BIOGRAPHY: John A. Goodson born 1790

This biography is included in the Book Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable  Alabama Pioneers Volume II

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JOHN A. GOODSON
BIOGRAPHY and GENEALOGY

( b. 1790 SC, d. 1873 Bibb Co., AL)

BIBB COUNTY, ALABAMA

John A. Goodson was born in South Carolina in 1790, the son (according to family history) of Redmond Goodson, a Revolutionary soldier. He married Nancy Garrett (daughter of James and Nancy Garrett) on November 28, 1815, in South Carolina.

They moved from South Carolina to Bibb County, Alabama, in the early days of the state, and John was listed as “one who was clearing land in Hill’s Settlement at the headwaters of Hill’s and Schultz Creeks near the Tuscaloosa line.” They had one child, James Garrett Goodson, when they moved to Alabama and had 10 more in Bibb County, Alabama.

1. Their firstborn, James Garrett Goodson, died at the age of eighteen (1817-1835)
2 . Their second child and daughter, Elizabeth Goodson (b. Oct 3, 1819, d. June 14, 1892), married Dr. Alsey Clements August 10, 1836. DR. Clements was the nephew of Hardy Clements, who owned the largest plantation in west Alabama.
3. John Calvin Goodson, the second son and third child (b. 1822, d. aft. 1900 AK) married MariahJane Pratt (b. 1825), the daughter of Joab B. and Frances (Vernon) Pratt. Joab B. Pratt was a well-respected Baptist preacher and was the first minister of Mount Moriah Baptist Church in Bibb County, Alabama in March 1827. It met in the home of John and Nancy Goodwin until the completion of a house of worship on Goodson’s land in June of that year. Later, in 1850, John deeded four and a half acres of land for church purposes. The original building still stands as part of the present structure. John and Mariah Jane joined the wagon train organized by Mariah’s father, Joab Pratt, in the fall of 1841 from among financially stricken families in his Baptist congregations due to an economic depression following the wake of bank trouble in 1837. The wagon train made its way to the middle of Louisiana and then pushed north, passing a point in Union Parish just below the Arkansas line, still known as Alabama Landing, on its way to Salina.
There are still markers at the cemetery of the Philadelphia Baptist Church they founded when they settled there. Bibb County names of Mayfield, Pumphrey, McDaniel, Pratt, and Cobb exist in the cemetery, and a community nearby is called Prattsville after Joab Pratt.

4. The fourth child, William Franklin Goodson (b. 1824, d. before 1875), married Lucy Hill (b. Jan 11, 1828, d. Sep 19, 1903). LUCY was the daughter of Robert and Nancy Hill

5. The fifth child, Jasper Goodson (b. 1826 Bibb Co, d. aft. 1875) married Susan Jane Lee, daughter of Needham and Nancy Lee of Shelby Co., Alabama, on Aug 29, 1854, in Shelby County, Alabama.

6. Little is known of their sixth child, Mary Goodson (b. 1829 Bibb Co.- d. before 1875) except that she married possibly Hiram Hoop.

7. Jane Ellen Goodson is their seventh child. (b. Dec. 1831 d. Aug. 20, 1905) She married John Lowery, son of Joel C. and Mary Abigail (Pratt) Lowery, on April 24, 1848. They lived in the Scottsville area of Bibb County in 1870 with nine of their eleven children.

The next two children died young.

8. Nancy Goodson was born in 1834 and died in 1835.

9. Sarah Ann Goodson was born in 1836 and died in 1837.

10. The next child, Joab Goodson (b. 1838, d. 1865), enlisted ca. March 1862 when Col. J. B. Harrison was recruiting the Scottsville Guards, of the Confederacy. When the Scottsville Guards Company was organized, Joab was elected 2nd Lieutenant, and he continued to receive promotions throughout the war. On May 15, 1863, he became captain of the company at the age of twenty-four. Joab was well educated and wrote many letters about his war experiences. In one letter, he wrote, “We ragged rebels had a great sport snowballing…It is a grand sight to see a thousand men with banners (handkerchiefs) flying meet on an open field and with deafening yells engage in a regular snowball battle.”During the Battle of Fredericksburg, he climbed a tree and wrote her a description of the battle taking place. His favorite niece published the letters he wrote her 1957 edition of The Alabama Review, a Quarterly publication of the Alabama Historical Association. He was severely wounded in Petersburg, Jan. 1865, and died in a hospital on Feb. 10, 1865, in Richmond, VA.

11. The youngest child of John A. and Nancy Goodson, Rufus Green (1841 d. 1864), joined the Bibb Greys early during the War. The Bibb Greys were organized shortly after the war was declared in April 1861. Most of the officers and men were in their twenties. “The Bibb Greys, …procured some tents and camped briefly at Brown Springs, now called Gary Springs, where a Captain Pettaway, a cadet from the University of Alabama, came to drill them.” It was not a dull time since the Centreville girls called on them frequently. They left for war on June 21. The Bibb Greys later became Company F, 11th Alabama Regiment, and took part in most of the battles in Virginia after First Manassas.
When his brother Joab enlisted in 1862, Rufus transferred to the 44th Alabama in Oct 1862. He was promoted to 4th Sgt. Rufus Green Goodson died in his brother’s arms at Petersburg on June 20, 1864.

John Goodson was a delegate from the Mt. Moriah Church to both the Cahaba and Tuscaloosa Baptist Associations in the period of 1827-1840. He was a deacon in 1857.

He died March 6, 1873, and his will was proved July 4, 1875. His wife, Nancy, and five children were named in the will.

SOURCES

1. The Heritage of Bibb County, Al, vol. IV by Mary Ann Martin Moore;

2. Bibb County, Alabama, The First Hundred Years, Rhoda Coleman 3. Ellison; Devil’s Den, Charles E. Boyd;

4. Carey McCord, The Pratt Family

5. Ellorine Cottingham Morgan compiled records

This biography is included in the Book Biographies of Notable and Not-so-Notable  Alabama Pioneers Volume II.