The Simpson Clan Volume XXI, Issue 3 Winter 2005/2006

THE SIMPSON CLAN
Volume XXI, Issue 3 ISSN 0884-3805 Winter 2005/2006

A DNA Crack in the Wall
By Jim Simpson

My Henry SIMPSON has been an enigma for years. I knew he was probably born between 1790 and 1796 in South Carolina, assuming he reported correctly to the census takers in 1850 and 1860 when they found him in Paulding and Haralson Counties, Georgia. I’ve been trying to push beyond this little snippet of information, but Henry’s wall keeps pushing back.

Recently, I participated in National Geographic’s Genographic Project. If you don’t know about it, this is essentially a DNA study to describe world-wide population origins and migrations. My Y-DNA results came back with an astonishing “R” Haplotype. I was looking for something more Western European, like R1b, because I had hypothesized I was descended from the Scots-Irish. I also participated in the Border Reivers Project at Family Tree DNA (FTDNA), confirmed the “R” result, and promptly learned I was the only “R” in the whole Reivers group! I was slack-jaw stunned. “Who am I” was a question that kept working around in my brain.

Then I got lucky. Another male SIMPSON had submitted his sample and received his results. Since he and I had authorized sharing of basic information in such events, we both received word about each other and the match. We have an exact 12-marker match. There can be abundant 12-marker matches with different surnames, but one with the same surname deserves closer inspection.

Based on the latest results of the mutation rate study conducted by the University of Arizona, with 12 markers there is a 50% probability that the MRCA was within the last 7 generations. Compare these with 25 and 37-- With 25 markers, there is a 50% probability that the MRCA was within the last 3 generations, while with 37/37 (all 37 markers match), there is a 50% probability that the MRCA was no longer than 2 generations, and a 90% probability that the MRCA was within the last 5 generations (Family Tree DNA).

A 25 marker test is next up for me; and my 12 marker Simpson correspondent already has his. This other Simpson and I have exchanged genealogy, and plan to visit in a few weeks. We haven’t found the Most Recent Common Ancestor (MRCA) yet, but the potential is highly intriguing.

• Are you a male Simpson?*
• Have you hit a brick wall?
• Can't find your ancestor's homeland?
• Wondering if you are related to another family with the same surname?

Start with a 12-marker test at Family Tree DNA and join the Simpson Surname Project.

*Since a Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname, and females (a) don't carry their father's Y-DNA, and (b) acquire a new surname by the way of marriage, in order to be relevant to the Surname Project, the tested individual must be a male that wants to check his paternal line (father's father's father's...). The test to be ordered is either the Y-DNA37, Y-DNA25 or Y-DNA12, and females should look for a brother or cousin with that surname to be tested.

Jim Simpson is co-Group Administrator for the Simpson Surname Project. For more information, go to this web site.

[Comment from Nona: If male descendants of the Haw River Simpson’s join this DNA project, we might learn whether these Simpsons were SIMONSONs from Sweden or Scots from Great Britain or Ireland. In addition, DNA testing could verify or dispute some theoretical lines.]

THOMAS ALEXANDER SIMPSON 1822-1904
A SINGULARLY SUCCESSFUL MEMBER OF THE CLAN

By Janet Allen, Jan. 2006

Thomas A. SIMPSON, born May 22, 1822, in Bath County, Kentucky, was a son of William Jamieson SIMPSON, a soldier of the War of 1812, wounded at the disastrous Battle of River Raisin. Thomas's mother was Mary LOGAN, also a Kentuckian of the Bluegrass Country.

When Thomas was just four years old, his father died on Sept 17, 1826, at age 36, leaving three children: Thomas, Mary Jane born about 1823, and William Franklin born June 11, 1826. A fourth child, Elizabeth, died in 1822 at age four years, and is buried in the historic Springfield Church Cemetery in Bath County, along with her father and other Simpsons.

