Prince Edward County, Virginia | Lawson Surname DNA Project

Lawsons Named	Date	County in Virginia	Documentation
	1754	Prince Edward	Prince Edward County was formed Amelia County in 1754. See map 1751-1760.
Robert	Oct 1772	Prince Edward	Prince Edward County, VA Wills, 1754 -1776, page 156. Will of James Garden of Prince Edward County, VA and St. Patrick’s Parish. Mention wife, Sarah; sons – Alexander, James and John; daughters – Ann and Sarah. Executors: wife Sarah and 2 good friends, Revd. Mr. James Craig and Mr. Robert Lawson. Signed October 1772.At Prince Edward County Court of 21 June 1773, the will and codicil was presented in court by the executors and proved… On the motion of Sarah Garden, the Revd. James Craig, Robert Lawson, Thomas Scott and Peter Johnston, Gentlemen, were granted a certificate for obtaining letters of administration.
Benjamin & Robert	May 1773	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. Benjamin Lawson qualified as an attorney in Prince Edward County 1773. Benjamin was the second prospective lawyer to be recommended “for honesty, probity, and good demeanor to the gentlemen appointed by the General Court as examiners into the capacity, fitness, and ability of persons applying for license to practice as an attorney.” The recommendation was given at the May, 1773 Court. Lawson lost no time in taking the examination; at the next Court he presented his commission and took the oath of an attorney.Robert Lawson was practicing law in Prince Edward in 1773 and had apparently become established in his profession in the county by that year. There is no record in the Prince Edward Order Books of his qualifying as an attorney before the County Court.
Benjamin & Robert	19 Jun 1775	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. On 19 June 1775, the committee of Prince Edward met at the Courthouse to consider the trend of the times (patriotic sentiments). Present that day were John Nash, Jr., who was chosen chairman of the meeting, John Morton, Robert Lawson, William Booker, Francis Watkins, Obadiah Woodson, Thomas Flournoy, James Allen, Sr., and Thomas Haskins. Benjamin Lawson acted as clerk of the committee.
Benjamin & Robert	July – Nov 1775	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. The July Convention provided for the election of committees of safety in the counties. At the November Court the freeholders of Prince Edward elected a committee of twenty-one: Robert Lawson, John Nash, Fr., William Booker, William Bibb, Nathaniel Venable, Stanhope Smith, John Nash, Sr., the Rev. Richard Sankey, John Holcombe, Henry Walker, Thomas Flournoy, James Clark, Obadiah Woodson, David Walker, John Watson, Philemon Holcombe, Joseph Parks, and Andrew Baker. John Nash, Sr., the county patriarch, who since the founding of the county had been named first in the commission of the peace, was unanimously chosen chairman and the young lawyer, Benjamin Lawson, was elected clerk.
Robert	1775	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. The Virginia General Assembly – The Revolutionary Conventions – Robert Lawson and John Nash (March 1775). Robert Lawson and William Bibb (July, December 1775).
Robert	Jan 1776	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. There were problem in the county with counterfeit notes. The first news that Prence Edward people had the some of the notes was when Robert Lawson returned from a merchants’ meeting held in January and returned some money which had been either paid him or entrusted to him to deliver with the news that the merchants had pronounced the notes counterfeit…Meanwhile certain Prince Edward citizens were charged with having knowingly passed the counterfeit money by Moses Terry of Halifax County. Lawson heard that he was on the list given by Terry to the Governor, but upon investigation found that he was not. Paschal Greenhill, a member of the House of Burgesses, however, was on the list.
Benjamin	11 Mar 1776	Prince Edward	Prince Edward County, VA Wills, 1754 -1776, page 432, Bond. Parties to bond, Principal: George Walker. Obligee: John Nash, Thomas Scott, Peter Johnston, Philemon Holcome, and Nath Venable, Gentlemen Justices of Prince Edward County Court. Securities: Paschal Greenhill, Benjamin Lawson and Henry Watkins. Amount of bond: 2000 pounds. Date of bond 11 March 1776. Acts to be performed: Walker is the executor of the will of Mary Nash deceased. He is to make a true inventory and pay all legacies contained in the will. Recording date: 18 March 1776
Robert	1778 – 1788	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. The House of Delegates for the Constitutional Conventions- John Nash and Robert Lawson (4 May 1778 – 19 December 1779). William Bibb and Robert Lawson (1 May 1780 – 22 March 1781). Robert Lawson and Richard Bibb (5 May – 22 December 1780). Patrick Henry and Robert Lawson (15 October 1787 – 8 January 1788).
