The two men I married (Bobby Don Harris and the late George Robert Yarbrough) were native Tennesseans.  They never knew each other but, surprisingly, both men had direct ancestors who settled early in Fayette County, AL, and appear to have prospered there.  I would like to recognize these prominent pioneers with a few brief biographies.

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WILLIAMSON HARRIS was born in 1787 in Virginia to Ralph Harris and Mary McCaul.  He moved to Georgia with his father and uncles in 1806 and fought in the War of 1812 (Indian Wars).  He married 1st in Georgia to Sarah Baldwin.  Williamson had moved to Perry County, AL, by 05 May 1826, when he obtained 80 acres (federal land patent 2225) in present Dallas County, AL.  He was residing in Lowndes County, MS, on 01 Apr 1837, when he obtained 81 acres (patent 15557) in what was then Fayette County, AL.  He was “of Fayette County” when he obtained 40 more acres (patent 23244) on 20 Sep 1839.  The last two land patents were located in Section 21, Township 17 South, Range 14 West, near Kennedy in what is now eastern Lamar County, AL (cut from Fayette in 1867).  In the Census of 1840, Williamson Harris along with five children and 10 slaves are found in Fayette County.  In the Census of 1850, Williamson and his family were at household 600 in Beat 6, 16 Division of Fayette County.  He was listed in the 1850 Slave Schedules as having 6 slaves, which appear to be a young black family with mostly small children.  By the 1860 Census, the Harris family had moved west to Tishomingo County, MS.  Williamson Harris died in 1871 near Burnsville, MS.

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AUGUSTUS M. HARRIS, born in 1828, son of Williamson Harris, would have been residing in his father’s Fayette County, AL, home in 1840.  In the Census of 1850, Augustus, his wife and two children resided in household 602 in Beat 6, 16 Division of Fayette County.  He obtained land patent 29189 for 159 acres in Fayette County on 01 Apr 1859.  This land was located in Sections 13 and 14, Township 17 South, Range 14 West, about a mile or two east of his father’s farm in present Lamar County, AL. In the 1860 Census, he, his wife and seven children lived at household 556 in the Middle Division of Fayette County.  Augustus served in the 41st Alabama Infantry Regiment, Co. B, during the Civil War.  Except for his three oldest children, the whereabouts of Augustus and the rest of the family after the War is unknown to us.

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WILLIAM THOMAS HARRIS, born in 1847, son of Augustus M. Harris, was residing in his father’s home in Fayette County, AL, in both the 1850 and the 1860 federal censuses.  In the 1870s, he and his two oldest sisters, Mary Jane and Francis, are found in Tipton County, TN.  William Thomas Harris married Caledonia Cooper in Tipton County, TN, where their six children were born.  They moved to Gibson County in the early 1900s; Caledonia died there in 1917, and William followed in 1925.  Francis Harris married a Rollins.  Mary Jane Harris married (1) Rollins, (2) Johns, and (3) Rollins.  Both Harris sisters are buried in Madison County, TN.

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THOMAS COOPER, born about 1817 in South Carolina, was in the 1860 Census in household 572, Middle Division of Fayette County, AL, along with his wife Mary and eight children.  By 1870, the family had moved to Tipton County, TN.  Thomas died there about 1880.  His daughter, Caledonia, married William Thomas Harris, a former neighbor from Fayette County, AL.

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SAMUEL RICHARDSON was born in 1809 in South Carolina.  He married Rachel Owen in 1831 in Alabama.  He obtained numerous federal land patents in Alabama, with at least three (32911, 34882 and 37047) in southwestern Fayette County.  He, his wife and five younger children were residing in household 544 in the Census of 1860, Middle Division of Fayette County, AL.  Samuel died in 1880 in Pickens County, AL.  He and Rachel had eleven children, six of whom served in the Confederate army from three different states:

(1)    William Asbury Richardson, born in 1832 in SC.  Married Rebecca Owen.  Was in the 1860 Census in household 433.  Ten children.  Served in Co. B, 41st Alabama Infantry Regiment.  Died in Tipton County, TN, in 1901.

(2)     John Wesley Richardson, born in 1833 in SC.  Served in Co. G, 41st Alabama Infantry Regiment.  Died in Tuscaloosa, AL, in 1862 as a result of the War.  Married Caroline, who applied for Widow’s Pension #32752 in Fayette County.  Three children. 

(3)     Robert Owen Richardson, born in 1836 in SC.  Served in Co. I, 1st Regiment (Butlers), South Carolina Infantry.  Ten children.  Died in 1916 in Anderson County, SC.

(4)     James Elliot Richardson, born in 1837 in GA.  Married Synthia Summers in 1865 in AL.  Seven children.  Served in Co. I, 26th (O’Neals), Alabama Infantry.  Died in Lauderdale County, TN, in 1915.

(5)     Samuel Jasper Richardson, born in 1845 in GA.  Served in Co. H, 6th Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry.  Married Elizabeth Owens in Fayette County, AL, in 1865.  Four children.  Died in 1921 in Fayette County; buried there at Chapel Hill Baptist Church Cemetery.

(6)     Thomas Newton Richardson, born in 1845 in GA.  Married Elizabeth Ophelia Ellis in 1868. Two children.  Served in the War with twin brother, Samuel Jasper.  Died in 1913 in Fayette County; buried there at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church Cemetery.

Another son, Warren Monroe Richardson, was too young to serve in the War.  He was born in 1850 in GA.  Married Nancy A. Ellis in Lamar County, AL, in 1875.  Seven children.  Buried in Lamar County.