Jackson Name Study

Profile managers: One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message] and George Case [send private message]

How to Join

This profile is part of the Jackson Name Study.

Jackson is the twentieth most popular surname; so this Jackson Name Study is larger than one person can manage!! Please feel free to add text or items you feel will add to our knowledge of Jacksons posted on WikiTree! Joining this name study is easy; just add your name and area of interest to the list of Jackson Researchers below! If we all will read and become familiar with other researchers' area of interest, who knows, we may run onto something that will help someone else. If you have any questions, please contact the Name Study Coordinator: George Case. Thanks!

Jacksons in America

Four Centuries of Leadership and Service
By Larry Jackson

In Virginia

When Sir George Yeardley, the newly appointed lord governor of Virginia, on July 30, 1619, convened an assembly of burgesses in the recently built wooden church at Jamestown, it was the beginning of representative government in the Americas.

Two burgesses from each of the colony’s 11 subdivisions joined the governor and his four “councilors” to compose the first General Assembly and among them was John Jackson, representing Martin’s Hundred.

The burgesses had been chosen by the free, white male inhabitants of each district. As instructed by the Virginia Company of London, “proprietors” of the colony, the Assembly’s main purpose was “to establish one equal and uniform government over all Virginia” and to introduce “just Laws for the happy guiding and governing of the people there inhabiting.”

Little else is known of Burgess John Jackson, except that after the Assembly completed its first session on August 4, 1619, committees were named “for perusing the first booke of the town” and “perusing the second booke.” Jackson was one of eight burgesses on the review committee for the second book.

Among the many things not known about John Jackson is just when he arrived in Virginia. The first English colonists landed in Virginia in the spring of 1607, looking for a settlement site. Jamestown, named for King James I of England, was officially chosen May 13, 1607. John Jackson apparently was not among this group, but whenever he arrived, by 1619 he had become prominent enough to be chosen by his fellow colonists at Martin’s Hundred to be one of their two representatives to the first General Assembly.

The settlers and the neighboring Powhatan Indians had rocky relations from the start. At first the newcomers needed native corn (maize) from the Powhatans, a powerful motivation for peaceful trade. But once tobacco was recognized as a highly profitable crop, about 1618, the English pressed deeper into Powhatan territory for rich new land to cultivate. On March 22, 1622, the Indians launched a sudden coordinated attack against colonists throughout the area. It resulted in the death of 347 settlers out of a total of about 1,200.

The seeming victory, however, spelled eventual doom for the Powhatans. The English, with their muskets and matchlocks, would eradicate them. The settlers drew up a list of those killed in the 1622 conflict, and among them were “a child of John Jackson.” What is not known is whether this was the same John Jackson who had been a burgess in 1619. After recording names of the dead, the colony made a census of the survivors. This “List of the Living” has three John Jacksons, two William Jacksons, an Ephraim Jackson, plus Jackson wives and children. One of these John Jacksons lived in Jamestown, or “James Cittie” as it was first called. He was a gunsmith.

At Historic Jamestowne, National Park Service archeologists believe they have found his home and workshop. In 1623, John Jackson patented a 3/8-acre waterfront lot in New Towne. Here he lived with his family and plied his trade. Minutes of the General Court in 1623 note that “Jackson the smith was at work in his shop.”

“In addition to providing the colonists with weapons for hunting and defense, Jackson also served Virginia in more pacific ways as assemblyman and churchwarden,” the Park Service says. “That he and his family were enjoying a good standard of living is borne out by such artifacts as window glass, an ivory cribbage board, curtain rings and a copper upholstery tack.”

At least one Jackson arrived in Jamestown even earlier. Among the mariners “known to have been with the expedition that established Jamestown on May 13, 1607,” was Robert Jackson. Most likely Robert was with the fleet commander, Captain Christopher Newport, on June 15, 1607 when his ships began their return to England, leaving 104 settlers ashore.

A Jackson helped to bring the colonists to America in 1607 and by 1619, a Jackson had risen to elective office. By 1824, some two hundred years later, a Jackson had even been elected President of the United States.

In New England

Not long after the Virginia colony had been established, settlers who called themselves Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony began when the ship Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620 – a little more than 13 years after Jamestown began.

It was a much smaller colony; 102 passengers and about 30 crew members set off from Plymouth, England, on September 6, 1620. None of them was named Jackson. But on April 13, 1635 – less than 15 years later – one Henry Jackson was enrolled at London as a passenger on the Elizabeth and Anne, bound for New England. Henry was 29 years old, had “taken the oaths of Allegeance and Supremacie” and had produced a certificate “both from the Ministers and Justices” where he lived of his “conformitie to the discipline and orders of the Church of England.”

