James Madison Pearson, 1817 - 1891

Quaker Origins

For the most part, it seems, we have been a family that likes to travel.

My earliest known ancestors came from the area around Manchester, England. At that time the name was spelled "Piersonne", a spelling that suggests a French origin, but that is mere conjecture.

Note. This needs to be revised, so don't take it for gospel. See Roots Web on Pearson.

The first Pearson came to Pennsylvania along with William Penn. Enoch Pearson, my great x 4 grandfather, was born in Bucks County Pennsylvania in 1757. But, then he moved on to North Carolina in order to marry Mary White of Granville County North Carolina before going on to South Carolina where William Head Pearson, my great great great grandfather was born. He up and went to Jasper County Georgia where my great great grandfather James Madison Pearson was born.

There is something which drives all of us on. For the Pearsons, there were many reasons - religious, war, land, inheritance, or just a plain and simple desire for change.

I have heard the phrase "roots and wings" to describe how it is that parents instill in their children both a need to be grounded in familiar principles and a hope to soar. But, I think the phrase also describes the nature of families. Some stay and continued the landed traditions. Others leave and start a new adventure.

The Pearsons of Tallapoosa County

Why James Madison Pearson left Jasper County Georgia for Alabama is unknown. Was it opportunity?

What is known from history is that, in 1814, following the Creek War, Andrew Jackson forced the Creeks to sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson. As part of the treaty, the Creek Nation ceded 23 million acres, half of Alabama and part of southern Georgia, to the United States government

Tallapoosa County was organized in 1832 with Dadeville the county seat. Courthouse records with the Registrar of Deeds first place James Madison Pearson in Dadeville around 1840.

His sons included Dr. Benjamin Rush Pearson, my great grandfather, and General Charles Lafayette Pearson, my great uncle. Dr. Benjamin Rush Pearson eventually moved to Montgomery, Alabama to practice medicine. He, however, kept up his contacts with Dadeville where my grandfather was born and spent many summers growing up. Charles Lafayette Pearson continued to live in and around Dadeville after his father's death, increasing the land holdings that his father had begun.

The Pearsons who still reside in Dadeville are descendants of Charles Lafayette Pearson.


James Madison Pearson (1817 -  1891), my great great grandfather, was born in Jasper County Georgia. In 1841 he married Elizabeth Ann Brown in Tallapoosa County, Alabama. She was then 18 years of age and he - 24. They had nine children. Elizabeth died in 1855 at the age of 32. James remarried to

Dr. Benjamin Rush Pearson (1849 - 1906) my grandfather was born in Tallapoosa. He was the forth child. He married Sallie Coleman Ferrell on the 3rd of December 1873. Dr. Rush practiced medicine in Montgomery Alabama.

James Madison Pearson (...) my grandfather was ... James Madison Pearson married Marguerite Chevallier Meine

Elmire Pearson () my mother married Arthur H. Davis, my father ...

General Charles Lafayette Pearson Cemetery

James Madison Pearson died in 1891 and is buried along with his wife, Elizabeth A. Brown, and son, Charles Lafayette Pearson, in the General Charles Lafayette Pearson cemetery. The cemetery is located to the east of Dadeville off Highway 280, a mile north and west on Slaughter Crossing. The cemetery is small. It rests on a hill deep in the piney woods, close to the railroad tracks.

The cemetery is not easy to get to as it is now on property owned by a lumber company. The road off of Slaughter Crossing is closed to traffic and it is necessary to walk the final mile or so to the cemetery location.

Since the cemetery has but few markers, I have included a listing of the markers made by Barbara Taylor here:

GEN. PEARSON FAMILY CEMETERY
Turn off Hwy 280 onto Slaughter’s Crossing Road. Go .9 mi - turn left,
over RR track, take right at 1.6 ½ miles, R at 2.4
(walk to top of hill, cemetery is on the left.)
N32 degrees 49.788 minutes W 085 degrees 41.344 minutes


Gen. C. L. Pearson April 10, 1854 Jan. 12, 1940
One or two broken
James Madison Pearson 17th Oct 1817 Died 11th Nov. 1891 Age 74 yrs. 25 days.
Son of Wm. H. & Mary W. Pearson born Jasper Co, Ga.
Edward W. Pearson Nov. 21, 1860 July 31, 1862 Son of James W. and Elizabeth A. Pearson
Mrs. Elizabeth A. Pearson Wife of James M. Pearson and Daughter of James N. & Martha Brown
Born in Morgan Co., Ga. 12th of Nov. 1823 Died 9th Aug. 1861 37 yrs. 8 mos. 27 days
Amanda F. David April 12, 1834 Sept. 29, 1853
Wife of Jonathan S. David & Daughter of Wm. M. & A. K. Brawner
Jonathan S. David Born Madison Co., Ga. Dec. 6, 1819 Died Lee Co. July 26, 1871 Aged 51
Yrs. 7 mos. & ___ days CSA marker: Ala State Militia Home Gds Confederate State
Army June 6, 1819 July 2, 1871
Lucy David Consort of William David Daughter of Jessee and Elizabeth White
22 June 1786 March 22, 1857 70 yrs. _________
Henry P. David Born Madison Co., Ga. March 1st, 1818 Died Tallapoosa County, Ala.
June 9, 1860 42 yrs.3 mos. 5 days
Allen R. David Son of J. S. & M. J. David Born Tallapoosa County, Ala. Jan. 2, 1856 Died
Macon County, Alabama May 27, 1860
Hosea B. David Jan. 21, 1859 Dec. 9, 1884
John W. David Son of W. P. & M. C. David May 19, 1854 Sep. 1856 2 yrs 3 mos. 2 days
William Ritchie Son of Leman & Sarah Davis Pitts Born Madison County, Ga. Oct. 20, 1828
Died Tallapoosa Co., Ala. June 4, 1876
Margaret C. Smith Jan. 28, 1831 April 5, 1914
Charlott Frances Smith Dau. Of Robert & Nancy Smith Born Tallapoosa County, Ala Aug.3, 1837 Jan. 6, 1911
Mary Ann Smith Dau. Of Robert & Nancy Smith Born Newberry Dist., S. C. Dec. 15, 1822
Died Tallapoosa County, Ala Nov. 6, 1895
Robert Smith Born in Ireland, March 31, 1796 Died Tallapoosa County, Ala Apr. 17, 1880
Nancy Smith Wife of Robert Smith Born Newberry Dist., S. C. Nov. 13, 1798
Died Tallapoosa County, Ala. Oct. 28, 1882
Nancy J. David Dau. Of Robert & Nancy Smith Wife of Henry P. David Died Aug. 20, 1863
37 Yrs. 11 Mos. 7 days
M. Maxcy Smith June 10, 1874 June 7, 1934
Rosa H. Smith July 2, 1872 Apr. 25, 1928
James Maxcy Smith Capt Co G 34 Regt Ala Inf Confederate States Army April 19, 1832(3) Feb. 8, 1910
Sarah McCord Smith Oct 2, 1842 Feb. 18, 1924
Several Unmarked believed to be slaves graves

