Sion Hutcheson (1817 - 1864)

let's return to sion, wjh's great-grandfather.  sion's grandchildren knew only 3 facts about him:  his name, that he was born in georgia and that he died in the civil war.  nothing else. none of the grandchildren i talked with knew the names of sion's parents

there is no photograph of him, but i wonder how closely john hutcheson resembled his father? maybe sion had deep set eyes and prominent cheekbones, too. 

possible likeness of sion

going beyond the 3 facts requires digging into archives of records such as birth and death records, population censuses, land records, court records. as long as they survive flood, fire and negligence, such records provide a way to flesh out a life.  as they do for sion, because through them we know...

• that he was born around 1817 in twiggs county, georgia
• that he bought 40 acres in coffee county, alabama on november 3, 1854
• that he borrowed $98.81 from a thomas cole in may of 1857 and paid it back
• that he was on his haw ridge farm in 1860 with a pregnant kitsie ann and 5 children
• that he could not read or write
• that he did not own slaves
• that in 1860 he owned 60 acres of land valued at $300, $5 worth of farming implements, 1 horse, 3 milk cows, 3 cattle and 10 swine, all of which he valued at $220
• that in the year ending June 1860 he had grown 17 bushels of corn, four 400-pound bales of ginned cotton & 100 bushels of sweet potatoes & had slaughtered $75 worth of hogs over the past year
• that he mustered in the 3rd battalion reserves in august of 1864
• that he died a month later, on september 17, 1864 from disease, possibly in greenville, alabama

and thus concludes the facts in the case of sion hutcheson.