A few days later, another Jackson was approved to emigrate. On 8 May 1835, Jo. (John?) Jackson, 27, joined the list. Their relationship has not been proven, but they are quite likely the first Jacksons in New England.

Henry first settled at Watertown, on Massachusetts Bay, where he leased fishing rights. He likely married by 1640, had children and by 1650 had bought land in Fairfield. He died about 1686 and his will, dated 1682 and proved in 1686. Distribution of his estate went to heirs of his son John Jackson (Moses and John Jackson and Susanna Lyon); heirs of his son Moses Jackson (Robert Jackson and Deborah Smith); heirs of son Samuel Jackson (Daniel, Jonathan, Ebenezer and Gabriel Jackson, Hannah Jennings, Deborah Fairchild, Rachel Lyon and Abigail Jackson), and to Sarah, wife of John Bartram.

John Jackson was the first settler of Cambridge Village (now Newton, MA), where he remained until his death. According to “History of Newton, Massachusetts, 1630-1880,” published in 1880, John had considerable wealth, bought a house and 18 acres of land in 1639, and was one of the first deacons of the church in Newton. He gave one acre of land for the church and burial ground, where the first meetinghouse was erected in 1660. He died in 1674.

John and his wife Abigail had a son, John Jackson Jr., in 1639, who was “probably the first born of the permanent settlers of Newton,” according to an 1854 “History of The Early Settlement of Newton,” published in Boston.

Jackson Researchers Participating in This Study

Feel free to put your area of interest following your name

• Catherine Taylor - My 4X ggf is Samuel Jackson, I THINK! I have been unable to verify his parents, so I am uncertain if he is the correct person. Samuel Jackson’s family moved to Stokes County NC in the 1760s, and the Quaker records have information about him and his family, but I cannot find proof of where he originated. I would appreciate any assistance.
• Larry Jackson - I am a member of the "NC to TN to TX" Jacksons. My "brick wall" ancestor is James Jackson, born in Surry Co., NC in 1767. He married into a Quaker family (Bills) that descends from a Pilgrim of the Plymouth Colony.
• Brian Gix - I am a Jackson by birth, and a Gix thru adoption. My Jackson's may broadly be referred to as the "Jacksons of Fairfield County and Hocking County, Ohio". However, we do know that the earliest high confidence (and DNA confirmed) patriarch William Jackson is said (based on a biographical from his son) to have come from Maryland over the primitive trail "Zane's Trace" in 1804. Big-Y-700 testing has also closely linked us to the "Jacksons of Guilford County, North Carolina", whose patriarch was also named William Jackson, and the "Jacksons of West Virginia" whose patriarch was named Levi Jackson. DNA based research and some date and place proximal research appears to indicate that the Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina Jacksons from the I-M223 > I-Z79 > I-8712 Y haplogroup all converge at John Jackson (1712 Norfolk, VA - 1782 North Carolina).
  
• Patricia Hickin - my earliest known Jackson ancestor: Robert Jackson (1620-1683) of Hempstead, New York.
• Janie Jackson Kimble - my earliest ancestor: Robert Jackson (1620-1683) of Hempstead, Province of New York.
  
• Star Kline - my Jackson line in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania
  
• Sarah Mason - just started Jackson research (line in Kentucky) but somewhat experienced in name studies, happy to help with categorization, source pages, and other things that may be needed, feel free to ask
  
• John McAnally -I am a McAnally at birth, but a genetic Jackson as proven by YDNA at FTDNA in 2004. Started the McAnally surname project at FTDNA in 2004 and by the next year was a Co-Administrator of three Jackson projects merged into one. Over the 17 years that project grew from maybe 12 participants to the present level of nearly 1000 YDNA participants. My Jackson clan consists of three separate subgroups, determined by Big Y testing. My subgroup's earliest known Jackson ancestor: Samuel Jackson (1661-1722) of Stafford County, VA with SNP I-BY19809. The progenitor subgroup's earliest known Jackson ancestor: Thomas Jackson (1880-1862) of Dublin Ireland with SNP I-Y8950. And the subgroup with the largest number of participants: Robert Jackson (1620-1683) of Hempstead, Province of New York with the SNP I-Y9389. The intrarelationships in the clan are seen in the downstream presentation of the Y-DNA haplotree

https://www.familytreedna.com/public/y-dna-haplotree/I;name=I-Y38787 https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna/I-Y9382/tree

• Barbara Roe
  
• John Rosser - Australia (mainly VIC and NSW). Starting with my 3xGGF William JACKSON, his family and their descendants.
  