Thomas grew up on a farm in the area until, as a twelve-year-old, he went to live with his BADGER relatives in Putnam Co., Indiana. As a fifteen-year-old, he moved to Sangamon County, Illinois to live with cousins, the Thomas SIMPSON family, formerly of Bath Co., Kentucky, and at age 22, Thomas relocated briefly back in Kentucky, then on to Augusta, Georgia where another SIMPSON cousin, James, was running a livery stable. Through all these years, Thomas was learning the business of raising and judging stock and, in later years, was recognized as one of the keenest judges of livestock in the United States.

In his early Kentucky days, he had acquired the nickname of "Governor," given him by the black "servitors" on the farm. It was the name he was commonly addressed by in his adult years.

Thomas returned to Kentucky in the late 1840s and married his first cousin, Frances Jane SIMPSON, in 1851. She was a sister of the aforementioned Thomas (Illinois) and James (Georgia), born in Sharpsburg, Kentucky in 1822, on the plantation of her father, Andrew SIMPSON. Her mother, Jane (SIMPSON) SIMPSON, was a sister of William Jamieson SIMPSON. In other words, Frances's mother and Thomas's father were siblings. In the year 1853, on March 1, a daughter was stillborn to the couple, the only child they were to have.

During the years in Kentucky, Thomas had joined in a livestock business, dealing principally in mules, with an old friend, Joseph GUDGELL, who was a successful farmer a few years senior to Thomas. Joseph had, through settlement of a debt owed to him, acquired 480 acres of fine farmland near Greenwood, Cass County, Missouri, just south of Kansas City. He was not interested in it and never saw it.

Thomas and Frances moved to the Missouri area, to Pleasant Hill, very near Greenwood, in 1855, where he set up a livery stable and then began to raise and train fine horses. The venture prospered until the contentiousness of the border area and strained relations between North and South brought trouble to his doorstep. Thomas was a known southern-sympathizer. His horses were stolen and life became extremely difficult. The SIMPSONs went back to Kentucky during the war and he resumed business with the GUDGELLs. As his friend, Joseph, lay dying in 1865, Thomas accepted the care of and responsibility for Joseph's sons, Charles and James R. GUDGELL. These young men were well-off and later college-educated businessmen. The three resumed their cattle enterprises. The brothers, besides operating the farm at Greenwood, became partners in the firm TOWERS & GUDGELL, with ranches for range cattle in Colorado and Montana.

In 1872, Frances Jane died in Pleasant Hill and is buried there. Thomas never married again. He continued his livery business and, a few years later, went into partnership with the GUDGELLs, in Pleasant Hill, working not only the large livery barn, but extensively buying and selling horses, mules and grade Shorthorn cattle.

In 1876, at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the cattle division was featuring Hereford cattle, originally of the British Isles, and little-known among western stockmen. At the time, most beef in the United States were range-grown, stringy, and tough. These Herefords were heavy, meaty, and a breed that appealed to the practiced eyes of the men from Missouri. Charles traveled to Ontario, Canada, to buy from F. W. STONE the first Hereford bull and eight females. Later, he visited the Stone ranch and brought back to Missouri a dozen young bulls and a few more cows and heifers. This was the beginning of the first Hereford herd in Missouri.

The herd grew in the next few years, and in 1880 the formal name, "GUDGELL and SIMPSON" became commonly used. It was in 1880 that Thomas went to England to buy one bull and 59 cows and calves. The next year, accompanied by James GUDGELL, he returned to England with instructions from Charles to bring back a bull "with some end on him." They selected 100 Herefords. There was among them a young bull which attracted Thomas's eye, Anxiety IV, which he bought, along with North Pole 8946. Also in the shipment were a considerable quantity of Angus cattle, which were also raised by the firm.

