My Genealogy Hound

Andrew Jackson Lawson’s birth occurred in Smith County, Tenn., September 12, 1836, son of Horace and Tabitha (Alexander) Lawson, and is of English-Irish descent. His father was born in the “Blue-grass State” in 1800, and his mother in Sumner County, Tenn., in 1810. The Lawson family came from Maryland to Kentucky, thence to Smith County, Tenn., thence to Obion County in 1850, and here Horace Lawson died in 1883. Andrew J. was one of twelve children and was reared on a farm, and after attending the common schools, entered Bethel College in Carroll County. In 1860 he began reading law in the office of Roulhac & Lauderdale, and later attended Lebanon Law School. In 1861 he enlisted in Company E, First Kentucky Regiment, and served as second sergeant until the reorganization of the army under the conscript act, in the spring of 1862, when he was elected captain of Company E, First Kentucky Regiment, and after it was disbanded at Richmond, Va., in July, 1862, he came west and joined Henderson’s scouts, of Forrest’s cavalry, with which command he served till paroled May 14, 1865. He then began practicing law in Union City, in partnership with Capt. D. D. Bell; but since 1869, has been engaged in farming. In the fall of 1884 he removed to Union City, and there now resides. March 16, 1865, witnessed his marriage to Mary R. Dunn, of Mississippi, born in 1840. They have two daughters: Mary R. and Rebecca V. Mr. Lawson is a Democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Jefferson Davis. He made the race three different times for the State Legislature as a radical State credit man. His wife died of cholera in 1873 and in 1876 he married Mary A. Batte, of Giles County, who is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.