Drewry ‘Drury’ Lawson

• Not a known son of William "the Scottish Rebel" Lawson
• (possibly) the son of Nathan Lawson & his unknown wife
• not a known son of Wu-te-he 'Wuttah' Cherokee

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Biography

From http://lawsondna.org/Pages/drewrytimeline.html

DREWRY LAWSON'S TIMELINE

Evidence shows that Drewry (also spelled “Drury”) Lawson was born about 1761. In 1777 there was a Drury Lawson that was bound out by his mother, Mary Owen, in Antrim Parish in Halifax County, Virginia. According to his pension application signed 30 January 1835 in Hawkins County, Virginia, Drewry entered the service as a substitute for William Hooker in 1780 in Henry County, Virginia. After his service he lived in Montgomery and Russell (later Lee) counties. He married Rhoda Wilson from which he was separated (or divorced) by 1795. In about 1799 he moved across the border into Hawkins County, Tennessee to an area that was later to become Claiborne and/or Hancock counties. Drewry died between 1847 when his will was signed in Claiborne County, Tennessee and 1850 when the census shows his widow, Hannah, was living in that county with one of their daughters, Hannah Sutton, and her family. By 1850, one of their sons, Thomas, and his wife, Mary Ann (Morgan) Lawson, had moved to Davis County, Iowa. Within two years they had moved on to Putnam County, Missouri, along with several of their grown children, where they all filed for land patents. Many descendants of these Lawson families still remain in that area and others moved on to Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Washington among other places.

Gary Lloyd has published a well documented 320-page book on Thomas and Mary Ann Lawson that contains: (1) 185 pages of biographies: (2) Family group sheets for Thomas and Mary and for each of their 14 children; (3) 31 pages of photographs; (4) Discussion of the evidence showing that Thomas is the son of Drewry and Hannah (Potts) Lawson; (5) Biography of Drewry Lawson; (6) An in-depth discussion of the evidence on which the biography of Drewry Lawson is based; (7) Drewry's will and Revolutionary War pension application, William Hooker's Rev. War pension application, and Mary Lawson's will of 1749; (8) Narrative entitled The Lawsons of Halifax County, Virginia (Searching for the Ancestors of Drewry); (9) Maps showing the location of areas of interest in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa and Missouri; and (10) 106 references to the sources on which the narratives are based. For more information and/or ordering information, see Mr. Lloyd’s web site.

Also in a supplement to his Eastern Cherokee Application, completed by William J. K. Lawson, dated 24 April 1908, great grandson of Drewry Lawson, he stated that Drury Lawson’s first wife was a white woman and that after she found out that he was part Indian she would not live with him. Also in the application it stated that his great grandmother (Drewry’s second wife Hannah Potts) was Cherokee. However, it must be pointed out that there is a lot of misinformation in William’s application and we must keep that in mind when considering some of his statements.

Drewry 1801 Hawkins County, TN Drewry, Hampton, Randolph, Thomas and Nathan Lawson are listed in the 1801 Hawkins County, Tennessee Tax List.

A number of Drewry's descendants submitted applications to the Commisoner of Indian Affairs making a claim for a share of the funds awarded to the Eastern Cherokees by the Court of Claims in the decrees of 18 May 1905 and 28 May 1906. Below is a list of those submitting an application: -

• Robert (Robbin) Lawson
• William J. K. Lawson
• Alvin T. Lawson
• Drewrey Lawson
• Elizha R. Lawson
• George W. Lawson
• John T. Lawson

In their applications they claimed that Drewry/Drury was the half brother of Robert "Bob" Benge or Chief Benge. However, no proof was offered in the applications.

Notes

Drewry was a substitute in war service for William Hooker at one point; husband of Jerusha “Ressia” Hooker

From http://www.genealogy.com/forum/surnames/topics/trent/2741/

this Drury Lawson had a son named Nathan, that the Indians raised him, and the son of this Nathan, a Robin Lawson was named after this same“Chief Benge”. This son Nathan(1790-1839)is said to have lived with the Benge Family on the Big Sandy River in eastern KY after they escaped the Trail of Tears. His family supposely begged him to return to them in Hancock Co., TN, I do not know if he did or not, but this Drury Lawson is supposely buried on Swan Island in Hancock Co., TN, as is Robin Lawson.

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• Descendants of DRURY "DREWERY" LAWSON
• Dawson Y-DNA
• https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/57539792/person/34...
• https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=3141&p=surname...
• https://www.ancestry.ca/boards/thread.aspx?o=0&m=7319.1.1.1.1.2.1.1...

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• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Apr 5 2021, 7:21:28 UTC