My Genealogy Hound

Capt. J. G. Thomason, clerk of the Circuit Court of Weakley County, was born in Henry County, Tenn., in 1825. His father, Richard Lee Thomason, was born in North Carolina, in 1801, and was a farmer by occupation. In 1820 he left his native State and came to Rutherford County, Tenn., where he married Elizabeth Smith the same year of his arrival. He resided in Henry and Weakley Counties the remainder of his days and died in the latter county in August, 1881. He was magistrate of his district in Henry County for about twenty-three years, and was a man of sound judgment and true worth. His wife was born in North Carolina in 1802, and came to Tennessee in 1820. She is yet living, and although in her eighty-fifth year, is in good health. Of their nine children, seven are living. J. G. Thomason was educated in Henry County, and at the age of twenty began clerking in a dry goods store. In 1845 he was elected constable of the Tenth District and served four years. October 13, 1851, he married Sarah C. Peck, born in Weakley County, in 1834. They have five children: Temperance E. (Mrs. Robert Carman), Lela May (Mrs. E. H. Ayers), John P., Sarah G. and Stella. In 1852 Mr. Thomason moved to Weakley County and began merchandising in Gleason. In 1854 he bought a farm and followed tilling the soil for seventeen years. He was elected circuit court clerk of Weakley County in 1860, but in the spring of 1861 raised Company G, Fifty-first Tennessee Infantry, and as elected captain. He was at Shiloh, Perryville and in numerous severe skirmishes, and in 1863 was captured near his home and taken to Johnson’s Island, where he was retained three months, After his exchange he served until the surrender of Richmond, then returned home. In 1870 he was again elected circuit court clerk and has been re-elected four times in succession. He has been a life-long Democrat and belongs to the Masonic, I. O. O. F. and K. of H. fraternities. He and Mrs. Thomason are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.