Chambers County Alabama Biographies.....John W. Simmons 1816 - 1902 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://theusgenweb.org/al/chambers/ ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb by: John Simmons 1776again@earthlink.net January 23, 2004, 10:15 pm Author: John Simmons John W. Simmons was born on May 18th 1816 in Georgia in either Putnam or Oglethorpe counties. His family moved to Harris County, Georgia and were living there in 1832. He married Lorena Welden on November 30th 1837 in Harris County, Georgia and started a family. He and Lorena lived on a farm in the north western part of Harris County. They had several children before moving to Alabama. After the recording of the 1840 census, John and Lorena have moved across the Chattahoochee River into Chambers County, Alabama. By 1856 he had moved his large family to an area in eastern Tallapoosa County known as Church Hill. When war came in 1861 his two eldest sons, Henry and Allen Simmons, enlisted with the 47th Alabama Infantry in Company B. Both sons were lost in the Gettysburg campaign in 1863. One was killed in action at Gettysburg and the other was captured and died in POW camp at Ft.Delaware. John's younger son, Tillman S. Simmons, enlisted in the 2nd Alabama Reserve Regiment later designated the 63rd Alabama Infantry and fought at Mobile,Spanish Fort, and Blakely. John at age 48 enlisted as a private in Company A of the 3rd Alabama Reserve Infantry Regiment at Camp Watts near Notasulga, Alabama on the 1st of April 1864. He served until the 4th of April 1865. He survived the war and remained in the area of Tallapoosa,Chambers, and Lee Counties of Alabama until his death April 18th 1902. He is buried at Roxana Methodist Church Cemetery in Lee County, Alabama. His wife Lorena was born August 20th 1820 in Georgia and died January 12th 1886. She is also buried at Roxana Cemetery in Lee County, Alabama. Children included the following: 1. Margarette M. born September 13th 1838 2. Henry D. born about 1839 and died July 3rd 1863 married W.A. Finch September 29th 1861 3. Jackson born about 1841 4. Allen G. born about 1842 and died October 9th 1863 5. Martha J. born February 14th 1842 6. Mary F. born February 14th 1842 7. Tillman S. born May 1845 and died December 7th 1904,married Narcissa Brewer June 3rd 1866 8. Thomas J. born August 1846 and died about 1925,married Margaret Hays November 17th 1868 9. Zeph T. born November 20th 1847 and died 1857 10. Sara A. born January 25th 1849 11. Joseph W. born April 7th 1849 and died Sept 25th 1925,married Malissa Davidson January 8th 1874 12. Elizabeth A. born July 3rd 1850 and died December 6th 1912,married William D. Cosby December 17th 1874 13. Andrew R. born December 1852 and died , married Ella Laney November 14th 1882 14. James B. born August 26th 1854 and died April 1st 1931,married Mary L. Kimbrough August 11th 1878 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/alfiles/ File size: 3.2 Kb