bridges across the Black Warrior River. Jemison hired Horace King, a skilled multiracial enslaved person from Russell County to build bridges in eastern Mississippi. King became one of the most respected bridge designers and builders in the Deep South. In 1846, Jemison, along with King's owner, John Godwin, obtained his freedom through an act of the Alabama Legislature, which exempted King from the manumission laws. King built the last covered bridge at Tuscaloosa and Northport over the Black Warrior in 1872 just a few months after Jemison's death on October 16, 1871. Jemison made an arrangement with Tuscaloosa County for King to build the bridge and this bridge was the first of many that the county would build. Family Jemison was married to Priscilla (Cherokee) Jemison and had one daughter, Cherokee Mims Jemison. References External links Confederate Congress bio Political Graveyard The Robert Jemison Jr. Papers, W.S. Hoole Special Collections Library, The University of Alabama. 1802 births 1871 deaths 19th-century American politicians Alabama Secession Delegates of 1861 Alabama state senators Confederate States of America senators Members of the Alabama House of Representatives People from Lincoln County, Georgia People of Alabama in the American Civil War American slave owners