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WOOD COUNTY WEST VIRGINIA
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Submitted to the West Virginia Biographies Project by:
Pam Honaker
pam_honaker@hotmail.com
October 28, 2000
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The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.
Chicago and New York, Volume II
Pg. 465
JACKSON FAMILY--WOOD COUNTY
JACKSON FAMILY. John Jackson was born near Londonderry, Ireland, in
1719, was reared in the City of London, where he learned the builder's
trade, and in 1848 crossed the ocean to Calvert County, Maryland. About
1769 he and his family crossed the mountain into Northwestern Virginia, and
made permanent settlement on the Buckhannon River, just below Jackson's
Fort. Both he and his wife had experiences during the period of Indian
warfare, and in mental, moral and physical strength they were fitted to
become the forebears of an illustrious race of descendants. John Jackson
died at Clarksburg September 25, 1801. His wife, whose maiden name was
Elizabeth Cummins, died in 1825. Of their eight children the second son,
Edward, was the grandfather of Thomas Jonathan Jackson, know to immortal
fame as Gen. Stonewall Jackson.
Their first born son was known as Col. George Jackson. He was born
aabout 1750 and in 1773 entered 400 acres of land in the vicinity of
Clarksburg. He had a sound mental and physcial inheritance, and was a
natural leader, though without the oppurtunities to secure a literary
education. He was with the frontier militia in the Indian wars, was
commissioned colonel of a Virginia regiment by General Washington in the
Revolution, and 1781 joined General Clark's expedition against the British
at Detroit. The first County Court of Harrison County was held at his home
in 1784. He was elected a member of the House of Burgesses, was a member of
the State Convention that ratified the Federal Constitution, and three times
was chosen a member of Congress. It is said that a speech he made in
Congress caused so much amusement among the members that he announced he
would go home and send his son to Congress, and he would not be laughed at.
His son John, in fact immediately succeeded him, entering the Eighth
Congress.
This son, John George Jackson, was born near Buckhannon, Virginia, and
died at Clarksburg in 1825. He was liberally educated by his father, was
elected a member of the Legislature in 1797, was appointed surveyor of
Goverment lands west of the Ohio in 1793, and as noted was elected to
Congress as successor of his father, serving from the Eighth to the
Fourteenth congressess inclusive, except the Twelfth. He was a brigadier
general of militia and in 1819 appointed United States judge for the Western
District of Virginia, and was on the bench when he died . The first wife of
John George Jackson was Mary Payne, who was born about 1781 and died
February 13, 1808. She was a daughter of John and Mary (Coles) Payne. She
and Mr. Jackson were married in the executive mansion in the White House.
That honor was granted the bride by virtue of her being a sister of the wife
of the President of the United States, the famous Dolly Madison. The second
wife of John George Jackson, by whom is descended another line of the
Jackson family in West virginia, was a daughter of Return Jonathan Meigs, of
the distinguished Meigs family of Ohio.
The only son of the first marriage of John George Jackson was Gen. John
Jay Jackson, who was born in Wood county, Virginia, February 13, 1800. Much
of his early life was spent in Parkersburg. He was educated privately and
in Washington College in Pennsylvania, and by appointment from President
Monroe entered West Point Military Academy in 1815, graduating in his
nineteenth year. As an officer of the Regular army he performed service in
the Seminole war in Florida, and at one time was a member of Gen. Andrew
Jackson's staff. About January 1, 1823 he resigned his commission and
turned his attention to the law. He soon reached the front ranks of his
profession and was many times elected to public office. From 1830 to 1852
he was prosecuting attorney in the Circuit Superior Court. He was a
brigadier general of Militiia from 1842 until the beginning of the Civil
war. His last public service was as a member of the Convention at Richmnd
in 1861, wher he eloquently upheld the Union. He organized and was
president of the Second National Bank of Parkersburg. He died January 1,
1877.
Gen. John Jay Jackson married in 1823 Emma G. Beeson, who died in 1842.
In 1843 he married Jane. E. B. Gardner.
While without doubt one of the ablest and most useful men in his
generation in Parkersburg and his section of Virginia, Gen. John Jay Jackson
had perhaps an even greater distiction in being the father of five eminent
sons, all of whow became conspicious in the history of West Virginia. These
sons were Judge John Jay Jackson, United States District Judge James Monroe
Jackson, Governor Jacob Beeson Jackson, Henry Clay Jackson and Andre Gardner
Jackson.
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