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After living a few years in Madison and Henderson counties,
John and Matilda moved to Carroll County around 1841. In
1845, John along with his father witnessed the last will
and testament of James Pinkston. John would later purchase
the rights to the inheritance of three of James' children.
During the 1840s, John began to purchase land in Carroll
County. By 1850 he had almost 500 acres. John's largest
crop in that year was corn. He also had 100 pigs and 150
head of sheep.
Just like his ancestors in South Carolina, John was a slave
owner. In 1856, John sold four slaves to Thomas Walker for
$1,650.00. The oldest, a woman named Matilda would later
take the last name Norwood and live beside John's brother
Lewis.
Unlike the three generations before him, John did not fight
in a war. During the Civil War, he was elected sheriff and
served from 1862-1864. While he was sheriff, he held an
election for a representative to the Congress of the United
States from the ninth congressional district of Tennessee.
Three of John's sons did serve during the war. William and
James fought for the Confederacy and Thomas fought for the
Union. Even though John supported the Union, he appeared to
have no ill feeling toward William and James. After the
war, John had business dealings with his oldest son William
and in 1880 John gave James power of attorney to sell all
of his property in Carroll and Benton County Tennessee.
In 1871 John sued James J. Pinkston, the father-in-law of
his son Thomas. The suit was about a debt dating back
before the Civil War. John won the suit but he had to pay
court cost.
John and Matilda continued to prosper after the war and in
1880 sold their property and moved to Nashville, Arkansas.
Several years earlier John had purchase land in Arkansas.
His sons William R. and James W. had moved to Arkansas 20
years earlier.5 6 7 8 9
Sources:
- John Norwood's Last Will and Testament
- Arkansas Probate Records, 1817-1979
- John Norwood's Headstone
- Office of Freddie Pruitt, County Clerk, Madison County,Jackson, Tennessee
- Thomas Walker Bill of Sale
- 37th Congress, House of Representatives, Report No. 46
- 1850 Agricultural Schedule Carroll County Tennessee
- Norwood vs Pinkston Bill of Complaint
- Federal Census 1840-1880
