Matilda and George Revisited

One of the first issues we dealt with in our research was why Matilda Manson uprooted her son from Hootenville, Upson County, Georgia, in 1884, and moved to Rockdale, Milam County, Texas. You recall that the evidence is pretty strong that she left Georgia because George Preston Birdsong, the apparent father of her son Otis, moved to Texas with his brother Albert. The question left unanswered is why George and Albert Birdsong left Georgia for Texas. That was the question which took me to Upson County, Georgia, in May of 2005. That trip didn't result in an answer to that question.

But consider the following as the basis for a hypothesis that needs researching: George Preston Birdsong's father, known as Larry, was dead. The Civil War was over, and with it a way of life that the Birdsong family had enjoyed. There is some evidence that Larry's widow Susan had difficulty maintaining the family's property in Upson County. The 1880 census reveals that in Milam County, Texas, there was a family named Thweatt. There is some evidence that these Thweatts were connected to Susan Thweatt Birdsong's family. The hypothesis is that George and Albert went to Texas to join their cousins. We'll pursue this hypothesis and see how far we get.