FAWCETT, Abner (1832-1845)-HF
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Biography
ABNER FAWCETT, the eldest son of Lucretia Keyes and Joseph Fawcett, was born in Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia on February 25, 1802 about mid-day at Graham’s Old Red House (Family Bible). At the end of April or early in May 1824 Abner and Joseph Fawcett traveled to Washington DC, where they visited Lyle B. Fawcett (Letter 4/24/1824).
The Rockingham Register (10/5/1876 [Wayland 1949:337-338]) states that in about 1826 the road from Harrisonburg to Dayton (Liberty St.) passed by Shue's tan yards and through Samuel (Vinegar) Miller's Farm. Between the property of Mr. Pool and the creek stood the tan yard house, and on the north side of the creek was the tan yard of Abner Fawcett (Barb 1991). Nearby was the finishing house used as a carriage factory by Mr. Bushnell and the tan yard of Mr. Tutwiler who tanned deerskins for making gloves. Today the location of Abner's tan yard serves as the newspaper office. The Bushnell/Bushell home may be the one that Joseph Fawcett and his family moved to in January, 1828. By then Abner Fawcett was a sheep and hog raiser (Letter 1/5/1828). He sent some flour, bacon, and cow hides for a Mr. Lantz to Lyle B. Fawcett in Richmond, Virginia, for Lyle to sell (Letter 2/13/1828). At the end of February 1828 Abner Fawcett purchased 50-80 sheep whom he drove to Richmond (to sell to Nolend & Co) and Petersburg (to sell to Frank Price). He probably also visited his brother, Lyle Branson Fawcett, in Richmond (Letter 2/24/1828). He mentions the Bowmans and Crawfords in his letter to Lyle.
At the end of 1828 his father, Joseph, and the rest of his siblings moved to Staunton, Augusta County, Vriginia. Abner Fawcett remained behind in Harrisonburg.
Abner Fawcett married Jane Crawford on November 10, 1829 at her father’s (William Crawford) house (Joseph Fawcett bible; Rockingham County Marriage Index). The next year Abner Fawcett is mentioned in the federal census (#184) as residing in the Harrisonburg Township with a household included of both whites (1 male 15-20 years, 2 20-30 years; 1 female 20-30 years) and African-American slaves (1 male 10-24 years; 1 female 10-24 years, 1 female 36-55 years).
Abner sold off much of his property (May 1828-February 1834). He was listed among the delinquent tax payers in 1833 (Delinquent Tax List). Abner Fawcett did not accompany his parents and siblings to Missouri when they moved in the spring of 1834. He apparently had a drinking problem (Letter L.B. Fawcett to J. Fawcett 8/1/1834).
Abner Fawcett died of cholera on March 10, 1835 aboard the steamboat “Majestic,” opposite Bainbridge on the Mississippi River, near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He may have been cremated, and was buried near Grand Tower at St. Louis, Missouri. Abner was on his way to visit his parents in Franklin, Missouri (Joseph Fawcett bible). He boarded the steamboat in New Orleans, and traveled north along the Mississippi River, by way of Natchez with Dr. Dorrell of Franklin. He was well up until his sudden death. Dr. Dorell brought the news of Abner’s death on to Franklin (Letter 3/14/1835).
B.K. Fawcett visited his widow and their married daughter, Mrs. Fanny Hopkins at Langerville, Augusta County, Virginia as he returned to Texas in the fall of 1863 after having served in the Army of Virginia. Another daughter, Nanny Fawcett, recently died (summer 1862 [Letter V Fawcett to L Fawcett 8/11/1863]).
Source
From A History of the Fawcetts and Related Families in America by William Bloys Fawcett.
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Copyright © 1996, 2007 by William Bloys Fawcett, Jr. All rights reserved. No copies may be made of this document through any electronic, photocopying or other means without permission of the author.
