John Thomas Emerson - Itasca Cemetery, Hill County,Texas

The grave marker for John Thomas Emerson was photographed last week in Itasca Cemetery in Itasca, Hill County, Texas.  John Thomas Emerson moved from the Shottsville area of Marion County, just across the state line from Tremont, to Hill County sometime before or around 1890.  

John Thomas Emerson was the son of John R. (some believe the 'R' stands for Robinson) Emerson and Nancy Jane Kennedy.   Several Emerson, Robinson and Kennedy families moved to Hill County, Texas after the Civil War.   These families lived in and around the Shottsville-Bexar-Tremont area along the Mississippi-Alabama state line.

John R. Emerson was the son of George Emerson and Easter/Esther Robinson.   I believe that George Emerson was a brother to the John Emerson who lived in the Carolina community of Itawamba County, both men likely were sons of Thomas Emerson/Emmerson who migrated from Goochland County, Virginia to Abbeville District, South Carolina.  Just before 1810, there was another migration from South Carolina to Franklin County, Tennessee, and that is where it is thought that George Emerson met and married Easter Robinson, probable daughter of John and Elizabeth Robinson.  Later, George and Easter moved to Lawrence County, Alabama and then finally to Marion County.  They are said to be buried at Shottsville Methodist Church Cemetery, in unmarked graves.

Nancy Jane Kennedy, mother of John Thomas Emerson, was the daughter of Irvin Lafayette Kennedy and Martha Salina Meshow (click here to see a previous post about Martha Salina Meshow).   The Kennedy were also a migrating family from Abbeville District, and there are several descendants of this South Carolina family who still live around along the state line in Itawamba and Marion counties.  Some of the Kennedy family moved to Hill County, Texas also.  A biography of Nancy Jane Kennedy Emerson's niece's husband, Lucius Quincy Stone, indicates that his wife Lydia was the granddaughter of Joseph Kennedy and Eugenia Trippet.  I believe Joseph was the same person as Josiah Kennedy who served as bondsman along with Matthew Robinson for George Emerson who was the administrator of the 1826 estate of John Robinson in Lawrence County, Alabama.  Many descendants of Irvin Lafayette Kennedy and his sister, Annise Kennedy Robinson, were named Josiah.

Nancy Jane Kennedy Emerson's brother, Josiah K. Emerson, moved to Hill County, Texas where he died in 1915.  He is buried in Covington Cemetery in Hill County.