White River Cousins: SIMONSON Family

White River Cousins: SIMONSON Family of Knox & Daviess Counties, Indiana

It is believed based upon some of the evidence available that Magnus Simonson was born about 1723 on the Island of Orkney off the coast of Scotland. About 1750 he married Margaret Ross on Orkney. Some time thereafter he brought his family to Pennsylvania. Before the Revolution he removed with his family to Union District, South Carolina, where he resided in close proximity to some of the Quaker families there who had membership at Bush River Monthly Meeting. Some hints have surfaced to indicate that one or two of his children married into Quaker families.

South Carolina records that have been located on the Simonsons are very sparse. One item of some interest, from South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Vol.V, Nbr 1, Winter 1977:
From Colonial South Carolina records it is noted that in 1764 Magnus Simonson was compensated £14/17/00 for supplying provisions to Fort William Henry on the Enoree River.

He died in 1795 and left a will naming two sons Isaac and Magnus Jr and several daughters. Since Magnus Jr was a minor in 1795, it is felt that Isaac Simonson was the father of the Simonson brothers that came to the East Fork of the White River. There is an old Quitclaim Deed of 1796 in Union District,SC releasing rights to 100 acres on Fishdam Ford, adjacent to the land of Joseph Hollingsworth, to the minor heirs of Magnus Simonson, dec'd, namely Magnus, Grace, Mary, & Nancy. This Deed is signed by several Bishop and Hollingsworth individuals believed to be some of Magnus Sr's grandchildren. Some of these heirs-at-law were resident in Hancock co,GA at that time.

One unnamed Simonson, probably the oldest, came to Indiana from SC about 1812. By 1820 he was dead, his widow Mary Simonson appears as head of household in Knox County,IN in the Census of 1820. According to the Knox County History, she was constrained to take in washing to support her young family of 4. These people resided in Vigo twp, Knox County,IN. At the time the County History was prepared, her son Alfred Simonson was a prominent merchant at Edwardsport and the wealthiest man in the township. Mary Simonson's grave is the earliest recorded burial in the Edwardsport town cemetery.

Another brother, John S Simonson, married in Harrison County in 1820. Josiah Simonson settled in Daviess County and purchased government land there in 1837. His son William Simonson married in Daviess County but lived most of his life in Vigo twp, Knox County, as it would appear in the Census records.

A fourth brother William Simonson remained in South Carolina until a relatively late date and appears in the Union District,SC censuses through 1830. William Simonson bought land in Knox County in 1839.

Hard genealogical evidence is difficult to come by on this family. Much of the reconstruction is theoretical but represents original research not previously published or available.

We invite examination of these records:

	"Pioneer" Simonson		(ca.1776-ca.1818)
	Josiah Simonson		(ca.1781-ca.1840)
	William Simonson		(ca.1787-ca.1846)

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