Elsic Lawson

Elsic Lawson (Aug. 4, 1898 – Jan. 1, 1919) was a Huntsville man who fought in World War I and died of sickness just after the war ended.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born Aug. 4, 1897, Elsic Lawson was the son of John Lawson (1867-1938) and Cynthia Jeffers (1872-1952) of Cordell, south of Huntsville. The Lawson family was prominent in that area in the late 1800s and early 1900s, dating back to Elsic’s great-grandfather, Revolutionary War veteran David Lawson, one of three brothers to move to present-day Scott County after the war. Elsic’s grandfather was Jacob Lee Lawson, the patriarch of the sprawling Lawson family from Cordell.

Elsic had 12 siblings: Marion D. Lawson (1888-1960), William Lawson (1891-1976), Jake Lawson (1893-1911), Michael Lawson (1895-1979), Vicy Ann Patton (1900-1989), Arizona Loyd (1902-1999), Jasper Lawson (1904-1995), George Lawson (1906-1925), Ernie Lloyd (1909-1994), Minnie Newport (1911-1982), Edith Patton (1914-1966) and Curtis Lawson (1915-1980).

World War I

Pvt. Lawson enlisted in the U.S. Army on Oct. 23, 1918 and was assigned to Co. E, 62nd Pioneer Infantry Division. His hometown was listed as Norcross (Norma). The armistice occurred just weeks later, on Nov. 11, 1918, and World War I was over.

Pvt. Lawson was still stationed at Camp Wadsworth, a WWI training facility in Spartanburg, S.C., when the war ended.

Although his name is included on both the VFW Post 5669 memorial wall in Oneida and the Veterans Memorial in Huntsville as a casualty of WWI, Pvt. Lawson is one of at least two names listed on the VFW wall — the other being Guy D. Fryar — who died of illness after the war ended.

Death

Pvt. Lawson developed bronchitis that progressed to pneumonia, and died on Jan. 1, 1919 at the base hospital at Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, S.C. He was 21. His body was returned to Scott County for burial at the Lawson & Brown Cemetery at Cordell.

Most of the rest of his family are also buried at the Lawson Cemetery, including a 17-year-old brother, Jake, who died in 1911, and an 18-year-old brother, George, who died in 1925. John Lawson and Cynthia Jeffers Lawson were also buried there in 1938 and 1952, respectively.