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Passins Thomasson
PASSINS ALVIS THOMASSON 1815-1899
ELIZABETH GORDON JACKSON 1823-1852

Married 9 May 1842 York Co SC

PIONEER SETTLERS OF LINCOLN COUNTY, ARKANSAS

(Donald Earl McKinney Jr)
These notes were compiled from materials gathered for many years by personal research & correspondence. I am especially grateful to the following relatives, whose research, photographs, stories & oral traditions, along with my own, helped us all gain a better understanding of our family heritage.
Great-Aunt Angie Greer of Ozark
Great-Grandmother Ada's original family history files pertaining to the Thomasson & Owen families
Lessie Dodds of Pine Bluff AR, a great-granddaughter of Passins & Elizabeth
Gordon Conrad Thomasson, a great-great grandson of Passins & Elizabeth
Marjorie B. Malloy & Curtis H. Thomasson who published “Thomasson Traces” have contributed a wealth of information on the ancient Thomasson connections


PASSINS ALVIS THOMASSON was born 8 Jan 1815 near Filbert, York County, South Carolina. He was the son of James C. & Charlotte (Cozart) Thomasson who left Granville County, NC about 1810 and settled in York County. They were planters & slave owners with roots in Virginia.

On 9 May 1842, Passins married ELIZABETH GORDON JACKSON, born 8 Sep 1823, the daughter of David & Elizabeth (Gordon) Jackson & granddaughter of David Sr & Mary (Morrison) Jackson, who had immigrated to America from County Antrim, Ireland during the 1760's. This family were also planters & slave owners who resided near Bethel in York County. Family tradition suggests that this Jackson family was closely related to President Andrew Jackson whose parents also settled in that area of South Carolina from County Antrim, Ireland.

Shortly after 1850, Passins brought his family to Conway County, Arkansas where his wife Elizabeth died in 1852. Soon after his wife's death, he brought his young children William Lafayette, James Horace & Mollie Thomasson to the Cornerville area of what was then Drew County, Arkansas, later became Lincoln County. Passins married 2d wife Almira Jones about 1860 who became the step-mother of the children.

Passins established a sizeable farm in Mill Creek Township of Lincoln County, maintaining the planting traditions of his ancestors in South Carolina & Virginia. He passed away 7 Jun 1899 and was buried in the family plot at Hickory Grove Cemetery near Cornerville.
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(The following is from "Remembrances of Passins Alvis Thomasson" written in 1991 by his grandson, William Reagan Thomasson. William Reagon was the son of William Alvis Thomasson, the half brother of William Lafayette Thomasson)
My father died sixty-three years ago when I was fifteen years old, so what my sisters and I remember is from way back in our memory. These remembrances of Passins Alvis Thomasson are of course passed on from others. The main four sources of things about him are my mother, my cousin Henrietta Dodds, my aunt Alice Jones (Daddy's half-sister on his mother's side that lived on the plantation) and Maggie (or Mattie) Thomasson. She was an aged negro woman that lived back of my brother in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in the 1920's. She was a young slave on Passins plantation and looked after my father when he was a baby. She said she called him her "litttle Willie." Any future reference to her will be as Maggie as that is what I remember. Due to the years that have passed and the fact that nothing was written, I realize that the following may have some inaccuracies, but I think most observations are basically factual.
1. It is believed that Passins Alvis Thomasson came to Arkansas between 1852 and 1855 and established residence in the southern most part of Lincoln county. A family member has an original land grand, signed by President Buchanan in 1860, granting him land in Drew County. It is believed that this grant adjoined his previous holdings and several thought that eventually he owned about a thousand acres of land. The home place being in southern Lincoln County.
2. During the Civil War some slave owners got scared and were selling slaves cheap and he bought a number of them and it nearly broke him. This is one that I remember there being doubts as to it's truth.
3. I remember hearing from several sources that during the war that bands of northern soldiers did come by his place stealing cattle, horses, mules, chickens, and grain. This apparantly happened several times and on a least one occasion structural damage was supposed to have been done to the house and/or out buildings.
4. From our early talks with Maggie Thomasson (the ex-slave) any reference she made in her early life on Passins Thomasson's plantation were of a pleasant nature. She did not reveal any bitterness so we assume from this that he was a just and fair slave owner.
5. My sisters and I remember it being mentioned that grandfather changed quite a bit after the war and became very bitter.
6. In grandfather's later years, he would take his shotgun and go about half-way between his house and the road and would sit and wait to see that "no damn Yankee" tried to steal anyting. During one of his frequent naps the negro man that looked after him would unload his gun. He died at eighty-four years of age and is buried in Hickory Grove cemetery not far from his home place.

Children of Passins & Elizabeth (Jackson) Thomasson:

Child 1: WILLIAM LAFAYETTE THOMASSON
Born: 9 Oct 1844 near Filbert (York) SC
Died: 3 Mar 1908 Cornerville(Lincoln) AR
Married: Eveline Elizabeth Watson Fish 26 Dec 1867 Lincoln Co AR

Child 2: JAMES HORACE “Dock” THOMASSON
Born: 4 Oct 1847 near Filbert (York) SC
Died: 8 Nov 1915 Lincoln Co AR

Child 3: MARY ELIZABETH “Mollie” THOMASSON
Born: Abt 1850 near Filbert (York) SC
Died: Unknown
Married: William Robert Owen

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