My friends - Today we are returning to our review of the biographies of JP individuals contained in the 1904 publication, "Memorial Record of Western Kentucky". Our subject today is from McCracken County - John E. Williamson. As is now customary, there will be no data posts per se tomorrow or on the weekend, although I do hope to find time over the next few days to convert and make available another miscellaneous file. Tomorrow is our "book day", on which items which our subscribers may have to offer on the JP region, or on KY in general, may be posted according to the guidelines established earlier this year for such postings. I will be announcing the availability of the Graves County Order Book G CD-ROM tomorrow as well. -B ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ McCracken County - Biography - "Memorial Record of Western KY" - John E. Williamson "John E. Williamson, of Paducah, was born near Louisville,Jefferson county, Kentucky, in 1830, and was a son of John P. and Jane Williamson. Mr. Williamson was given only a limited education, and in early life learned the trade of stone cutter. In 1857 he came to Paducah and here opened a shop, and from that date he has been in the marble business in this city, saving during the period of the Civil war, in which he espoused the cause of the Union, and in Paducah organized a company for the Union army. He was chosen captain of the company, which was first connected with the Sixteenth Kentucky Cavalry, but was later consolidated with Twelfth Cavalry, the fortunes of which he shared until mustered out of the service at the close of the war. His grandfather, Elliott Williamson, was an emigrant to America in 1765; served in the colonial army in the war of the American Revolution and was present at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; had a family of five sons of whom John P., the father of our subject, was a soldier in the war of 1812, participating in the closing scenes at New Orleans, and died at Paducah in 1871, in his eighty-second year. He, too, had five sons, of whom John E., our subject, prompted by a spirit of patriotism and loyalty to the Union, participated in struggled between the states in the sixties. At the close of the war Mr. Williamson returned to his home and family in Paducah and resumed the civil duties of life. He has been a successful business man, and is a highly respected citizen. In politics he is a Republican. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married in 1856, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Miss Elizabeth Brownfield, and has reared a family of worthy sons and daughters." -Memorial Record of Western Kentucky Lousiville: Lewis Publishing Co., 1904 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++