It was Anxiety IV which forever changed the quality of beef in the United States herds. He was a bull of extraordinary features and quality of conformation. According to reports in the American Hereford Journal of August 1922, it was the unerring eye and genius of Thomas A. SIMPSON, in selecting him and directing the breeding of his progeny, that established the greatest herd of Hereford cattle in the United States. By that year, the premiere beef on American dinner tables came from Hereford cows, nearly all of which traced, through several lines, back to Anxiety IV, according to Donald R. Ornduff, who was quoted in the Kansas City Star of Nov. 30, 1997.

By 1883, Thomas had moved in with the GUDGELLs at 700 S. Main Street in Independence, Missouri. There was a newly-acquired ranch northeast of the city, and another at Richmond, Kansas, for a total of 1700 acres. Ranch managers were hired in Scotland to come and oversee the farm at Greenwood and the ranches. By 1904, the breeding herd totaled about 750 Herefords. Those specimens deemed less-acceptable, in the thousands, were sent to the ranges, many of them unregistered product of Anxiety IV.

The reputation of GUDGELL & SIMPSON spread world-wide, as the firm showed their stock at various expositions: the Chicago World's Fair, the Columbia Exposition, the International Livestock Exposition and the American Royal in Kansas City in 1905.

Thomas continued to live with the GUDGELL family until his death on the morning of Jan. 4, 1904, at age 83. He had been ill with kidney trouble and severe rheumatism for more than a year. It was reported that there was much mourning at his passing, in Independence and Pleasant Hill. The funeral was held in the home of Charles GUDGELL the next morning, according to the obituary in The Jackson Examiner, and the "Governor" was carried that evening, in the company of many friends, to Pleasant Hill to join Frances at rest.
Thomas left everything he owned to Charles GUDGELL. A copy of his will, and many other papers, can be viewed at the museum of The American Hereford Association at 1501 Wyandotte in Kansas City, Missouri. It reads in part: "As a token of my appreciation of his kindness and friendship through a long business association, and through all the years I have lived as a member of his family, I give to Charles GUDGELL of Independence, Missouri all my property both real and personal absolutely, and hereby appoint him as the executor of this will to act without giving any bond. Signed 12th day of Sept. 1896." These artifacts were contributed to the museum by a member of the GUDGELL family, according to the senior historian of the association, Mr. Bud Snidow. There are also in the museum oil portraits of Thomas SIMPSON and Charles GUDGELL, and of many of the famous Hereford bulls.

According to the Pleasant Hill Times of Jan. 8, 1904, at the world's record Hereford sale held a few days after Thomas' death, "Fond Memory," one of the leading heifers of the Anxiety IV herd, was sold for $5000. The money was used to erect a large monument at Thomas' grave, and a memorial slab was to be placed in the Herefords' Breeders Association building at the Kansas City stockyards. I have visited the gravesite. It is a large and imposing monument. One hundred years later, Thomas SIMPSON's name and reputation are well-known among cattlemen of the Kansas City area.

Query

Who were the parents of Robert SIMPSON born ca. 1780? He married Rebecca LYONS in eastern Tennessee in 1800. The ceremony was performed by Minister Jonathan MULKEY. His wife’s parents were Ezekiel LYON(S) and Hannah ARCHER. Robert died ca 1813. His widow and young son, Asher, moved to Dewitt Co., Illinois. Was Robert killed in the War of 1812?

Marilyn Collins, 1430 Scenic Ridge Drive, Houston, TX 77043

Nathaniel Simpson of Humphries Co., Tennessee
Back to Their Origins
By Fran Laird, 115 Lexington Rd., Bel Air, MD 21014

The following table shows the ancestors of - Edward, Ellen, and Alan Laird - leading back to the members of the SIMPSON and NORRIS families who were probably among the first to be born in the American colonies in what was then the northern section of Baltimore Co., Maryland, often referred to as "old Baltimore Co.". In 1774 that area became Harford County, named for Henry Harford, the illegitimate son of Lord Baltimore.

