View source for William Whitson

'''William Whitson''' (-1838)

Founder of Whitsontown, Crawford County, Arkansas.  In Dec 1837, the Arkansas State Legislature created [[Franklin County, Arkansas]] out of the eastern half of Crawford. William Whitson was killed by John Lasater over a dispute as to where the county seat for Franklin should be located.

Lasater was acquited of murder and Harriet, William's widow moved back to Tennessee with her children.  William died intestate and due to what I'm assuming to be Harriet's reluctance to administer and the minority of the heirs, Jesse Turner was called to be administrator "de bonis non" on the estate of William Whitson. The bond by Jesse Turner with Jesse Miller and Arthur Hicks was signed 17 Apr 1838.

At the time of his death, William Whitson was in a business partnership with Charles Whitson.  Although Charles was of an age to possibly be his nephew, no firm documentation has yet come-to-light to specify how they were related.

It seems that at the time of his death, William has not *yet* acquired clear legal title to his land, as the [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0850%5F%5F%2E156&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=26&QryID=74508%2E87 land document itself] is dated [[Aug 20]], 1838 for the "West Half of the South East Quarter of Section Six" and also [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0850%5F%5F%2E442&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=27&QryID=74508%2E87 this document] on the same date for the "South Half of the South West quarter of Section Seventeen".. Perhaps his surviving partner Charles Whitson completed the paperwork, as [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0860%5F%5F%2E031&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=2&QryID=74508%2E87 this document] for Charles for the North West quarter of the South West quarter of Section seventeen" might seem to indicate, since it was also done on the same day.  Also see [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0860%5F%5F%2E366&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=15&QryID=74508%2E87 this document] for "John Witherspoon Whitson" for the West half of the NorthEast quarter of Section Six and [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0850%5F%5F%2E444&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=17&QryID=74508%2E87 this one] for "the North West quarter of the North East quarter of Section seven and [http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/PatentSearch/Image.asp?Accession=AR0860%5F%5F%2E190&Format=SmallGIF&Page=1&Index=18&QryID=74508%2E87 this one] for "the East half of the North West quarter of Section eight".

===Primary documentation===
*[http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=arcen&so=2&rank=0&tips=0&gsfn=William&gsln=Whitson&sx=&gs1co=1%2cAll+Countries&gs1pl=1%2c+&year=&yearend=&sbo=0&sbor=&ufr=0&wp=4%3b_80000002%3b_80000003&srchb=r&prox=1&db=&ti=0&ti.si=0&gss=angs-c&o_iid=21416&o_lid=21416&o_it=5910 ''Arkansas Census, 1819-70''], at Ancestry showing that William Whitson was on the Tax list of Crawford County, Arkansas 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1835
*[http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~wjhonson/FranklinARK/ProbateWilliamWhitson.html Loose Probate Packet of William Whitson]

===Secondary sources===
*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=view&r=an&dbid=7931&iid=HistBenton-AR-0615640&rc=1281,740,1416,773;1436,740,1576,774&fn=william&ln=whitson&st=d&ssrc=&pid=615 ''History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas.''] Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing, 1889. "History of Franklin County", Page 611 where in a "list of persons who entered land in Franklin County before 1840" we find "...William Whitson, 1834, 6-10-28..." which means that in 1834, he entered on Section 6 of Range 10 North in Township 28 West.

*[http://content.ancestry.com/iexec/?htx=view&r=an&dbid=7931&iid=HistBenton-AR-0514640&rc=863,856,1026,897;1039,856,1211,897&fn=william&ln=whitson&st=d&ssrc=&pid=514 ''History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford, Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas.''] Chicago, IL, USA: Goodspeed Publishing, 1889. "History of Crawford County", Page 511 mentioning that in the Eighth Arkansas Territorial Assembly (1835), William Whitson was Representative from Crawford County.

*[http://www.rootsweb.com/~arcrawfo/doc/Shootings1836.html "The Shootings of Col. William Whitson and State Senator John Lasater, 1836-1838, in Crawford/Franklin Co., Arkansas : And the escape of John Witherspoon Whitson : The true story of a 70 year old secret and a 166 year old family mystery"] by Cathleen M. Sato