The Shemwell Family

Biography*: Leroy Jackson, the son of Samuel W. Jackson, "was born over at Greenville, GA. We used to go by the old home, which was a log house, they say it has been torn down." This from Mrs. Brooks R. Jackson, West Point, GA, in a letter dated May 31, 1963. About 1847, Lee married Martha Lucinda Gamble in Heard Co. GA. According to Nathaniel Rufus Adamson, of Fitzgerald, GA, in a letter of April 12, 1939, she was the daughter of James Gamble and Polly Bennett, who had come from Laurens District, SC, about 1845. Adamson, an amateur historian with a remarkable memory, is mentioned as a source by others who are quoted below. Lee has not been found on the 1850 census, and was not on the 1850 or 1851 Tax Digest in Troop County, GA. One son, at least, claimed he was been born in Macon Co, GA. By 1860, at least, Lee was living in the small Troup Co. community of Antioch, which was in the 800 District. He appears there on the 1860 census. On the 1862 Tax Digest he was listed there with 50 acres of second quality land, worth about $300, and with personal property of $205. He did not own slaves. During the Civil War, he worked in a blacksmith's shop in Greenville, GA, (probably his grandfather Malone's) supplying materiel to the Confederate Army. He is said to have traveled through enemy lines one Christmas in order to be with his family for the holiday. The 1866 Tax Digest for Troup Co. shows Lee with 50 acres of land, five sheep, and one dog. The land was now valued at $107. In 1867, he apparently moved to Chambers Co. AL, as he was in default on his Troup Co. taxes that year. Lee was in Chambers Co. in 1870, but shortly thereafter moved to the Fosheeton Community in Tallapoosa Co., near Ephesus church where he is buried. In 1871 his wife Martha died, it is said she was grief-stricken over the death of her eldest son, John W. John had died July 12, 1871, aged 20. Both are buried at Ephesus Cemetery in unmarked graves. The Jacksons were Primitive Baptists and were members of Ephesus Church for many years. In 1872 Lee married Nancy Caroline Smith, widow of James Pennington, a doctor who had been killed in the Civil War. She was the daughter of William Wynn Smith and Mary J. Bostick, who had settled in Fosheeton around 1845. About 1875, Lee bought another farm between Fosheeton and New Site, from a Mr. Mayo who had moved to Texas. This was probably Henry Mayo, who had moved to Taylor, Williamson Co. TX as did several of the Smith relatives. Lee acquired several hundred acres of land over the years. His daughter, Nannie, said that he had one of the first "surreys" (a two-seated riding carriage) in his area, a sign of rising prosperity after the Civil War. She also remembered seeing her front yard filled with bales of cotton as a child. Lee and his wife lived with Nannie in their old age, and she inherited the family farm when the couple died in 1904.

Evie Duck, a daughter of George W. Jackson, and granddaughter of Lee Roy, told me (Lew Griffin whose Grandmother was Nannie Texonia Jackson)) that she thought her grandfather's name was just "Lee Roy" and not "Leroy R." She said he was called Lee. When he signed documents, he just signed them "L. R. Jackson."