I82099: John BLACKISTONE (ca 1670 or 1715

Notes

Wilson Lumpkin Birth: Jan. 14, 1783 Death: Dec. 28, 1870: Member of Georgia state house of representatives, 1808. Member of Georgia state senate, 1812. US Representative from Georgia, 1815-17, 1827-31. Governor of Georgia, 1831-35. US Senator from Georgia, 1837-41. Lumpkin County, Georgia is named for him.

Judge, Oglethorpe County. State Representative. United States Representative. U. S. Indian Treaty, Commissioner. United States Senator. Led Georgia opposition to South Carolina's move to "nullify" federal tariff laws, but demanded state control over Indian affairs, even defying the U. S. Supreme Court and federal treaties in his efforts to force the Cherokees out of Georgia.

LUMPKIN, Wilson, statesman, born in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, 14 January, 1783; died in Athens, Georgia, 28 December, 1870. He removed to Oglethorpe county, Georgia, with his father, in 1784, and, the latter having been appointed in 1797 clerk of the superior court there, the son became an assistant in his office, studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practised at Athens, Georgia When about twenty-one years of age he was elected to the legislature, and was subsequently re-elected several times. In 1823 he was appointed by President Monroe to mark out the boundary-line between Georgia and Florida, and he was afterward one of the first commissioners under the Cherokee treaty of 1835. He served in congress from 1815 till 1817, and from 1827 till 1831: and in the United States senate, to which he was elected in place of John P. King, resigned, from 13 December, 1837, till 3 March, 1841. He was elected governor of Georgia in 1831 and 1833, and was one of the original members of the board of public works that was created by the legislature.--His brother, Joseph Henry, jurist, born in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, 23 December. 1799; died in Athens, Georgia, 4 June, 1867, was educated at the University of Georgia, and at Princeton, where he was graduated in 1819. In 1820 he was admitted to the bar, and began practice at Lexington, where he soon gained eminence in his profession. In 1844 he retired from the bar in consequence of ill health, and shortly afterward visited Europe. In 1845, during his absence, the supreme court of Georgia was reorganized, and he was elected justice, and afterward became chief justice, which office he held until his death. Judge Lumpkin was elected professor of rhetoric and oratory in the University of Georgia in 1846, but declined; and subsequently was elected professor of law in the institution attached to the university, which was named Lumpkin law-school in his honor, He discharged the duties of his professorship successfully until the civil war disbanded the institution, and, afterward resuming his chair, retained it till his death. In 1855 President Pierce tendered him a seat on the bench of the court of claims, which he declined, as he did also the chancellorship of the University of Georgia, to which he was elected in 1860. He was an advocate of the cause of temperance, and for many years a trustee of the State university. He held a high place as a judge and as an advocate at the bar in criminal cases, and his appeals to the sympathy of jurors have been rarely equalled. He was one of the compilers of the penal code of Georgia in 1833

.--Wilson's son, John Henry, jurist, born in Oglethorpe county, Georgia, 13 June, 1812; died in Rome, Georgia, 6 June, 1860, was educated at Franklin and Yale colleges, studied law, was admitted to the bar in March, 1834, and began practice at Rome, Georgia He was a member of the state house of representatives in 1835, and was solicitor-general of the Cherokee circuit in 1838. He was elected to congress, serving by successive elections from 4 December, 1843, till 3 March, 1849, and from 3 December, 1855, till 3 March, 1857, and was for several years a judge of the state supreme court.
Edited Appletons Encyclopedia, Copyright © 2001 VirtualologyTM

WILSON LUMPKIN (1783-1870), Governor of Georgia, Congressman and U.S. Senator, was the son of John Lumpkin, who was the son of George Lumpkin and Mary Cody. Apparently his first name was after John Wilson, a colonel in Virginia during the Revolutionary War who was married to Mary Lumpkin, his father's sister. Gov. Lumpkin apparently took great pride in his family heritage, for he left several writings on the subject. Gov. Lumpkin's monument, in Athens, Georgia, reads:

WILSON LUMPKIN
Born Jan. 14, 1783 in Pittsylvania County, Virginia
Came to Georgia, 1784
Died at Athens December 18, 1870
He served his State as
Legislator, Congressman, Governor
Commissioner to Cherokee Indians
State Agent W&A RR, U.S. Senator
Trustee of the University of Georgia
And died full of years and honor.

