My Genealogy Hound

John N. Williamson, of Arkansas, planter and stock raiser, was born in Marshall County, Tenn., in 1822. His father was John Williamson, of Virginia, who married Mary Hunter, of South Carolina, and was a farmer and one of the early settlers of Tennessee, where he died, in Marshall County, in 1832, his widow surviving till 1852. John N., the sixth in a family of eight children, was raised on the farm and received his education in the subscription schools of Tennessee. He followed the life of a farmer, and in 1850 moved to Greene County, Mo., where he remained for five years, then going to Cedar County, of the same State, and in the fall of 1800 removed to Sharp County, Ark., engaging in farming part of the time during the war, in Missouri. In 1866 he came to Jackson County, Ark., located at Elgin, renting land, and in 1870 bought a timber tract of 160 acres, on which there were no improvements, and no settlement between there and Elgin. For 120 acres of this land he paid $16 an acre, and for forty acres, $10. He at once cleared off a place for a cabin, and commenced clearing and improving the land, until now he has eighty acres under cultivation, on which is a good orchard. He raises a good grade of stock. In 1847 Mr. Williamson married Willmarth Roberts, a native of Marshall County, Tenn., born in 1829, the daughter of Jeremiah and Rebecca (Jones) Roberts, of Virginia and North Carolina, who were among the early settlers of Tennessee. They have been dead some years. To Mr. and Mrs. Williamson have been born twelve children, eight of whom are living: Narcissa (died at the age of nine), James M. (died at the age of twenty), Thomas N. (of Jefferson Township), Mary E. (died at the age of sixteen), Christopher C. (of Bird Township), John F. (of Western Arkansas), Andrew Jackson (died at the age of twenty), William S., Sarah Frances (resides in the West), Virginius F., Josephine J. (at home), and Monroe Pinckney (at home). Mrs. Williamson is a Baptist in belief. Mr. Williamson is a Democrat, but not an office seeker, and always takes an active interest in public enterprises for the advancement of the county. Our subject is practically a self-made man, and one of the leading citizens of the county.