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mcc-jrr_511-003
Jordan - Lanier Cemetery, 51-1 Summary Report, page 3
From: John P Rankin To: Cc: Sent: Wednesday, December 04, 2002 1:18 PM Subject: Re: Lanier Family Research Info Thanks for sending the write-up about your house in Madison and the Lanier family. I intend to take the tour of Madison homes this Sunday afternoon, so perhaps I'll see you then. I did note in the write-up that you provided of the Laniers that the birthdate of John Ford Lanier was given as 1820. That immediately caught my attention, as that date would make him 61 when he married Ada in 1881, and then he raised children. I have portions of a history of the Lanier family that was compiled a century ago by Felix Robertson Lanier and written by John Fulton Lanier (a son of John Ford Lanier). On page 16 of that collection, it states that John Ford was born February 5, 1857, and that he married Ada Johnson on September 15, 1881. Anyhow, this genealogy takes the history of the Lanier family in detail back to Thomas Lanier of 1685 in France. There is a possible gap in the generations to another Thomas Lanier who married Elizabeth Washington, daughter of John Washington, who was the paternal great grandfather of General / President George Washington. Elizabeth's mother was Annie Pope Washington. The Pope family is, of course, quite well known as pioneers of this area of northern Alabama. Thomas and Elizabeth Lanier lived on the James River, near the present location of the town of Richmond, on land originally granted by William & Mary to Henry Harris and John Jourden in 1691. [It may be that the Jordan families of pre-arsenal land ownership were descendants of this John Jourden.] Another connection of note is that apparently the famed poet Sidney Lanier was also of this line in America. The family genealogy is covered in this document down to David Shelby Lanier of your family and others of his generation. The parents of John Ford Lanier are given as Burwell Clinton Lanier and his wife Laura Prudence America Ford (could be of the Ford's Chapel family, but I have not researched that). They were married on May 26, 1853. Paternal grandparents of John Ford Lanier are given as Burwell C. and Mary Shelby Lanier. Burwell Clinton Lanier was born Oct. 5, 1820 in Madison County, AL. His father was Isaac Lanier, who came to Madison County late in life to join his brothers Thomas and William, who had moved here about 1810. Isaac was born in NC and married Arabella Clinton, daughter of a Baptist minister. She bore him 3 children, including Burwell C. Lanier, born about 1790. After Arabella died, Isaac married Mary Dickson, by whom he had another 4 children. She may have been of the family for which Dickson County, TN was named, as they lived there for a time. There was also a 3 - (2022)