The SIMPSON ancestors were born "near to the mouth of Susquehanna River" as recorded in St. George's Parish Register. Today Havre de Grace now sits at the mouth of the Susquehanna River, where Edward, Ellen, and Alan were born in the hospital 267-275 years later. They grew up in the area near "Everly Hills", home of the NORRIS family, members of St. John's Parish, near what became Bel Air, established in 1782 as the first and only seat of Harford Co., Maryland:

2nd Generation through the 9th Generation:
(2) REESE, Frances, b Tennessee

(3) REESE, Dudley, b Mississippi

(4) SIMPSON, Frances, b Mississippi

(5) SIMPSON, Benjamin H., b Tennessee
NORRIS, Margaret, b South Carolina

(6) SIMPSON, Nathaniel, b North Carolina
NORRIS, Felix, b South Carolina

(7) ?SIMPSON, "then was b. Samuel SYMPSON s/o Thomas SYMPSON and Mary his wife Feb. 4, 1731" as recorded in St. George's Parish register in old Baltimore Co., now Harford Co., Maryland

NORRIS, Thomas, b South Carolina

(8) ?SIMPSON, Thomas "s/o Richard SIMSON b. near to Susquehanna River 5 Nov 1691" old Baltimore Co., now Harford Co., Maryland

NORRIS, Thomas, b 1737, "Everly Hills" near St. Paul's Parish, old Baltimore Co., now Harford Co., Maryland

(9) SIMPSON, Richard, b by 1663 England, d 7 Jun 1711, Spesutia Hundred, old Baltimore Co., now Harford Co., Maryland

NORRIS, Benjamin, b 1698 Anne Arundel Co., Maryland/d 1772 "Everly Hills", old Baltimore Co., now Harford Co., Maryland

Some Simpsons in Burke Co., North Carolina
By Nona Williams, publisher and editor

Burke Co., North Carolina was formed 1777 from western Rowan County adjoining Tennessee state line.

1777 Thomas SIMPSON bondsman for Mary KENNEDY, other bondsman: Leroy TAYLOR, deceased not named (From Burke Co., NC Land Records, 1779-1790 and Important Misc. Records 1777-1800, Vol. II, p 273: Misc. Estates 1777-1795, courtesy of Linda Bollinger) Thomas KENNEDY of Silver Creek was a Captain in the Revolutionary War (Burke: The History of a North Carolina County 1777-1920 With a Glimpse Beyond) by Edward William Phifer, Jr. page 309.

1777 probate record requested by Mary KENNEDY, signed by Samuel SIMPSON and Leeroy TAYLOR, record in bad shape and does not include the given name of the deceased. (from Jayne McCarley jaymmcarley@prodigy.net) (Don Simpson’s unpublished research report #8, September 1996 page 2)

1777 - 1783 Thomas SIMPSON, land probably on Upper Creek (Don Simpson’s research report #9, August 1996)

1778, 29 Dec Thomas SIMPSON mentioned in land record near John PERKINS, Thomas DAVENPORT and Jonathan GILBERT and Thomas WHITE Jr.

1778 December 29 Samuel SIMPSON was issued a grant of 200 acres on the south fork of Warrior Fork of Johns River adj. John PERKINS, Thomas DAVENPORT, Jonathan GILBERT and Thomas WHITE Jr. (now in Avery Co.) (Don Simpson Report No. 3 June 1995) this land was signed over to Perminus TAYLOR, chain carriers were Edward BENBOW and Joshua GILBERT (Don Simpson’s unpublished report #8, September 1996 page 2)

1778 16 December William SIMPSON, 100 acres, Bolls Creek joining Abraham ROBINSON (Burke County Land Records Vol. I, So. Hist. Press, pg. 114, #1224 page 4030 (Sarah SIMPSON married 24 September 1744 Baltimore Co., Maryland to Abraham ROBINSON.)

