Genealogy: Finding Your Folks

The Stamps and Johnson families

By Judy Fowler Kilgore
Genealogy Columnist

Judy Fowler Kilgore is the religion editor and genealogy columnist for The Citizen. She regrets that time does not permit her to do personal family research for others. She may be reached at jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com.

I hate to do this, but turnabout’s fair play. I have posted your stories and questions about south metro families. Now I’m asking you to help me find one of mine.

Last Monday I was contacted by Peggy Hughes, a Norris/Johnson cousin, who had new information on what had become a brick wall for all of us. It concerns those dad-blasted Johnsons I wrote about a few years ago. Remember? I had so many of them and so many different lines of them that it was driving me crazy.

One of the lines I was looking for was the family of Mary Johnson who married John “Jethro” Norris, and moved from Gwinnett to Fayette to Campbell and then disappeared. (Well, not exactly. I did find Arthur, Jethro’s grandson, and opened up the floodgates on the Norris Candy Company.)

Another was James Johnson who married (as his second wife) Hester Fowler, sister of my GG grandfather, John Fowler. Hester and James both lived and died in Gwinnett and are buried in the Johnson Cemetery there.

The connection of these two Johnsons comes through Mary Johnson Norris’ daughter, Sarah Ann, who married John Fowler, Hester’s brother. So far, they are connected but not related.

Another Johnson line was that of Frances Ann Johnson who married Reuben Fowler, brother of John and Hester. And, strangely, a Joel Johnson kept popping up living near the Fowlers and the Johnsons, and both the Fowlers and the Norrises had children named Joel.

You can see why we were going crazy trying to connect the dots on this family.

A small clue came along a few years ago when another cousin, Vicky Chambers, found a scrap of paper at the Hall County Library which stated that Frances Ann Johnson was the daughter of John Johnson, whose brother was Joel Johnson. No more. Just that and the name of a researcher who has been lost in the wind. She cannot be reached. We gave up trying to find the answers after a while. It was just too frustrating.

But Peggy persisted. She said she happened to remember something her grandmother, Clelia White Jackson, said many times ... that she was related to the “President who was impeached.” We all know that was Andrew Johnson. And that’s where Peggy said she started, sorting out the Johnson families of Virginia and the Carolinas, until she worked her way down to Noel Johnson and Tempey Stamps.

The following is very loosely put together and some of it may not be quite right. I have spent the better part of the day trying to gather information with the resources I have here at home. I still have a long way to go, but I’m hoping someone out there can help us confirm what we hope is the truth.

Thanks to Peggy’s research, Mary Johnson Norris’ parents are now thought to be Noel Johnson and Temperence (Tempey) Stamps. Noel is thought to be the son of William Johnson and Anna Dyer and Tempey is thought to be the daughter of Thomas Stamps and Rhoda Witt. Thomas is said to have died in Coweta County about 1830 at the home of his son, Moses Witt Stamps. First hit: Mary Johnson and Jethro Norris had a daughter named Temperence.

According to a book I have on Colonial Georgia marriages, Noel and Tempey Johnson were married 31 Aug. 1802 in Oglethorpe County, Ga. By 1840 they were in Gwinnett County and had five children still living at home, ranging in age from 20-25 down to a female between five and ten years of age. Of course, with the census only enumerating people by their sex and age at that time, there is no way of telling if these were all their children, other family members living with them, or boarders.

Noel was born about 1770-1780 and Tempey was born about 1780-1790, according to the census. Peggy’s research showed their children to be Joel Johnson, born 1803; Mary Johnson, born 1809; James Vaughn Johnson, born 1810, and John Johnson (no further info).Second hit: John Johnson may have been the father of Frances Ann Johnson (remember the scrap of paper?).

Joel Johnson was living next door to Noel Johnson in 1840 (third hit), so that was a “gimme.” This Joel married Matilda Williams and had a bunch of children, among them thought to be the James Johnson who married first Lucinda Gresham and second our Hester Fowler. Hester’s first husband was Edward Gresham, who disappeared after the 1850 census. (Yeah ... the Greshams are driving us crazy too.) Vicky also found a reference to a Noel Johnson in Walton County. I need to check that out.

Tempey Stamps’ siblings are thought to be William Stamps, born in Va., died in Miss.; Moses Witt Stamps, born 1772 in Va., died in 1850, married Sarah Ann Eason; Elijah Stamps, born 1782 in N.C., died 1868 in Ala.; Thomas Stamps, born 1790; and John Stamps (no further info).

There is a Moses W. Stamps listed in the Coweta Cemeteries book and a Thomas Stamps who was a Revolutionary soldier. There is also the will of a Moses W. Stamps in the book on early Coweta wills. But there is nothing on this early Stamps family in any of the Coweta history books. Later Stamps, but no early Stamps.

A Thomas Stamps from Clarke County drew land in Gwinnett in the 1820 Land Lottery, lot 136 in the seventh district (source: Flanigan’s History of Gwinnett County, 1818-1843). I do not know if this was Tempey’s father or not.

As you can see, I have a lot of research yet to do, but someone out there may have it already done up and tied with a bow. If you do, please let me know. I’m also interested in hearing from anyone who is related to this family. The more minds we put together, the better the research will go.

I welcome your letters about genealogy and info on south metro Atlanta families. Send them to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214; e-mail jkilgore@thecitizennews.com or jodiek444@aol.com. Any letters and/or e-mails I receive are subject to being used in the column.

Until next week, happy hunting!