Wilson Lumpkin (Gov. of Georgia from 1831-35, and U.S. Senator), had the dubious distinction of advocating and planning for the "removal" of the Cherokee Indians to the Indian Territory in the west. The book THE GOVERNORS OF GEORGIA, which gives short biographies of each governor, under Wilson Lumpkin's name states "He removed the Cherokees", and says that he took greater pride in this accomplishment than anything else he did in public service.

The forced removal of the Cherokee and the four other "civilized tribes" (Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole) from Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi and other southern states, to the west of the Mississippi River in Oklahoma (Indian Territory) on the "Trail of Tears," The Cherokee removal took place during the winter of 1838-39, at the same time that the Mormons were being driven from Missouri.

Governor Lumpkin alone cannot be held personally responsible for the removal of the Cherokees, for he was only one of many who were "ganging up" against them. He was trying to do according to what the majority of the citizens of his state wanted, and to preserve the peace and the rule of law, in the way he thought was best. In a book or article entitled "Removal of the Cherokee Indians from Georgia," Governor Lumpkin wrote of his family background:

"I am a native of Virginia, and was born in Pittsylvania County, January 14, 1783. When I was one year old my father removed to Georgia and settled in that part of the state then known as Wilkes County, now Oglethorpe County. My parents were of English descent on both sides, and (Virginia was) the birthplace of them and their ancestors for several generations past.

"My father and his father, George Lumpkin, settled on Long Creek (Georgia) in the year 1784. "Blessed by nature with a fine commanding person, upwards of six feet high and perfectly erect in his carriage; naturally fluent in speech, polite, courteous, and exceedingly popular in his deportment, yet he had sufficient command of his feelings to control his temper when his judgment deemed it proper and expedient to forbear.

"He was a man of affairs, a strong character, courageous, thoroughly honest, a good conversationalist, a man of sound judgment with a pleasing personality.

"During a long public life in various County Offices, few men ever maintained a more uniform popularity; although sometimes censured and blamed as a Public Officer, yet upon due investigation he never failed to rise higher in the public esteem.

"He was for many years acting Magistrate, or Justice of the Peace, in Wilkes County. After the creation of Oglethorpe County, 1794, he was for many years, Judge of the Inferior Court; was a member of the Legislature which passed the Rescinding Act of the Yazoo Fraud; a member of the Convention which framed the present Constitution of Georgia; was elected a Jeffersonian Elector of President and Vice-President; was many years Clerk of the Superior Court of Oglethorpe County, besides in many trusts too tedious to mention.

"These different positions always brought within reach of the family, a knowledge of many local public matters which were not accessible to many of the rising generation of that day.

"In his home were found more newspapers, books, and reading matter, than was common to families of that period in similar circumstances; in other respects few men retained so large a share of popularity through life in their respective spheres than he did. From the first settlement of the county to this day, he and his immediate descendants have maintained as much character and influence in the County of Oglethorpe as has fallen to the lot of any other whatever.

"My mother was a woman of great strength of mind, deeply imbued with the religion of the Bible, with which Book she was so familiar as to need no Concordance to find any passage of Scripture she desired."
Letter of Governor Wilson Lumpkin to his daughter, Mrs. Ann Alden:

Athens, Ga., Oct. 20, 1852
My dear daughter,

After I shall have seen the last of earth, some of my descendants may feel some interest in knowing some of the genealogy of our family; such things as I have not recorded; a few of which I will now append, in the form of a letter addressed to you.

Unimportant and commonplace as these things may appear to others; there may be one yet unborn, who, like myself, would willingly dwell on the pages of the past.

In the History of England I find the name of Lumpkin, and though not conspicuously enrolled upon the pages of fame, I find nothing of reproach. Indications of mind utility and industry, may be described from the little I have seen of the name "Lumpkin" as an English name.