1779 William OSBORN volunteered as a mounted militia man under Captain William ADAMS and Lieutenant William SIMPSON for a tour of three months. Ca 1801 William OSBORN moved from Burke Co., NC to Scott Co., KY. (Rev. War Pension Papers of William Osborn per Linda Bollinger)

1779 June 24 land surveyed by William WHITE for John SIMPSON, 150 acres at Mill Fork and Upper Creek, Mill Fork is probably the branch of Upper Creek that was later known as Simpson Fork, chain carriers Joseph COPLE and James SIMPSON (Don Simpson’s unpublished report #8, September 1996)

1780 John SIMPSON, Thomas SIMPSON and Jonathon ROBINSON indicted by grand jury as Tories. (Tories in Southwestern, North Carolina courtesy of Linda Bollinger)

1782 November 12 Thomas SIMPSON and John SIMPSON, subpoena docket for tories witnesses for Thomas SIMPSON were Thomas MACKEY of Silver Creek and William WHITE (Silver Creek enters the south side of the Catawba River in Morgantown), witnesses for John SIMPSON were Thomas WHITE Sr., David BAKER and Jacob ANTHONY (residents of Upper Creek) (Don Simpson’s research report #9, August 1996)

1785 Thos. SIMPSON vs. Abraham REESE (Misc. papers of Civil & Criminal Cases 1755-1790) Note: Abraham REESE born 11 June 1744, Balto. Co., Maryland, son of Daniel REESE and Elizabeth KNIGHT.

1786 November 16 Thomas SIMPSON, silversmith, vs. Robert ADAMS, (Don Simpson research report #9, August 1996)

1786 December 15 Thomas SIMPSON and John SIMPSON and other inhabitants of the Three Creeks area (Upper Creek, Middle Creek aka Johns River and Lower Creek) signed a petition (Don Simpson research report #9, August 1996)

1787 April Thomas SIMPSON vs. Robert ADAMS, Thos. SIMPSON juror in trial of overseer of the road from Little Silver Creek to the Pleasant Gardens (Don Simpson’s research report #9, August 1996) Joshua SHERRILL (from Reva Bruhn)

1788 July Thomas SIMPSON vs. Robert ADAMS, Joseph WHITE, Jacob ANTHONY (Don Simpson’s research report #9, August 1996)

1789, 20 Feb. John W. SIMPSON was born per his War of 1812 records. He later resided in White Co., Tennessee

1790 James SIMPSON, (1 male over 16, 1 male under 16) and 1 female John SIMPSON (1 male over 16, 2 males under 16 and 3 females) probably lived on the North Fork of Upper Creek. Reuben WHITE and Thomas WHITE lived nearby. Thomas SIMPSON is NOT on this census. (Don Simpson’s research report #9, August 1996)

1794 Wm. SHERRILL (from Reva Bruhn) and Thomas SIMPSON made oath in Burke Co., North Carolina that in 1794 he received a warrant for 4995 acres on Duck River adjoining Gen. GREEN’s land & that William WHITE sent the warrant to SIMPSON’s house 17 November 1806 (Courtesy of Shirley Hopkins)

1794 Sept. 23 Robt. & Wm. TATE entered 640 acres; border, south side of SIMPSON’s line on waters of Grassey Creek. ("Burke County Land Entries" 1778-1795 by Bruce Pruitt on page 109 of Journal of Burke Co. Gene. Soc., Vol. SSI No. IV, Nov. 2003)

1795 April 9 deed proven John SIMPSON to James SIMPSON, 150 acres (Don Simpson’s unpublished report #8, September 1996

1800 census no James or John SIMPSON, just Ralph SIMPSON age 26-45

1802 Capt. Samuell [sic] SIMPSON’s company reported a list of taxable men (Journal of Burke County Genealogical Society, Vol. XXIII No. 3, August 2005, page 71)