Robert	14 Nov 1780	Amelia	Amelia County, VA Deed Book 15, 1778-1781, page 398 – Deed of Gift. Robert Lawson of Prince Edward County, VA to Lucy Atkinson Jackson, dated 14 November 1780, consideration, natural love and affection for his sister-in-law, 5 shillings, one negro girl named Polly, now in possession of Robert Lawson. Witnesses: Isaac Jackson and Catharine (X) Claiborne. No recording date.
Robert	1781	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. During the Revolution Robert Lawson of Prince Edward attained the rank of brigadier general; he entered the service from Prince Edward and returned to Prince Edward after the war, although during 1781 he was much in the county raising troops and collecting supplies.
Robert	1784 & 1788	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. Deputy Attorney General – Robert Lawson (April 1784 and 1788).
Robert & Benjamin	1787	Prince Edward	Prince Edward County, VA Personal Property Tax 1787 – List B. Robert Lawson paid taxes for himself, 9 blacks above 16 years, 7 blacks under 16 years, 7 horses, 21 cattle, one 4-wheeled coach or chariot and one 2-wheeled (riding) chair.Benjamin Lawson paid taxes for himself, 6 blacks above 16 years, 11 blacks under 16 years, 7 horses and 24 cattle.
Robert	1788	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. Conventions for Viginia compiled from the Registers of the General Assembly. Convention of 1788, for considering the Federal Constitution – Patrick Henry and Robert Lawson.
Robert	1789	Prince Edward	From the “History of Prince Edward County, Virginia” by Herbert Clarence Bradshaw. After the Revolution the migration from the Prince Edward County took many of its people to the new country opening up in the South and West, especially in Georgia and Kentucky. Robert Lawson whose rank as brigadier general in the Revolution and membership of the War Board of the Commonwealth during the Revolution and of the Council of State afterward gave him valid claim to the county’s most prominent citizen in the decade between the death of John Nash, Sr., and the coming to the county of Governor Patrick Henry, joined those who sought a new home in anther state. Lawson seems to have first considered moving South. General, later Governor, Henry Lee, “Light Horse Harry” of Revolutionary fame, in 1787 gave Lawson letters of introduction to Pierce Butler and General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney of South Carolina and to William Few of Georgia. The letter to Butler introduced Lawson as a friend and fellow soldier “who intends to visit the Southern states… Lawson also carried a letter of introduction from George Mason t Charles Cotesworth Pinckney; Mason described him as “a very worthy and brave officer of our lat Army, General Lawson being a Member of our Assembly.” Whether Lawson made his trip South is not known. In 1789 he moved to Kentucky, where he received a letter from General Adam Stephen addressed to him at Lexington, congratulating him on his safe arrival in the Territory of Kentucky, and voicing the expectation that Lawson would be elected to Congress.
Robert, Sarah, America, John Pierce & Columbus	18 Nov 1840	Ohio	There is a U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Brigadier General Robert Lawson’s military land warrant, No. 1921, for 10,000 acres of land due him for military services in the Revolutionary War. It named his wife Sarah Lawson and his living heirs.It states that America Lawson intermarried with Joshua Lewis 23 December 1797. General Lawson died 1 March 1805, leaving three children, John Pierce Lawson, America Lewis, and Columbus Lawson, his heirs at law. That on 10 June 1809, said Sarah Lawson died. That on 7 January 1807, John Pierce Lawson conveyed to Joshua Lewis all his interest in said lands. That on 1 June 1809, John P. Lawson died, leaving Mary P. Lawson, now Mary P. Bowman, his only child and heir at law, who intermarried with complainant John Bowman. That on 8 January 1815, Columbus Lawson died unmarried and intestate, leaving said America Lewis and Mary P. Bowman his heirs at law.