Among the early settlers of Virginia, I find the name of Col. (Jacob) Lumpkin, who settled in King & Queen County in the old Dominion, in the Sixteenth Century. He brought with him from England a small marble tablet, or tombstone, to be placed on his grave (more likely it was actually brought over later), and there it stood a few years ago, unimpaired by time. I had a copy of the inscription taken from this stone, but it is now mislaid or lost, and I cannot now be accurate as to dates, etc.

From this individual as far as I have been able to ascertain, have descended all the Lumpkin family of the United States, some of whom are to be found in many of the States of our great and widely extended confederacy.

My father was probably a great-grandson of Col. (Jacob) Lumpkin. My father in his youth on a visit to the coast of Virginia, visited the tomb of this, our first American ancestor. One motive of his visit was to settle a disputed issue between my grandfather and his brother, Joseph (my old schoolmaster) in regard to spelling the name "Lumpkin." My grandfather left out the "p". My father's visit to the grave settled the controversy, the "p" was in it, and so we have all spelled the name ever since (excepting my grandfather, who continued to leave the "p" out to the day of his death, in writing his name).

My grandfather gave me many interest details concerning our ancestry, which I deem it unnecessary to reiterate here; suffice it to say while we have no royal blood, or aristocratic blood to boast of, I am content to know that we have no reproach or taint from our progenitors. If there be anything to produce a blush, it must be sought for in the present generation, of which I leave others to make up the record.

The Lumpkins, like all other families, have doubtless peculiar traits of character, but it would not become me to dwell upon these distinguishing traits, whether to our credit or discredit as a family. I feel that I may be allowed to say, industry and honesty are common traits in the Lumpkin family. The reason why few of them have become wealthy, is neither for want of industry, talent, or vigilant care; it is because they are not disposed to hoard; but rather to enjoy the fruits of their industry.

Allow me to state; many of my father's family in early times, were remarkable for their gigantic proportions and physical power. My grandfather had a brother by the name of Anthony, who had twelve sons, all born of one mother. None of them were under six feet in height; their average weight being over two hundred pounds, yet none of them carried any surplus flesh. I have seen four of these giant sons of old Uncle Anthony, and truly they were most extraordinary men in physical appearance and power.

The Lumpkins have been a most prolific race of people. My grandfather, however, lost most of his children in infancy. He reared but three sons and one daughter who reared families of children, all of whom, except my father, continued to reside in Virginia to the close of their lives, except one of my father's brothers who came to Georgia at a later period of life, and died there.

The maiden name of my grandmother Lumpkin was Cody; and she, like all the rest of those days, was a most excellent woman; just what the best of women should be. The Cody family of Warren County were her near relations; and upon investigation you will find them to be a highly respectable and meritorious family of people.

My grandfather's three sons were named Robert, George, and John, and his daughter, Mary, after her mother.
(Signed) WILSON LUMPKIN

In the state of Georgia there is a county and also a town named for Governor Lumpkin: Lumpkin County is in northern Georgia, where the old Cherokee town of Dahlonega and the Dahlonega Gold Museum is located. In another part of the state is a town called Lumpkin -- along the western border of Georgia towards the south, in Stewart County. Within the town of Lumpkin is a reconstructed farming village called Westville, a living historical village which shows the handicrafts and culture of Georgia during the 1850's. Also it is said that "the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company was chartered in 1833, with Lumpkin as a director. When the railroad finally was completed in 1851, the route closely followed the one he had selected in 1825. The southern terminus of the railroad, in DeKalb County, has had several names. Originally White Hall, it was changed to Terminus, then Marthasville, in honor of Governor Lumpkin's daughter. This town finally became the city of Atlanta, Georgia."

Joseph Henry Lumpkin, a brother of Wilson Lumpkin, became Georgia's first Chief Justice, and two other brothers became ministers. The law school of the University of Georgia is named the Lumpkin Law School, after Joseph Henry Lumpkin, and Wilson Lumpkin's former home is located on the University campus, on land which he gave to the University when he helped to found it.

John Henry Lumpkin, a nephew, was a lawyer, solicitor general of Georgia, and U.S. Representative to Congress from Georgia. He was defeated by a small margin in his run for governor of Georgia.