1806 November 17 Thomas SIMPSON made oath that about 1794 he received a warrant for 4995 acres on Duck River of Rutherford Co., Tennessee adjoining or opposite Gen. GREENE’s land and that William WHITE sent the warrant to SIMPSON’s house (Tennessee Genealogical Records: Records of Early Settlers from State and County Archives by Edythe Rucker Whitley)

1870 Jan.1 James I. SIMPSON, 50 acres on Catawba River adj. lands of Joseph SIMPSON, Samuel SIMPSON & W.F. AVERY et al (Journal of Burke Co. Gene Soc. V. XX No. 1, Feb. 2002, p. 10)

1870 Mar.8 James H. CURTIS 100 acres on Brindle Branch, waters of little Silver Creek adj. lands of Joseph SIMPSON & Samuel SIMPSON & heirs of John E. BUTLER (Journal of Burke Co. Gene Soc. V. XX No. 1, Feb. 2002, p. 10)

1870 March 24 Geo. M. CURTIS & Jno. W. SIMPSON 640 acres on Catawba River adj. Henry M. ONEAL & A.L. GREENLEE & W.F. AVERY.

Connections to Bedford Co., Tennessee

??? date: Samuel SIMPSON (wife Rebecca MORROW) moved with his young family to Tennessee. They had five sons. Samuel, William and Nathaniel who lived on Duck River near Nashville, Tennessee. John and Thomas moved to Kentucky and lived 25 miles apart, John in Pulaski County and Thomas in Wythe County, Kentucky. [sic: Wythe County is in West Virginia.]

Tradition states that Samuel SIMPSON was killed at Kings Mountain in 1780. (The Simpson Family of America, author unknown, not dated, copy sent by Shirlie R. Simpson.) There was a Rebecca SIMPSON whose dates were 1786-1867 in Bedford Co., but her husband is unknown and only 4 of her children known: Isaiah (b 1807) - James M. (b 1809/10-d before 1855) - John (b 1812 - d 1869) - Elizabeth (b 1814, d 1901, m Spencer HILL.) – Fran Laird.

1806 November 17 Wm. SHERRILL (from Reva Bruhn) Thomas SIMPSON made oath in Burke Co., NC that in 1794 he received a warrant for 4995 acres on Duck River adj. Gen. GREEN’s land & that William WHITE sent the warrant to SIMPSON’s house 17 November 1806 (Courtesy of Shirley Hopkins)

1808 March 4 James SIMPSON entered 226 acres on Little Flat of Duck River, CC: Saml & Jas. KIMZEY, Adj. tract owned by David ROSS. James and Mary KIMSEY also had surveys on Duck River in 1808 (TSLA 2nd Surveyors Dist,) This is the James SIMPSON who married Elizabeth KIMSEY. He was the son of Thomas SIMPSON and Mary KNIGHT of Rockingham Co., North Carolina.

1808 August 17 Archibald SIMPSON, 300 acres, CC Allan _, Philandr_ CAMPBELL; adj. Levi CAMPBELL. (TSLA 2nd Surveyors Dist)

1808 August 18 William SIMPSON, 300 acres, CC: Philandrer CAMPBELL, Archibald SIMPSON, adj. Levi CAMPBELL, Jesse CORNWELL & ____ KING (TSLA 2nd Surveyors Dist)

1808 August 19 Archibald SIMPSON, 150 acres, CC: Isaac EATON, Wm. SIMPSON, adj. Wm. CROSS and Eddy HODGES; also 204 a adj. Isaac EATON and Jno. ARNOLD (TSLA 2nd Surveyors Dist)

1810 February 16 Archibald SIMPSON was in "Bedford Co. Tenn. Wills & Vital Records from Newspaper" by the Marshes, p 302, from a paper dated 16 Feb 1810: "Sale - Sat 24 Feb 1810, Archibald SIMPSON, 300a of land lying on Middle Fork of Duck River, judgement by George MAXWELL & wife. B. BRADFORD, Sheriff." (From Fran Laird.)

