Working Resource Page of Selected Land Transactions and Documents
NOT including Berrien County, 10th District, Adjoining Lots 192, 193, 222, & 223

For resources related to the excluded lots, click here.

Please note: This is a working document. As I learn, entries will be altered. Please consider the current edit as my best understanding, not the final understanding. I have and will alter conclusions as new facts emerge or as the preponderance of evidence shifts. The entries are inserted into the table according to the date of the transaction; it is impractical to re-number and edit the footnotes each time an entry is made. iow, a resource page as advertised, not a synthesis. The name of a Grantee/Grantor is italicized if he (she)--or spouse at the time of the transaction--is related by blood to me. Underlining indicates that the Grantee/Grantor is an ancestor.

Last Edit 2018-03-30
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Footnote 1. "Hux Link" links to the vignette published in Pioneers of Wiregrass Georgia that I have produced for this special-purpose link to remind myself of which individual is referenced. I use this information with respect and appreciation for the work of Folks Huxford and the many collaborators who have uniquely preserved our history. "McM Link" refers to the vignette published in Record of Connell-Morris and Allied Families compiled by R.H. McMillan Jr. Again, I use this information with respect and appreciation for Mr. McMillan's work and that of his many collaborators, including my mother. I also acknowledge gratefully the painstaking work of Sue and Johnny Hancock for their compilation of cemetary inscriptions. "SM Link" refers to example material available elsewhere on Southern Matters. mfr who--remember to search SM; this is just an example link.

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Footnote 2. Mark R. Watson, my 2d-greatgrandfather, was the father of Samuel W. Watson, my greatgrandfather.

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Footnote 3. Samuel W. Watson sold the timber (eight-year lease)--saw mill and turpentine--to J.A.J Henderson on 1902-01-26 for $750 on the 390 acres he kept for himself. Book W Page 110, Irwin Clerk's Office. mfr who doc not posted but filed in 427.

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Footnote 4. Possibly Frederick Tucker (CSA) (1834-1897) and father of George W. Tucker (1855-1935), also found in these records. I have not investigated whether these Tuckers are related to Lucinda nee Tucker w/o James Boykin (my 3d greatgrandparents), but they lived in the same county at the same time.

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Footnote 5. Three points: 1) Mark R. Watson "made his mark," indicating that he could not sign his name. 2) When Mark Watson bought the Joshua Gray Place (1888-09-03), he was identified as being from Berrien. When he bought the joining land (1891-01-01), he was identified as being from Irwin, indicating that he moved to Irwin between Sep 1888 and Dec 1890. (3) DJ Luke is possibly Daniel J b. 1878-08-20 s/o Jesse Jackson Luke & Mary nee Tucker. (Paulk, First Families of South Georgia 2005, extracted from Phillip Joe Luke's Luke Families of South Georgia).

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Footnote 6. BE Sirmons (1867-1904) married Mary A. nee Boykin, sister of SW Watson's 2d spouse.

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Footnote 7. According to the Frances Plott Tree on Ancestry (accessed 2015-12-23), Joshua K. Gray (1811-1886) was the father of Daniel Gray (1862-1892), who is probably the same Daniel Gray indicated in the 1891 transaction.

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Footnote 8. This sale was within the week of his purchase of his new homeplace in Berrien. Thus, on 1905-09-27, SW Watson bought from SM Lewis 300 acres, in lot 223 plus a smaller amount in lot 192, 10th Land District. The SW Watson Homeplace, 3 miles east of Nashville, GA, is now owned, in parcels, by Jimmy Lane, Virginia Bailey, Herbert Watson, Larry Watson, and Bill Outlaw. This move put the Sutton, later Outlaw, and Watson families on adjacent farms, but it split up the Suttons (Mrs. SM Lewis was my greatgrandfather Buck Sutton's sister).

It appears that Sam Watson was in Irwin for about fifteen years. (His oldest child, Bertha Lulu--by his first wife Martha Guthrie--was born in Irwin on Oct 25, 1889.) He is recorded in the 1900 FC in GMD 1421, Irwin County, on the same page as John Boykin (his father-in-law by 2d spouse), Benj E Sirmons (his brother-in-law by 2d spouse), Reason Boykin (his brother-in-law by 2d spouse). Sam Watson reports in 1900 that he had been married to Betsey nee Boykin for 6 years (i.e., 1894); his first wife Martha nee Guthrie, merely 14 when they married, died 1894-09-03. The simplest interpretation is that he met Grandma Betsey through his father, who had moved to the very same area of Irwin where lived the Boykins. However, another explanation of their meeting is the statement by Grandma Betsy her family moved to Stony Hill (near Empire Church) when she was 11 and stayed there for a few years before moving back to Irwin.

That kicks the can down the road, so the question now is, why did Mark R. Watson, a 75-year-old widower, move to Irwin County from the area he grew up in, had family in, and lived in all his life? Why did Sam Watson buy a city lot in Ocilla after he sold out his farming operations and bought in Berrien? I am not sure how much of this past is knowable, and I can only speculate.

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Footnote 9. Purchased from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Many thanks to Bryan Collars.

Benjamin Outlaw, R.S., is Bill's 4^th greatgrandfather.

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Footnote 10. Downloaded from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

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