The known children of John & Elizabeth Jackson....
Henderson Jackson b. 1801 VA and later lived in Vermillion Co, Illinois.
Anderson Jackson b. 1805 VA. m. 3 Sept 1856 in Athens Co Ohio to Jane Trent.
Anne Jackson b. 1807 VA m. William Guinn
William David Jackson b. 15 April 1810 VA. d. 13 Sept 1888 Young Hickory Twp, Fulton, Illinois m. 10 May 1846 Morgan Co KY to Ann Taylor
Frances Jackson b. 1812 VA m. Charles Broady
Powhatan Jackson b. 1814 VA. d. 1884 Perry Co. KY. m. abt 1835 in Washington Co VA to Mary (Polly) Beaty
Also one son who evidently died in infancy
The history of John Jackson and family is an ongoing one and also one that I hope to be adding to in the near future. As of this writing I do not have a document or other proof that verifies that this John Jackson, born 1772 in Virginia (a free person of color) is the father of the other Jacksons in Washington Co VA. All I can say is that he is the only candidate in the entire area that qualifies and I have very little doubt that our oldest known ancestor is this John Jackson b. 1772 and wife Elizabeth.
The earliest known record for John Jackson is the 1812 - 13 tax list for Henry Co VA. His wife is listed with him on the tax list, Elizabeth. He is living very close to Ansel Rogers. In 1819 John Jackson & Ansel Rogers move to Washington Co VA and both appear on the tax list that year. He is listed on the Washington Co tax list thru 1834 and from then on he shows up on the Smyth Co, VA tax list. It does appear that John moved about 1835 into the newly formed county of Smyth along with several of his children. From 1835 until sometime around 1843-44 John lived in Smyth Co until he vanished from the records.
John is on the 1820 Washington Co, VA census with the following persons;
Males - 4 under 14, 1 under 26 & 1 over 45
Females - 1 under 14 & 1 under 26
The very first thing I noticed here is that there is no female listed with John of an age to be his wife. I can only assume that Elizabeth has died and John is taking care of his 7 children. From the ages of his children John's wife must have just died before the family moved to Washington Co, VA.
Of the 7 children listed on the 1820 census I can only identify 3 positively and 3 possibles. The 3 known are Anderson, William David & Powhatan Jackson. The other 3 are likely Henderson, Anne & Frances Jackson. The other male probably died as an infant.
John could not be located on the 1830 census but he appears to be the older male living in the household of his son in law, William Guinn on
the 1830 Washington County, VA census. He does show up again in Smyth Co, VA. in 1840 and he is not alone. There are 2 males under 10, 1
female under 10, 2 females 10 - 24 and a female 24 - 35. Also 1 male 55 - 100 which is John, age 68. Again I can only speculate but it appears
that one of John's daughters, Anne Guinn is living with him along with her 5 children. From the Smyth Co. VA tax list for Free Colored Persons
we find John listed as follows;
1837 - Living with William Guinn, age 45? black
1838 - Living with Ann Guinn, age 66 mulatto
1839 - Living with Ann Guinn, age 65 Yellow
1841 - Living with Ann Gwynn, age 66 Yellow
1842 - Living with Anderson Jackson, age 70 Yellow
1843 - Living with Anderson Jackson, age 66 Yellow
1844 - not listed and possibly dead by now.
There is still a substantial amount of research left to do on John Jackson and other Jacksons of the Free Black community in western Virginia. Another mystery to me is that whenever I find one of the children of John after they have moved away from Virginia, they are listed as Indian at least one time in the area where they relocated. This has me wondering where the Indian lineage comes into the family??? I also need to note that they are listed as Black & Mulatto at various times.
Jimmie Jackson
15 Jan, 2014