Booger Hollow

The problem is that the entire area around Dadeville, Alabama that James Madison Pearson (my grandfather's grandfather) and his son Charles Lafayette Pearson (my grandfather's uncle) owned back in the 1800' and 1900's is now owned by Kimberley Clark. Today, that land is good only for logging.Thick stands of pine trees cover the hills and valleys, and where there are no pine trees, then stands of sycamores, oaks and maples exist. In some places kudzu covers the scrub trees like a green blanket over the earth. Getting lost in the forest is not hard to do. The trees are thick and tall.

The directions to General Charles Lafayette Pearson's cemetery are clear and direct. Take Highway 280 east out of Dadeville for a couple of miles until you come to Slaughter Crossing. Head north on Slaughter Crossing for .9 miles, turn left, cross the railroad tracks, at 1.6 miles, turn right, at 2.4 miles turn right and go up the hill to the cemetery. The problem with the directions is that the road is closed at the first turn and a warning is posted that you are about to trespass.

Armed with my Garmin, I tried all sorts of ways to get to the spot from north, east, and west. The attempt from the west took me to a road called Booger Hollow. Yep, "booger", as in that thing we pick out of our nose, or, in this case I guess, the boogeyman. Booger can also mean a despicable, worthless person, as in, there are nothing but boogers living in Booger Hollow.

But before I descend into Booger Hollow, I need to know what exactly a "hollow" is. Technically, it is a low lying area where the water drains to.Colloquially, “down in the hollow” means “below the houses,” where the field ends and the solid woods begin. In other words, it is the edge of civilization. And yes, it is usually pronounced "hollar", as in, I am gonna' hollar if someone jumps out of the woods at me.

Before driving down Booger Hollow, I stopped to ask directions of a white gentleman weeding an old family cemetery. The cemetery was open in an open field with a pretty view of the area. Well kept houses dotted the landscaped. He was perhaps ten years older than me, but it seemed by his mannerisms that he was part of the old South. His advice was to go down Booger Hollow, but don't stop to ask directions, as there are some scary people down there. We chatted for awhile about the cemetery and how to get there from here. Somewhere back in the youth of his mind he remembered going there, but couldn't remember how. He did remember General Pearson, or at least he remembered stories of him. But the one story he wanted to tell me was that General Pearson had a "mixed family". Mixed as in he had children by a black mistress. The kindly gentleman then told me that the General had to send his kids up North to be educated.

I don't know if General Pearson had a "mixed" family. I doubt it as I know that he and his wife, Zenia Blasengame, had nine children. One of these children, Rush, had indeed gone North - to live with my grandfather James Madison Pearson. The story seemed implausible to me. The General who was born in 1854 and died in 1940, had spent time in France, was trained in law, and extremely busy in his many land deals. Judging form the land records in the Tallapoosa County Courthouse, the General must have been, like his father, one of the largest land owners in the area. But what struck me as strange, was that the conversation of race would come up at all. Go figure.

Booger Hollow was, as the gentleman warned, a bit of a scary place. Then again, I imagine that the Sleepy Hollow of upstate New York only became scary because of a great story told about a headless horseman. Beyond the fields where the woods took over, I was greeted with ramshackle houses populated with chickens and rusted out cars. Humans, if they existed, stayed pretty much indoors. Eventually, I came to a road called General Pearson, and I knew I must be on the right track. On to the logging trail marked General Pearson, I slipped and slid over the mud from a recent rain. I went for a couple of miles before I came across another human being. This one a logger, white again, all by himself covered in tattoos and sitting in his truck with nothing much to do. I asked him for directions, but he politely told me that he was not from the area. On again into the mud before it became impassable and I had to head back.

I was to find Booger Hollow again the next day, trying to get to my destination from the west. Again, the road just petered out. But along the way I saw quizzical black homeowners who must have wondered what a white guy in a Nissan Versa rental car was doing so far off the main road. Some of the owners just stared, some gave a gentle wave of the hand, you know, the kind that country folks use in Kansas to signal that they are peaceful. I of course, waved back.

Eventually, I was to find the cemetery, but it was not by going down Booger Hollow. Booger Hollow was just a strange side trip, a taste of two cultures, white and black, and the dichotomy that is Alabama.