• Barry Smith - Jacksons of County Tyrone, Ireland and of Beaver County Pennsylvania and in President Andrew Jackson's paternal lines.
  
• Deb Stover
  
• Janet Jackson Daghri - My maiden name is Jackson. We have confidence lineage of the Jackson surname through my father's (James Lonnie Jackson, Sr) paternal line back to Thomas C Jackson (b 1826 in either FL or GA - d 1881 in Texas) married to (1) Nancy Roddenberry (b. 1824 GA - 1860 FL) 23 March 1842 in Leon, FL; (2) Rebecah Wisner McGee (1823 MS - 1881 Texas). Based on an 1850 FL census, Thomas Jackson states both parents born in Virginia. His mother's name is Susan (b. 1786 in Va). She was living with three of her adult children, Eliott Wood Jackson (head of household), Lucy Jackson age 18, and Benjamin F. Jackson age 28 next door to Thomas, wife Nancy, and four children. There is some thought, unsourced, that Thomas' father was William Clark Jackson and that his mother's maiden name was Wood. Clark, William and Wood are seen in multiple generations of the Jackson family. My father and I both have our DNA from Ancestry uploaded to GEDmatch. Links to both of our DNA for comparison are in my profile.
  
• Steve Milligan - I will work on Walter JACKSON descendants. A prisoner of war from the Battle of Worcester, he was sent to New England on the John and Sara.
  
• Kathy MacDonald - I am interested in joining the Jackson project. My mother was born a Jackson her name was Mary Lou Jackson her father was Jesse Finton Jackson Sr and his father was John Bias Jackson and his father was Jesse Freeman Jackson. That’s as far as I have found is to my great great grandfather. He was born in Georgia in 1825 and I have been told in Oglethorpe county Georgia. I do not find any census on him until 1850 in Fayette County Alabama. It is said in several census that his father was born in Virginia mother in Georgia. I can’t seem to find any information on his parents or siblings. I would like to join the Jackson project to see if I can find any information on that side of my family.
  
• Karen Koehler -My 4Ggrandmother, Arcada Jackson, b.2-5-1790, Hampshire, VA (?) d. 10-22-1860, Blackford County, Indiana m. Barnet DeWitt 11-13-1806 Fleming County, Kentucky. Hit Brick wall on her parents, siblings, etc. Siblings incl. Elisha DeWitt 1814-1851, Cynthia DeWitt Gibson 1818-1844, Henry J DeWitt 1824-1891. I live in SE Nebraska & can easily research her children within 100 miles of Johnson County, NE.
• Geoff Engman - My great-grandmother is Mabel Celestia Jackson, daughter of Preston Thompson Jackson. My surname is by adoption. I believe I am related to Robert Jackson through Daniel Jackson and Lydia Imlay. Their son Mitchell Young Jackson is mentioned in the biography but not yet connected. I have started that page, but more work is needed. I will work on making that connection. I am new to using DNA, but am interested in learning more.
• Barbara Gow My earliest known Jackson ancestor is my 3X great-grandfather Hugh Jackson (abt 1815 to abt 1875) born in County Down or County Armagh, Northern Ireland. His son Thomas Jackson was born in Bessbrook, Armagh around 1835. Thomas' son Robert Jackson was born on 28 March 1867 in Loughbrickland, Down. Hoping to make contact with cousins.
• Patricia Roche My Jackson interests are with the decendents of the Daniel Jackson Sr family that settled in the area of Pasquotank, North Carolina in the 1600s.
• Steve Lake My 2nd Grt-grandma was Rebecca Jane Jackson (1864-1944), daughter of John Alexander Jackson (1820-1902) and Rhoda Ann Harp (1834-1895) of DeWitt County, Illinois and Thayer county, Nebraska.
• [[Gray-20306] Ida (Gray) Houston]] I have several different lines of Jackson from which I descend. First off, I am a descendant of Robert Jackson of Hempstead, NY via 2 of Edward William Jackson's (Jackson-1490) daughters. Another line is Wesley Alexis Jackson (Jackson-57465) and Mary Vickers. Mary Vicker's great-grandmother was Lydia Jackson 1752-1795 in Virginia. These are all on my dad's side.

Our Goals

This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the surname Jackson using the best possible sources available for documentation. The hope is that other researchers like you will join our study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect. Currently no variant names are included, but if there is a desire to add variant names later, they can be set up. Just drop me an email.

