Person:James Ramsey (28)

James Ramsey died in Franklin County, Alabama in the fall of 1848, and was buried in an unmarked grave at the Ramsey Cemetery north of Russellville near Good Springs, Franklin County, Alabama. James was the senior son of William and Nancy (Boyd) Ramsey, Sr. and the first grandchild of James and Margaret Ramsey, who settled to Augusta County, Virginia from Ulster, Ireland. Most likely, James was born in the North River settlement of Augusta County, Virginia prior to his parents joining the migration to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina with the family of James' uncle, John Boyd. James was reared on the Gum Branch of Long Creek, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where he started his family on his father's land, and would follow the family's migration to Tennessee. He was a life-long farmer, and his first and second wives, who predeceased him, were sisters, Isabella and Martha Hall of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. James and Martha raised six children on Smiths Fork in Wilson County, Tennessee before Martha's death about 1818. To the youngest children, John Hall Ramsey and Nancy Jane Ramsey, Martha was at once their aunt and step-mother. Born to James and Martha were four children: Mary/Polly Ramsey, Alexander C. Ramsey, Isabella Ramsey, and Thomas Jefferson Ramsey. James married third in Wilson County, Tennessee to Jane Ray, who bore two sons, Robert and Samuel Ramsey. Jane Ray was born in North Carolina about 1785, and, following James' death in Franklin County, Alabama, she moved to Montgomery County, Alabama where she died after 1850.

The eldest son, John Hall Ramsey, married Elizabeth/Ellen Trimble 1 Nov 1815 in Rutherford County, Tennessee, where they began their family and later joined the family migration to Franklin County, Alabama. The eldest daughter, Nancy Jane Ramsey, married Charles Hancock 18 Apr 1820 in Wilson County, Tennessee, and they settled on a portion of her father's Smith Fork tract, which was deeded to Charles Hancock by James Ramsey 20 Dec 1828. Daughter, Mary/Polly Ramsey, married Benjamin Hancock, brother to Charles, with Benjamin and Polly making the move to Franklin County, Alabama. Brothers, Benjamin and Charles Hancock, were sons of Benjamin Hancock and Ann Corn of Patrick County, Virginia. The youngest daughter, Isabella Ramsey, married in Franklin County, Alabama about 1831 to (unknown) Laws, who suffered a premature death. Isabella married second her first cousin, William C. Ramsey, who came to Franklin County, Alabama with his parents, John B. and Margaret/Peggy (Johnston) Ramsey. Son, Alexander C. Ramsey, married Martha Ann Smith in Wilson County, Tennessee 6 Dec 1830, and they also settled to Franklin County, Alabama. Martha Ann Smith was a daughter of Shadrach Smith and Nancy Baily of Buckingham County, Virginia, the birth place of Martha Ann on 29 Sept 1808. Son, Thomas Jefferson Ramsey, married Sarah Carolyn Weatherbee about 1840 in Franklin County, Alabama. Sarah Weatherbee was a daughter of Hiram and Mary Weatherbee of Rutherford County, North Carolina, where Sarah was born 18 July 1818. Sarah died 11 Mar 1895 in Colbert County, Alabama, where her interment was at the Barton Cemetery. Little is known of the two sons, Robert and Samuel Ramsey. Family tradition states Robert Ramsey married Melissa Stout and Samuel Ramsey married Carrie Baker.