Thomas Laxton
Thomas Laxton (1795-1862) was the first Laxton to settle in what is now Scott County, establishing his home at Buffalo. He is the great-grandfather of Scott County Sheriff Esau Laxton, and the second-great-grandfather of Scott County Sheriff Jack O. Laxton.
See Also: The Scott County Lineage Project
Biography
Thomas Laxton was born in South Carolina, but it isn’t clear who his parents were. He married Elizabeth Goad (1800-1881), who was likely some relation to Abraham Goad who settled on New River in the early 1800s. However, it isn’t clear exactly what that relationship was.
Some genealogical records list Elizabeth Goad as the daughter of William Goad (1754-1843) and Betsy Morrison (1757-1820). If this is true, she was a great-niece to Abraham Goad. William Goad’s father, John Goad (1729-1795), was Abraham Goad’s brother. However, some historians believe that Thomas and Elizabeth were married in Campbell County in 1820 (which would have included Buffalo prior to the formation of Scott County in 1849), and there is no evidence that either William Goad or John Goad ever moved to the area. John Goad appears to have died in Sullivan County, Tenn., near present-day Kingsport. William Goad appeared on a Sullivan County tax list in 1796, applied for a Revolutionary War pension in Sullivan County in 1831, and was still living in Sullivan County when the last census of his life was taken in 1740.
It is possible that Thomas and Elizabeth married prior to their arrival in present-day Scott County. Unfortunately, there is no way to know because a marriage license cannot be found.
Thomas and Elizabeth had at least four children: Alfred Laxton (1821-1892), John Jackson “Jackie” Laxton (1830-1918), Thomas Laxton Jr. (1840-1923), and Levi Laxton (1843-1864). They also appear to have had a daughter, Nancy (about 1837-1896). There may have been other siblings, too: Jesse, Albert, Alfred, and Catherine are possibilities. The 1840 census lists Thomas Laxton as having seven children. The most likely children were Alfred, Jesse, Catherine, John, Nancy, Thomas, and Levi, in that order.
Some sources suggest that Elizabeth was first married to a John Laxton (1780-1822), and that Albert Laxton, born 1819, was their son. If this is true, John Laxton may have been a brother to Thomas Laxton, and Thomas Laxton and Elizabeth Goad almost certainly were not married as early as 1820. However, it seems more likely that these records are erroneous. Albert Laxton was born in Missouri, according to census records, and lived in Tipton County, Tenn., when the 1850 census was taken. He married his wife, Mary Amanda Turnage, in Tipton County in 1843.
Move to Scott County
It isn’t clear when Thomas Laxton and his family moved to Buffalo. In her book, County Scott and Its Mountain Folk, the historian Esther Sharp Sanderson described his move like this: “Thomas Laxton, with all his worldly possessions on his back, trudged on foot carrying two hound pups and some fruit trees to Smoky, from North Carolina. He later moved to Buffalo, where he married and reared a large family. His son Thomas II was the father of Jack Laxton, John William and Thomas III. Other Paxton’s in the county are descendants of Thomas.
“These Laxtons were excellent farmers and good citizens. They owned extensive farms on Paint Rock and Buffalo Creeks. They all liked to hunt, and they usually kept four or five hounds that were well-trained for hunting small game, such as raccoons and groundhogs, and for the fox chases. A good hunting dog was worth the price of a horse, the pioneers valuing them that way. A pioneer thought so much of his dog that he would fight at the drop of a hat, over him. ‘Hit made no difference if he was a hound, it wasn’t safe to kick old Blue around.'”
Laxton served in the East Tennessee Militia during the War of 1812. He enlisted in Capt. James Tunnell’s company at Knoxville, Tenn., on Sept. 13, 1814, as a substitute for James Isom. This would indicate that he was living in East Tennessee — and perhaps on Buffalo Creek — by 1814.
Laxton first appeared in Campbell County tax records in 1836, and first appeared in the Campbell County census in 1840. At the time, there were seven people listed in his household under the age of 20, and two people between the ages 40 and 49. Unfortunately, U.S. census records did not include names of anyone other than the head of household prior to 1850.
Death
Thomas Laxton died in 1862. It is not clear where he was buried. When the 1870 census was taken, Elizabeth Laxton was living with her son, Thomas Laxton Jr., and his family. She was still living with Thomas’s family in 1880. She died on May 10, 1881. It is not clear where she was buried.
The Goad Mystery
A mystery that remains due to the scant genealogy records is how the Goads of Buffalo — several of whom are buried at Laxton Cemetery — tie into the Laxton family.
The only one who has a commercial stone is Sarah Goad (1827-1905). The rest were buried in graves originally marked with uninscribed field stones. Funeral home markers were placed many years later. One of those graves is identified by the funeral home marker as John Goad, and many online genealogists list it as John Goad, brother of Abraham Goad, who died in 1795. If that were true, it would make Laxton Cemetery the oldest cemetery in Scott County, and John Goad’s grave the oldest identifiable grave in Scott County. It would also mean that the first permanent settler of Scott County was not Mikel Low, as has long been assumed.
However, this appears to be an error. John Goad appears to have died in Sullivan County, Tenn. Sarah Goad, whose grave at Laxton Cemetery is identified, had a son named John who appears to have died between 1860 and 1870, based on census records. (There is another field stone in the cemetery identified by a funeral home marker as Tilmon Goad, and Sarah Goad had a son named Tilman who died between 1870 and 1880.)
Thomas Laxton Jr.’s first wife appears to have been Mary Goad. When the 1870 census was taken, Thomas and Mary were living with 3-year-old Levi and 2-year-old Sarah, in addition to Elizabeth Laxton. When the 1880 census was taken, Mary was no longer in the home. Levi was still there, along with 11-year-old Sarah, 9-year-old Filmon, 7-year-old James, 4-year-old Ulysses, Elizabeth, and a Sarah Goad, age 57, who is listed as Thomas Laxton’s mother-in-law.
Based on this record, Mary Goad Laxton may have died sometime between 1876 and 1880.
Sarah Goad was listed in the 1860 census with Johnston Goad, Phelea Goad, Tilmon Goad, Nancy Goad, and John F. Goad. In 1850, she lived with William J. (Johnston) Goad, Phoebe Goad, Tilmon Goad and N.J. (Nancy) Goad. By the 1900 census, she was living with Levi Laxton and was listed as his grandmother.
It does not appear that Sarah Goad ever married, but it isn’t clear who fathered her children, or who her parents were. Some list her as the daughter of Joshua Goad and Sallie Smiddy, which would make her the granddaughter of Abraham Goad.
Unclear is her relationship to Elizabeth Goad.