The McKowns of Campbell County

      A few weeks ago I had the immense pleasure of meeting my first cousin thrice removed, Dorothy “Dot” Dobson Ward, a sharp and keen nonagenarian. Memaw and I visited Dot at the home she shares with her son near Palmetto. It was such a short trip there that we agreed it was a pity we hadn’t done this sooner and more often. Hugh Williams, Memaw’s father and my great-grandfather, was Dot’s first cousin and 22 years her senior. She is the last surviving member of a generation that included over 20 cousins, born from the late 1880s to 1919. These 20 cousins were the grandchildren of Leonora Smith and James R. McKown.

James R. McKown was small in stature and never weighed more than

125 pounds. This portrait belongs to Dot, his only surviving granddaughter.

      James R. McKown was born December 21, 1838, the fifth of seven children. The spelling of his middle name appears in his daughter’s recollections as Redford and Radford, elsewhere as Ratherford, but is usually printed as an initial. His birthplace is also a disputed matter. Family lore recounts he was born in Fairburn in Campbell County, but the census indicates he lived with his parents Hugh McKown and Linda Chapman in Henry County in 1840 and Fayette County in 1850. The McKowns may have moved to Campbell County in the 1850s or their land may have been absorbed by the county, as Fairburn’s website tells us:

Early records show that what is now called Fairburn, was settled as early as 1830. In 1833, the town was founded as Cartersville, changing its name one year later to Berryville. … Fairburn’s town charter was enacted by the State Legislature in 1854. The jurisdiction of the town government was set within a 600-yard radius from the railroad depot, this land then being the two counties of Fayette and Campbell.

 Leonora Smith McKown, from Dot's mother's photo album

      The youngest in a flock of eleven, Leonora Smith was born March 18, 1843 in Campbell County to Valinda Trentham and Andrew Smith, who married in 1820. Leonora married James on September 29, 1859, and the 1860 census records the young couple residing near their parents in the selfsame county. When the war came James enlisted on June 6, 1861. He was a private in the Campbell County Guards (Company A, 21^st Regiment), part of the Army of Northern Virginia. His younger brother Thomas Jefferson McKown joined up as well, serving as a musician through the duration of the war. James’ wartime experience is best left to the words of his oldest daughter, Virginia (Jennie):

At the age of 22 he enlisted in the Confederate army being among the first to volunteer, notwithstanding the fact that he had a young wife still in her teens and a baby boy. He served throughout the four year struggle and suffered such privations the last year he contracted that dread disease chronic diarrhea, from which he suffered more or less the balance of his life….

 Campbell County and its environs, 1864

      There are discrepant reports about when James fell ill, when he was discharged, and if and when he rejoined. The Confederate roster indicates he was discharged with a disability on October 7, 1862. Leonora’s application for a Confederate pension states he was discharged on February 14, 1862, and was unable to return to service on account of his health. Another of James’ daughters, Alice (Allie), offered a different version of events. It was relayed in a 1975 letter written by one of her nieces:

He became ill in 1863 and was given a furlough because of his illness. He rejoined the army in 1864, but on account of his health (he never recovered from his illness) he was unable to do regular army work but did serve as a courier during the Battle of Atlanta.

      Whatever the differing accounts, there is no doubt the war ruined James’ health and precipitated a long and slow decline. The long-suffering veteran lived for two more decades when, according to Jennie, he was “…weakened by an attack together with other complications [and] fell easy prey to pneumonia. He died January 28, 1883.” In spite of this ailment, James worked first as a blacksmith and then owned a saw mill. He and Leonora had nine children, two boys and seven girls. His premature death at age 45 left her to raise their young offspring by herself. It must have required true grit and faith to overcome these trials of heartache and hardship. Leonora lived the remainder of her days as a widow and passed away January 29, 1937, exactly 54 years and one day after James’ demise. Leonora’s 93 years uniquely paralleled the life of the county where she was born and bred. Campbell was carved out of neighboring counties fifteen years before her birth and merged with Fulton six years before her death. In the city cemetery of Campbell County’s former seat Fairburn, Leonora and James were laid to rest.

Lord we married young and stayed where we came from
And gave those children everything we had
Will you stay with me in my time of need
Though it seems we had such little time for us.
Will you say to me a little rain’s gonna come
When the sky can’t offer none to me
Cause I will come for you
When my days are through
And I’ll let your smile just off and carry me.

—Ryan Adams, “In My Time of Need”