family. The first Williamson record found in any of the Big Sandy Valley counties is
the record of the marriage of Hammond Williamson and Ruth Ford on October 29,
1803. It is found in File 77 of the Floyd County records. Another first
record is that of the birth of Nancy Williamson to John and Elender (Black)
Williamson at the mouth of Shelby Creek, in Pike County, in the year of 1803.
We have found no records of any of Alden's family living in (West) Virginia
prior to 1820. Records in deed books do show that all of Alden's children did own land in
Pike, Floyd, Johnson, and Martin Counties in Kentucky. Later, some of them
moved over to (West) Virginia. The Census reports state that of Alden's second
family; Alden Jr., Elizabeth, Hiram, Nancy, and Solomon who was born in 1801,
were born in Virginia, and William, Elias, Elijah, and James were born in
Kentucky. The above evidence points to a conclusion that Alden Williamson's
family came to the Big Sandy Valley not before the year of 1801. 'Over the Hill to Our House,' would not be appropriate in this case, for there
was no house. Likely though, in some instances, the men came first and built
some kind of shelter, then later brought their families. A man could make the
trip from the Clinch Valley to Floyd County in those days in less than a week.
Many has been the visits across the Cumberlands from either side. Nature's
blessings, with deprivations, were abundant. There was game in the 'woods'
from bear down to the squirrel, wild honey to be found in hollow trees, fish in
the streams, and no game laws. Gardens would soon grow and in the meantime
wild 'greens' was plentiful. Range for livestock in the summer and 'mast' for
the hogs in the fall and winter. With all this; the family was mighty proud
of a good crib of corn in the fall of the year. It meant bread, meat, milk,
and eggs for the family thorugh the winter, also feed for the workstock. In those days, it was not unusual to see a man plowing a steer instead of a
horse. One man reported his days plowing thus: "I plowed 'Old Brown' one day.
We plowed three quarters of an acre, killed two copperheads and one
rattlesnake, and dug half a pound of 'sang'." Another man reported thus: "I
was going across a hill one day and saw a bear with its front feet upon a hog it
had killed. I stopped and looked, the bear looked. After a few moments of
this, I said, "If you don't run I'm a goin to'. The bear took off." Many
grandpas and grandmas have entertained the families with stories of pioneer
life, but none seems to hold the spotlight like the story of Jenny Wiley's
capture by the Indians. Little Paint Creek is named in family records as the place where Alden and his
family first settled in Kentucky. This creek empties into Levisa river a few
yards south of the C. & O. railroad station, East Point, half way between
Paintsville and Prestonsburg. The valley is unique, being entirely surrounded
by hills except for a few hundred feet of gorge through which the creek runs
under US-KY Route 23 and the C. & O. Railroad to the river. It was from this point that Jenny Wiley called to the settlers in Harmon's
Station and was ferried across the river. Harmon's Station was on a tract now
known as Block House Bottom. This bottom is half moon shape, containing about
fifty acres and is bounded on the west and curved side by the Levisa River and
on the east by a wooded hill. It is between one and two miles below the mouth
of Johns Creek. From a farmer's viewpoint, the Little Paint Creek Valley does not look too
attractive. There are, however, numerous patches of bottom land and little
branches coming in from either side. From a hunter's point of view, it maY
have been ideal. Most family records state that when Alden's family settled here they were in
Floyd County. That is correct. From 1787 to 1800 the Kentucky part of the Big
Sandy Valley was in Mason County. In 1800, Floyd County was organized, in 1821
Lawrence and Pike were organized into counties. In 1870 Martin County was
organized mainly of Rockcastle and Wolf Creek Valleys. The mouth of Little
Paint Creek is one of the corners between Johnson and Floyd Counties. It is the opinion of the author, that Alden and his family did not long reside
on Little Paint Creek. In the Floyd County records, there are deeds recorded
showing that all four sons of his first family, Benjamin, John, Hammond, and
Richard, owned farms on lower John's Creek, in the vicinity where Jenny Wiley
settled. While in the Lawrence County records, there are deeds recorded
showing that his last family owned land on Rockcastle Creek, which was then in
Lawrence County but in Martin County since 1870. Some of the last family owned
land joining Tug River. Three, Elias, James, and Nancy came over into Wayne
County, West Virginia. The last item in family records, states that Alden Williamson died in 1816,
while going down the Tug River on a raft of timber. He is buried on the Bill
Little farm, formerly the Sam Endicott farm. This farm is on the Kentucky side
of the river, a short distance below the mouth of West Virginia Camp Creek. It
is not known when his last wife died or where she is buried. |