Jackson County Alabama Genealogy and History Biographies LIDDON, WILLIAM ABRAM, civil engineer, was born in 1793, in New Hanover County, N. C., and died December 19, 1853, in Belle- fonte, Jackson County; son of Benjamin and Sarah (Rutledge) Liddon, also of New Hanover County, the latter belonged to the distinguished South Carolina family of that name, being at the time of her marriage to Col. Liddon,. the widow of Maj. Abram Ivy; grandson of Benjamin Liddon, a native of Scotland, landed in Virginia, but afterwards settled in Wilmington, N. C., was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and awarded a tract of land for special services located on Stone River, Rutherford County, Tenn., to which he removed. William Abram Liddon began his education in Wilmington, N. C., and later attended the best schools of Nashville, Tenn. He followed the custom of the period and learned the trade of a silversmith, later studied civil engineering, and for many years was county surveyor of Jackson County, to which he moved from Tennessee in 1830. He was an accomplished musician and for a long time used this talent for the pleasure of the community about Bellefonte, where he was leader and instructor of local musicians composing the brass band. He was justice of the peace at that place, and although a student of law never practiced it as a profession. On the other hand he freely gave of his knowledge to the poor of the land who were unable to employ legal advisers. He was law and died at the age of thirty-five; grandson of Robert and Judeth (Scott) Ligon of Halifax County, Va., and of Major Robert and Jane Ware (Hunter) Fulwood of South Carolina and later of Ware County, Ga. The Ligon family is of French Huguenot extraction, the early ancestors going from France to England and thence to America, locating in Virginia and South Carolina, shortly after the Revolutionary War. Governor Ligon received his early education in the country schools of his native county and in the academy near Watkinsville. Later he attended the Georgia university. In 1844 he removed to Tuskegee, Macon County, where he read law under Judge David Clopton, was admitted to the bar and formed a partnership with his legal mentor. He later removed to Montgomery where he formed a partnership with James E. Cobb. Prior to the War of Secession he was a member of the legislature from Macon County and was State senator in 1864. During the heated campaign that restored white supremacy in the State following the reconstruction period, Senator Ligon was elected lieutenant-governor on the ticket with George S. Houston, governor, the office having been created by the constitution of 1867. It was however abolished in 1875, and 'not recreated until the adoption of the constitution of 1901. Lieutenant-Governor Ligon was elected to congress from the 5th district, 1876-78. He was captain of a company in the Mexican War, 1849; and elected captain of the "Macon Confederates," which was Co. F, 12th Alabama infantry regiment, Rodes division, C. S. Army. He was a Democrat, and canvassed the state during the campaign of 1874, for his party. For many years he was president of the board of trustees, Alabama female college, and also a trustee of the Alabama polytechnic institute, Auburn. He was a Methodist and a Mason. Married: in 1850, at Watkinsville, Ga., to Emily, daughter of Edward Courtenay and Caroline Matilda (Brinton) Paine of that place, the former a distinguished lawyer, who had removed from Baltimore, where his parents resided, to Georgia. Mrs. Paine, his wife, was the daughter of Major Henry Bointon, who resided near Philadelphia and was of Quaker ancestry. Children: 1. Carrie, deceased, m. Edward T. Varner, Tuskegee; 2. Emma, m. Richard A. Johnson, Atlanta, Ga.; 3. Cornelia, m. Alexander H. Graham, Dallas, Texas; 4. Mattie, deceased, m. George P. Harrison (q. v.), Opelika; 5. Robert Fulwood, Jr. (q. v.). Last residence: Montgomery. Source: History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama Biography, By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, Published by The S. J. Clarke publishing company, 1921; Submitted by Barb Ziegenmeyer HOME ©2009 Genealogy Trails