Those who have followed the saga of our Hearn family will likely remember that our great-great grandfather George Washington Hearn (1834-1882) was born in Tennessee as were his siblings James (ca 1835-ca 1865) and Jane (ca 1830-1860s). These births in Tennessee were a very unique marker for our people because the family by 1850 migrated back eastward to the vicinity of Stewart  Co.,  and  Columbus, Georgia.

Prior to Tennessee, we had been able to trace our Hearn family from Johnson Co., NC to Sumter Co., SC,   where we discovered an association with the family of Obediah Watson (ca. 1765- 1820s).  Obediah  had at least five children including some whom we have identified: Thomas, Dempsey, Nathan, Sarah, and Mary Jane. Mary Jane Watson (ca.1790-1860s),  who married Benjamin Hearn (ca. 1786-1860s), is believed to  be our great-great-great grandmother.

The family stay in Sumter, SC  was a short one lasting from around  1810 to the  early 1820s.  When I visited Sumter, SC in summer 2005 and discovered the Hearn-Watson relationship, I became quite puzzled. Over years the families were involved together in various Sumter Co. land transactions, but they just seemed  to  vanish soon  after 1820.  Right after my return to Miami, I unexpectedly received word from Susan Nash, a descendant of Thomas Watson, who independently had  been studying Obediah,  that the Hearn and Watson families had left South Carolina  in the early to mid 1820s and headed for Texas in pursuit of free land.

Thomas Jefferson Watson (ca 1790-ca 1826), was a farming/business partner of our Benjamin Hearn, and they planned the migration to Texas together. Unfortunately, according to oral history, Thomas Watson fell off his horse along the way and was killed, leaving  a widow and several children.  The plan to go to Texas fell apart for all but one of the Watson brothers (Dempsey).  Thomas Watson’s widow and children by 1830 migrated  back to live with relatives in Pike Co., GA.  Benjamin Hearn eventually made it back to Georgia,  but his  whereabouts were  a real mystery between 1830 and  1850.

Based on one iffy 1830 census report for a Benjamin Herrin, and census information about Nathan Watson, we believed that our Benjamin had possibly settled  in Bedford Co., in south central Tennessee, but apart from the one census report, no Hearn records could  be found. We assumed that early records had been destroyed in a Bedford Co. courthouse fire in 1863. We stopped looking for Benjamin.

This last summer (July 2018), I was astonished  to hear from Andy Benefield, a descendant of Thomas Watson,  who reported that he had discovered in  Macon, Georgia’s  Washington Memorial Library a Tennessee Will Book containing the  1826-27  abstracted probate record   for Thomas,  who  apparently died in Maury Co, TN  then adjoining Bedford Co.  This record was for a few years  earlier than the 1829 death we had previously heard about from oral history, but three of  the buyers in Thomas’ estate sale were his brothers Nathan and Dempsey, and none other than our Benjamin Hearn!

Just  few days later, via LDS resources , Susan Nash was able to find the actual Thomas Watson estate records, one of which is portrayed here.  Via Ancestry.com, Susan also discovered and sent me a copy  of a Bedford Co. TN  land deed for  a thirty acre plot owned  by Benjamin Hearn.  The deed description places the land  on Sinking Creek about eight or so miles west of the county seat at Shelbyville. The land was surveyed in May 1835 and recorded in July 1840.   Apparently, some of the early land deeds were filed with the State of Tennessee as well as with the individual  counties, so a copy of the Hearn deed escaped the courthouse  fire.

With these exciting new document finds, the oral history concerning the untimely death of Thomas Watson is verified, and the mystery of the whereabouts of our Hearns, and the birthplace of some of them, is very  likely solved: our folks  resided in or near Bedford County, Tennessee from  1826 to some date in the 1840s.