Re: Williamson PLANT b 1742/Hanover CO VA
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In reply to:
Re: Williamson PLANT b 1742/Hanover CO VA
Linda Stevens 5/24/08
From February issues of the Sun (later became the Greenville Advocate).
Biography of Williamson Plant, great grandson of Williamson Plant of Revolutionary War.
The following facts are taken from the copies of the Advocate and The Sun of February 1887, the Bond County History, facts from letters of his grandson, R. P. Mcneil, W.F. Gillespie and other sources.
The first one of the name came to America from Ireland, in 1739.
One of his was Named Williamson and served in the Revolutionary Army, (is now buried at Sugg Cemetery in Pocahontas).He came to Bond County in 1818, locating near Pocahontas.
One of his sons was Lorenzo Dow Plant and he was the father of Williamson, the subject of our sketches.
His mother was Louise Sugg, a member of one of the pioneer families of Bond County.
He was born near Pocahontas, December 19, 1827.He was educated in the schools of the county, supplemented by a short course in the Academy of Prof. Edward Wyman at Hillsboro.He acquired good English education, but with many others, who have made a mark in the world, it was more the result of his own observation and business dealings than from books.
He took an active interest in civic Welfare, was an avowed temperance advocate and a regular church attendant.Though not a politician, he was elected assessor, three times sheriff of Bond County and acted as collector for a large part of the terms of two other sheriffs.
Always interested in public activities, the crowning work of is life was concerned with the construction of what was then the “Vandalia Railroad.”He was the first secretary of the company, which office he held till his death, a period of almost 22 years.For the last year of his life he was confined to his home much of the time and the company meetings were held there.He was reelected about a month before his death.
He died peacefully sitting in his chair, at his home a mile south of Greenville, Feb. 11, 1887.
With his Dairy of 1849, from which our notes have been taken, he left a number of others.While they were not voluminous as this one, they may contain items of interest and it is our hope to be able to quote from then in future articles.
More Cholera Victims
The diary of Williamson Plant, from which excerpts were taken in recent articles, was written wholly in 1849, except a couple of pages at a later date.Some readers may infer from the fact that year 1849 could be considered the cholera year.
Such is not the case, the range being from 1833 to some twenty years later, during which time there were more or less wide spread epidemics.“The year the stars fell” (1833) was also the time of an awful visitation of cholera in the Smokey Mountains and the surrounding country.Many thought the end of the world was approaching and there was a great spiritual awakening.
In the Williams Plant diary, mention was made of his brother Lemuel, Dr. Park, Carter and Ferguson.The last three were member of the Pocahontas party who died on the way.The young son of Dr. Park was sent back home by friends.Lemuel Plant later went with an emigrant train and fell a victim to the disease.
Mrs. Dawdy recently told that in the Hubbard Cemetery north east of here are the graves of on of the Hubbards and his wife, their tombstones telling that they died of the disease.The wife was of the Dressor family.
Another, (was it our friend Russell Hunter?) says that in the cemetery at Carlyle is a long row of graves that to this day is know as “Cholera Row.” (There is a whole section of a Cemetery in Highland, Illinois that is dedicated to the victims buried there of the Cholera epidemic.)
In 1853 the disease ran riot in Mulberry Grove, claiming many victims; amount being Dr. John Combs and the writer’s maternal grandmother.