What we're working on

This Jackson study was first approved on March 3, 2019. It is very much a work-in-progress. If you're reading this and would like to be involved, please add your name to the list of Jackson Researchers willing to work on this study.

Yea! As of March 27, 2019 all state categories for USA are now set up and available from the little category icon. Add the name study category just above the bio section. It won't show on the preview but will show on the public view after you've saved it.

This study especially needs volunteers knowledgeable about counties, shires or political divisions in other countries so that these Jackson categories will be set up properly. My knowledge is limited to United States, but this is a WorldWide study. I will set up the categories but I need your knowledge and input.

• WikiTree Profiles that use this source

Special Note

For the purposes of this study, profiles in the thirteen Colonial America areas will NOT be separated as to pre-1776 and post-1776. For our purpose that seems an unnecessary level of complication. For areas outside of USA, the category may be decided by the profile manager. Also for the name study purpose in USA, the county will be the smallest category.

If you are enthusiastic in adding the Jackson Name Study to profiles that you don't manage, it is best to drop an email to the manager to let them know. They may not be actively watching the profile and may miss the opportunity to be involved. And invite them to add the proper county category to their other Jackson profiles.

Head of Line

A sub-category named Category:Head of Line, Jackson Name Study has been added to collect the earliest known ancestor in each line that is posted on WikiTree. You can help by adding these folks to the name study as you run across them OR removing this category from their profile when a parent is found. Then put this category on the newly found parent. If desired, a manager can also use the [[Category: Jackson Brick Walls]] which is likely to solicit more help.

List of Jackson Brick Walls

This category has grown considerably and is easily searched from here:
Category:Jackson_Brick_Walls

[This tool] can be used to search for brick walls on Wikitree, regardless of whether they are in the brick walls category or not.

DNA of Jackson lines

As of 5 March 2019, there are 16,848 DNA test connections to people named JACKSON on wikiTree. To date, there are 58 unrelated Jackson lines established by the Jackson DNA Project hosted at Family Tree DNA.

The Jackson DNA Project is open to all, but its primary function is connecting males with the surname Jackson through Y-DNA tests. If you have a Jackson brick-wall and know of a male Jackson descendant of that brick-wall, you are encouraged to look into this possibility! And what an interesting tool for genealogists this has turned out to be! Several Jackson men with well documented histories have donated their DNA so that others without good documentation will have DNA info to compare to.

Some Y-DNA results have very unique characteristics that make them very readily distinguished from other Jackson lines. But some Jackson lines are more common and not so readily set apart. Finding one or more matches can help a researcher readily ascertain IF (not where) they are connected. It verifies if they are looking in the right line and can be used to bolster circumstantial evidence when documented evidence is lacking. DNA tests can also provide absolute evidence of non-relatedness and save a researcher years of futile inquiry.

Jackson men with another name

This Jackson One-Name Study will also include those lines of men who have participated in DNA testing to learn much to their surprise that they are a genetic Jackson even tho Jackson is NOT their last name. Because somewhere in their historical line, there was a Jackson! Several things could contribute to what is called a NPE - non-paternal event. There is always the possibility of an unrecorded name change, illegitimacy or an unknown adoption. In those early colonial days, many women died in childbirth but the child survived. What's a family to do - perhaps a related sister or even unrelated woman will take that baby to raise, especially if they are mourning over an empty cradle.

What You Can Do - Task List

1. Add the category for Jackson Name Study to profiles. Use a State|County location to better organize and identify family lines. See the ONS FAQ page for instructions.
   (See first helpful link below to find your profiles lacking categories.)
2. Work to verify that all your Jackson profiles have a category connection to the Jackson Name Study. (See below on how to create a new category.)
3. Search out original rather than derivative documentation and add sources to Jackson profiles.
4. Write comprehensive, well-sourced biographies for Jackson profiles.
5. Check for duplicates and request merges.
6. Ask for help finding any Brick Wall Jacksons in your own line.
7. Add [[Category: Jackson Brick Walls]] to any Jackson profile which has no parent.
8. Add wikitree ID to Jackson men with no known father to the list below of Jackson Brick Walls.
   
