Yesterday, I presented the relatively small number of details that have been learned about the lives of Thomas and Susannah (Anderson) Williams, who lived in Cumberland County, Virginia in the 1700s.

Circumstantial evidence has identified four possible children, Dorcas, Hannah, Samuel and Charles, although their exact birth order is unknown. There may be other as yet unidentified children.

Each of the four children married and had children, but the descendants of Samuel outnumber the others by quite a bit. He had a large family of children, most of whom went on to have another generation of large families. The least is known about Dorcas’s and Hannah’s descendants.

Thomas’s children are numbered, while the grandchildren are bulleted.

1. Dorcas was born 15 Jan 1739; married Thomas Fitch, 26 May 1757; died after her husband, whose estate was administered on 28 Aug 1787 in Cumberland County, Virginia. The Fitch family information was provided from a family Bible by Margaret Fitch, aged 72 in 2002. She lived in Campbell County near Rustburg at that time.

Children: (Fitch)

• Susannah, born 10 May 1758. No further information.
• Frances, born 31 May 1761; died 4 June 1829, Buckingham Co., VA; married James Spears. James was born 1760; died May 1833, Buckingham Co., VA.
• Sarah, born 17 February 1764. One Sarah Fitch married Benjamin Johnson, 23 Nov 1793, Albemarle County, Virginia.
• Samuel, born 23 February 1769; died 17 April 1844; married Jane McIver, 1 March 1804. Jane died 25 April 1844, Campbell County, Virginia.
• Charles, born 17 April1772; died 15 August 1829, Campbell County, Virginia; married Judith Walker, 17 May 1803, Prince Edward County, Virginia. Judith died 10 February 1836, Campbell County, Virginia. Charles left his estate to his wife and the following: children of Samuel Fitch, Elizabeth Burks, Frances Spears, niece Elizabeth Sorrells (daughter of Frances Spears) and nephews Charles Burks and Charles Fitch. He apparently had no children of his own.
• Polly, born 19 November 1775. No further information.
• Elizabeth, born 17 December 1779; married Joseph Burks. One Joseph (aged 72) and Elizabeth Burks (aged 70) lived in Appomattox County, Virginia in 1850 and neighbored two Fitch households, that of James, aged 40 and Thomas, aged 44.

2. Charles was born c1740’s; died before October 1805, probably in  Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  Charles left a will written 29 January  1801.  There is no definitive proof that he was a child of Thomas Williams.  However, there is also no evidence refuting this supposition.

One Charles Williams and John Gannaway Jr. posted bond for Thomas Williams in a lawsuit brought against him in Cumberland County Court in 1763. Another Charles Williams in the area has been eliminated as the possible bondsman, leaving this Charles.  Because Charles’s own son, Charles Jr., married Susannah Williams, daughter of Roger of Bedford County, it is certain that these families knew each other.  Charles married (1) Ann Wilson, 3 March 1770 (2) Sarah Dix, 21 April 1783, both in Pittsylvania County, Virginia and with Peter Wilson as surety for both marriages.

According to the History of Pittsylvania County, Charles served in the military as a captain during the Revolution. There is a Salley Williams in Pittsylvania in 1820, and gone by 1830.  She was likely his widow. She lived on or near the Dan River, which is where Charles Jr. lived in the 1820s.

On 15 November 1827, Charles and Susannah Williams and Sally Williams, with Charles and Sally identified as son and widow of Captain Charles, sold his land. Charles and Susannah migrated to Maury County, Tennessee.  Sally apparently died between 1827 and 30 October 1830, when Charles Williams of Maury County sued Thomas B. Fontaine (his brother-in-law), administrator of her estate, for distribution of the proceeds from Sally’s estate sale.

Children:

• Peter, born c1774; died after 1840 census, possibly in Marshall or Maury County, Tennessee. He is probably the Peter who married (1) Sally Hill, daughter of Isaac Hill, 21 November 1792, Pittsylvania County, Virginia.  The Hill family migrated to Maury County, where Peter also lived, by 1830.  He married (2) Mary G. Beanland, widow of Edward Whitmill Beanland, who died in Maury County, Tennessee in 1815. Their marriage record was mistranscribed, giving her name as Mary B. Beasley, c1826-27, Maury County, with John H. Hill as bondsman.  The marriage return was undated, but in the box with 1826-27 papers.
• Charles, born c1776, died by May 1844, Marshall County, Tennessee; married Susannah Williams, daughter of Roger and Cassie Ann Blair Williams, 11 Apr 1797, Bedford County, Tennessee, She survived him.
• Susannah, born c1778, probably Pittsylvania County, Virginia; died 23 February 1845, Williamson County, Tennessee; married (1) John Crouch, 20 Oct 1794, Pittsylvania County, Virginia; consent of her father, Charles, given. John was born c1767, probably in Goochland County, Virginia, and possibly the son of John and Susannah Ellis Crouch of Goochland County; died 14 December 1813, Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee.  Susannah married (2) Ephraim Brown, 6 May 1823, Williamson County, Tennessee. He was born c1764, possibly in Maryland; died 6 November 1840, Williamson County, Tennessee.
• Nancy, probably born c1773; died after October 1805 and before 17 November 1823; married Thomas Ballard Fontaine, 17 Dec 1809, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. She is identified on the bond as the daughter of Sally Williams. Thomas married (2) Anna Watkins, 17 Nov 1823, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Anna was born c1784; died after 1850. Thomas may have married someone before Nancy, as there is a child in the census shown as born before the 1809 marriage date.

Tomorrow, I will finish up with the children of Hannah and Samuel Williams.