Mary J Kerr was born about 1836 in Whitley County, Kentucky to Samuel and Esther Kerr. She would be the female under 5 years of age in the household of Saml Carr on the 1840 US census. On the 1850 US census, she is listed as age 13 in the household of Saml Kerr in 1850 District 1, Whitley County, Kentucky. She is still living with her parents on the 1860 US census, listed as a 19-year-old in the household of Saml Kerr in Whitstone Precinct, Whitley County, Kentucky. Notice that she didn’t age as quickly in that decade; at what age was one considered an old maid in the mid-1800s?

Mary wasn’t destined to be a spinster however. Hiram Lawson headed a family in Boston Precinct, Whitley County in 1860 consisting of his wife Polly, and two sons Thorn and Merrill. After the death of his wife, Hiram remarried. The marriage of Mary J Kerr to Hiram Lawson on 12 August 1864 in Whitley County, Kentucky is recorded by the Family Data Collection at ancestry.com (duplicate listing as Carr and Kerr). J Lee Sharp tells that a copy of the marriage bond shows Hiram 44, widowed, son of Isom and Nancy Lawson married to Mary Carr 26, born Whitley County, daughter of Samuel and Easter Carr. Married by John Lawson MG, witnessed by Hiram Faulkner and Pleasant Polly, signed by Mathew Carr. from J Lee Sharp Family Home Page

On the 1870 US census, Hiram and Mary J are living near several other Lawson households and the household of her brother Andrew in the Lot area of Whitley County. There are no other individuals in the household.

Mary J and Hiram deed their share of her father’s 75 acres on Bunches Creek to Richard Woods 29 May 1861, Deed Book 19 page 426. Then in 1873, Mary J and Hiram sell their share of Samuel’s estate to Harvey. from J Lee Sharp Family Home Page

Hiram and Mary J are still near family in Whitley County on the 1880 US census. They are providing for an elderly single woman, Margaret Anderson 78, listed as a pauper.

Mary J Kerr Lawson preceded her husband in death although the date of death is unknown. J Lee Sharp has a record that she is buried in the Old Lawson Cemetery, There are two Cemeteries called Old Lawson as well as other cemeteries with the word Lawson in the name. I did not find Mary Lawson in the online Cemetery Books for Whitley County, Kentucky. J Lee Sharp also reports entries for Hiram Lawson dated 27 June 1894 and 03 September 1894 in Will Book 3 page 509. So it is assumed that Hiram died soon after 1894.

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