9. If you are a male with the Jackson surname and haven't already, please consider testing your yDNA through the Jackson Family Tree DNA Project so that we can all have a better understanding of our heritage and possibly make new discoveries.
10. Please add your best sources to the Published Jackson Resources List below. Let's make this a great go-to list! If the list gets too large, I'll make a separate page for it!
11. If you find errors in categorizing, please fix it or let me know.
12. We need to connect all the Unconnected JACKSON profiles on WikiTree. (This can count towards the Connectors Challenge if you're feeling competitive.) For information on connecting profiles, see the Connectors Project.
13. If you find errors in profiles managed by others, consider consulting with the author of the profile you consider erroneous, and then creating a free space page discussing the pros and cons of the situation, This is called a disambulation page where all sides and sources are discussed, trying to arrive at a consensus solution to the puzzlement or differences. Please private msg me if you have written a disambiguation page for any Jackson related topic.
14. If you've put up all of the Jacksons in your family (or at least all the ones you've found so far), and are looking for something else to do, here are some tasks that you might be willing to help with:
15. Jacksons in Wikipedia: We need to verify that all deceased wikipedia:Jackson_(surname) with Wikipedia entries have profiles on WikiTree, and are sourced and connected to the main tree. If you have done this, would you please put 'DONE' after this comment.
16. Here is a list of Jacksons who need a marriage record: https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Category:Needs_Marriage_Record&from=J#Persons

How to Create a New Category

There is a defined structure for One Name Study.

1. [[Category: One Name Studies]]
2. ....[[Category: Jackson Name Study]] (Already set up)
3. ........[[Category:<country>, Jackson Name Study]] (Australia, England, Ireland and Northern Ireland already set up.)
4. ........[[Category:United States, Jackson Name Study]] (already set up.)
5. ............[[Category:<state>, Jackson Name Study]] (all states currently available from drop-down icon.)
6. ................[[Category:<county>, <state>, Jackson Name Study]] (most county categories will be new)

If you have a Jackson profile with no category, you can use either birth county, death county or just the state if the county in not known. When you save your category, if it is already set up, the public layout will display in black. If it is a new category, you'll get a large red banner stating that category does not exist. Click 'Save Anyway'. Then go to the public layout and click on that red category to go to the page where it offers a box to enter the 'parent' or upper level category. Enter the parent category; then scroll down to click Save. In other words, if you have posted a new [[Category: Wood County, West Virginia, Jackson Name Study]], then the parent county to put in the box is [[Category:West Virginia, Jackson Name Study]]. At this time, I am not attempting to categorize areas smaller than the county level.

WikiTree Resources

• https://plus.wikitree.com/function/WTWebProfileSearchUser/UserProfiles.htm?WikiTreeID=yourID list of profiles you have created and if they have a Category

• List of jACKSON profiles on Wikitree

• G2G feed of questions tagged "JACKSON".

• Orphaned Jackson profiles on WikiTree.

• Unsourced Jackson profiles on WikiTree.

• Unconnected Jackson profiles on WikiTree.

• [DNA_Categorization_for_Projects|DNA Categorization for Projects]

• All JACKSON DNA Connections on WikiTree Alpha

• JACKSON Y-DNA Connections on WikiTree

• JACKSON auDNA connections on WikiTree

• JACKSON mtDNA connections on WikiTree

Space Pages for Specific Jackson Lines

• Space:(James)_Jackson_Biographies

Published Jackson Resources

1. Sharon Odie Brown - has website researching Jacksons in Northern Ireland and Northern England. Not a WT site, but good info abounds. http://www.thesilverbowl.com/history/FishingForJACKSONs.html and http://www.thesilverbowl.com/familytree/JACKSON-FAMILY-TREES-INDEX.html
2. What Does That Say? Reading and deciphering Colonial documents.
3. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page FamilySearch Research Wiki; a free, online genealogy and family history guide that lists websites, provides research strategies, and suggests records and resources.
4. Compiled list of Jackson Resources: https://web.archive.org/web/20160401131524/http://jacksonfamilygenealogy.com/pages/resources4.htm,
5. Bunker, Mary Powell, Book: Long Island Genealogies..., Joel Munsell's Sons, Albany, NY 1895. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924024789020;view=1up;seq=5 Janie Jackson Kimble's summary of the Jackson Chapter (pages 220-226) is posted here: https://web.archive.org/web/20160913125225/http://jacksonfamilygenealogy.com/pages/summaryBunkersLIG.htm.
6. http://longislandgenealogy.com/ Collection of Historical Long Island Links.
7. History of the Old Cheraws 1730 - 1810 by Alexander Gregg, published 1905; available for reading, searching and downloading from Google books here: https://books.google.com/books?id=khUTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=History+of+Old+Cheraws#v=onepage&q=History%20of%20Old%20Cheraws&f=false.
8. https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Jackson_Family_Resources#Research_links