1842 circa James M. SIMPSON died (family group sheet of Fran Laird)

1845 March 3 Samuel and Evaline B. SIMPSON formerly Evaline B. COLDWELL of Gibson Co., Indiana to John C. COLDWELL, 2 tracts on Duck River adj. Wilson COATS’ survey, adj. road leading from Shelbyville to McMinnville. (Courtesy of Shirley Hopkins)

1849 November 10 W.P. BOBO & others to Samuel BOBO 108 ½ acres. Thomas E. SIMPSON & Salina his wife, Nathan A. HODGES and Elizabeth his wife, Lucretia J. BOBO, Burrell BOBO & Washington P. BOBO, sold to Samuel BOBO all in Bedford and Lincoln Co., Tennessee all their interest in land in Bedford Co on Big Flat Creek, land which descended to Elijah BOBO from Sarah PEARSON. Wit: Kindred PEARSON, Rufus SMITH (Courtesy of Shirley Hopkins)

1852 February 17 John W. SIMPSON to William LITTLE and Robert ALLISON, John W. SIMPSON has interest to take effect upon the death of Emily WEAVER who has a live estate in the same, Dist. 10 John LITTLE & William LITTLE. Wit: E.D. WINSETT & R.S. GANTT & W.S. TAYLOR. (Courtesy of Shirley Hopkins)

1869 October 31 John W. SIMPSON died (family group sheet of Fran Laird)

Connections to White Co., Tennessee

1800 Thomas and his brother William Wesley HASH came to White County in early 1800 and built a cabin west of Calfkiller River. These brothers hunted and explored, going back and forth to NC. When they returned to Tennessee they found that Daniel WALLING had obtained title to their Calfkiller site during their absence. Richard SIMPSON married Louisa HASH, 7th child of Thomas. (Warren County Story)

1814 James SIMPSON of White County to William MORRISON, negro girl named Cherry, 18 years. Attest: Eli SIMS, Henry LYDA (Wilson Co Deed Book)

1818 Apr. 13 James SIMPSON, 10 acres, (Grant #11464 Bk. P, pg. 69)

1820 census James SIMPSON (Don Simpson research report #8, September 1996)

1826 Nov. 4 James SIMPSON, 18 acres (Grant #1828)

1827 James SIMPSON’s will mentioned wife Elizabeth, granddaughter Polly SIMPSON, daughter of “my daughter Elizabeth SIMPSON, dec’d; sons William and Randal and daughter Rodale LEDBETTER, wife of Geo. M. LEDBETTER. (T.J. Barnes Papers from TSLA)

1830 census James SIMPSON (Don Simpson research report #8, September 1996), Thos. SIMPSON (00001-00001), John W. SIMPSON (0000001-120001)

1836 Apr. 12 John SIMPSON bought land from George ALLEN (Deed Book I, Vol. 9, pg. 379-381)

1838 James H. JENKINS et al vs. William SIMPSON, original bill heard in White County Chancery Court. (Supreme Court Records, Bos 60, Middle Tennessee Supreme Court Records: Second Series by Betsy Ragsdale and Gale Williams Bamman in Middle Tennessee Journal of Genealogy and History, Vol. XVII, No. 2/61, Fall 2003.)

1839 Aug. 9 William SIMPSON of White Co to Thomas T. CROWDER, sold land John SIMPSON had purchased from George ALLEN in 1836. (Deed Bk. I, Vol. 9, p. 379-381)

1840 census James SIMPSON (Don Simpson research report #8, September 1996)

1850 census James SIMPSON age 81, born Pennsylvania (Don Simpson research report #8, September 1996) John W. SIMPSON, age 61, born North Carolina and Jane age 58 born North Carolina (Don Simpson research report #9, August 1996)

1854 June James SIMPSON will named Bartlett, John, Freeland, Locky

1862 March 6 John W. SIMPSON died, W.M. SIMPSON admr. (Don Simpson research report #9, August 1996)