Samuel Lumpkin, a great-nephew of Wilson Lumpkin, was a lawyer, member of the state legislature and senate, and at the time of his death was presiding justice of the supreme court of Georgia. In a tribute to him presented before the supreme court, it was said that

"Samuel Lumpkin was one in whose mortal tenement burned the flame of loftiest manhood. He was ... a member of a family whose name has been one of prominence in the annals of American history ... The name of Lumpkin adds luster to the political annals of the state of Georgia, and to the records of the bench and bar of this commonwealth ... John Lumpkin, great-grandfather of Samual Lumpkin ... was a man of force and ability such as one would expect to find as the progenitor of men like the Lumpkins ... he had nine sons, four of whom achieved marked distinction ...

Samuel's father Joseph Lumpkin, though he died at the early age of 26 years, had already won an enviable position at the bar of this state. The untimely death of this gifted man left young Samuel, then of tender years, to care for his widowed mother and his sister ... Those of us who knew him intimately knew of the tender affection and anxious solicitude which he ever manifested for both of them. We might pause here and profitably point out a moral of well-nigh universal observation, that responsibilities are essential to the development of true manhood; and when to other responsibilities are added the care and support of mother and sister, how immeasurably potent in that development are such influences. Truly no man was ever completely great, nor can be, who did not love his mother ... At the time of his graduation in the state university he was 17 and one-half years old, and graduated with first honor ... The friends he made in college he retained through life, and it may be said no man ever valued friendship more or surpassed him in loyalty to that pure and precious relation ...

After graduating, he taught school for a few years and applied himself outside of school hours to the study of law, and in 1868 he was admitted to the bar ... He was vigorous, strong intellectually, persistent in purpose, steadfast in moral integrity, and untiring in the performance of duty. He possessed in a remarkable degree the power of statement, and that gift, coupled with his wonderful power of discrimination, analysis, and condensation, made him truly a great judge in his day. He was also a most devoted husband ... (his wife) was his constant inspiration and he had the greatest admiration for her judgment and high sense of justice. He has been heard to say that he frequently discussed with her questions of abstract right and justice and was much aided in the solution of such questions as a result of these discussions ... as a husband he showed his brightest and most attractive side. In the language of his broken hearted widow, in a letter written to a member of this committee, 'He was always so cheerful, never despondent or discouraged; even during his last illness, through the long months of pain and suffering, he saw only the brightness ahead; his face always turned toward the sunshine.' And the committee may add, she has spoken truly, for he loved the light. This was characteristic of the man -- to look always toward the sunshine, ever and always in search of light, and those of us who knew him best, hopefully believe, as the shadow of death's wing shut all the sunlight of this life from his mortal eyes, on the 18th day of July 1903, a new 'light' opened up to his immortal vision, eternal light which bringeth in and sustaineth the life everlasting."

Information Compiled by Karen Bray Keeley
INTERNET Adaptation by Sandra Shuler Bray

My Southern Family

John BLACKISTONE

ca 1670 or 1715 - 18 Jan 1756

ID Number: I82099

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Col. Edward BOOKER

ABT 1700 - ____

ID Number: I66178

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Warren Samuel DAVIDSON Sr.

ABT 1830 - by 1863

ID Number: I5214

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Dr Eugene Ray GORDON

ABT 1880 - ____

ID Number: I18199

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Ann HARDAWAY

ABT 1775 - ____

ID Number: I92270

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Oscar S. JORDAN

ABT 1850 - ____

ID Number: I26000

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Hon. Wilson LUMPKIN Gov. of Georgia

14 Jan 1783 - 28 Dec 1870

ID Number: I97637

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Annie Belle MOORE

20 Feb 1860 - 20 Feb 1937

ID Number: I49658

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Jean PAXTON

1785 - ____

ID Number: I101369

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Catherine QUIN

1877 - 1961

ID Number: I40970

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Robert RANSOME

____ - 1720

ID Number: I53574

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Tommie Lee RUCKER

ABT 1894 - ____

ID Number: I44291

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Margaret SNEAD

abt 1741-1764 - 19 Aug 1827

ID Number: I12508

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Robert Casey TRABUE Sr.

ABT 1890 - ____

ID Number: I28370

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Col. William Townes WALKER

1756 - 1833

ID Number: I30799

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Sir WALTER WASHINGTON

1212 - 14 May 1264

ID Number: I51204

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