Today, we’ll look at the remaining mysteries among the children of Matthias Williams of Roane, then Marion and then back to Roane Counties, Tennessee.

Thanks to a family Bible which has survived to modern times, we know that Matthias Williams was born 13 December 1803, a son of William Williams and Judith Saunders, who migrated with an extended Williams clan from Cumberland County, Virginia to Roane County, Tennessee in the early 1800s. Matthias was the first of his family to be born in their new home.

Matthias Williams married twice, first to Rebecca Davison on 21 November 1825 in Roane County. However, not long after, Matthias’s parents moved to Marion County, Tennessee and Matthias appears to have followed them because he, too, was living in Marion County at the time of the 1830 census and was still there in 1840. It is important to note that Marion County is a severely burned county, having lost most courthouse records in a devastating 1922 fire that destroyed the courthouse.

Matthias Williams appeared to always work as a laborer, usually on a farm, isn’t found in the land deed records and censuses indicate he owned no real estate.

By 1849, Matthias has moved his family back to Roane County. However, unfortunately, he is nowhere to be found in the 1850 census records. That is a shame because it could help clarify the names of his six children born to Rebecca Davison and narrow down the date of her death.

Matthias married (2) Millie A. Elizabeth Shackelford on 30 August 1855, also in Roane County and had ten more children, 8 of whom have been identified.

Having said that Millie was the second wife of Matthias, given the long gap from the early 1830s until 1842 between the births of his children, I suspect that Rebecca died in the 1830s and Matthias married a second unknown wife around 1840 or 1841 in Marion County, where the records were lost in the 1922 fire. Simeon and Elizabeth would have been children of that second wife. Elizabeth’s death record names her father as Matthias Williams, but her mother’s name was totally unknown.

Today, we’ll look at the unknown children of Matthias.

Per the 1830, 1840 and 1860 census records, Matthias had two sons and one daughter born between 1826-1830 and one daughter born between 130 and 1840, none of whom have been identified. His two youngest children from his first marriage were still at home in 1860 – Simeon, born c1860 and Elizabeth, whose family sketch will be shared in Part 2 of this series.

Simeon appears in just the 1860 census, never to be seen again. Given his age, I have to wonder if he died in the Civil War.

As for the other unknown children, if they married in Marion County, their identities may well be lost to time.

However, Roane County records are complete and between the 1850 census and the marriage records, there are two males and several females about whom I would love to know more.

Paul is a Williams family name – Matthias had a brother Paul M., born 23 August 1801, so just two years older than him. also, Paul is not a terribly common given name in that area and time period.

In 1850, there is a Paul Williams, 22, living with Joseph Jackson, 69 years old and Esther A. Purvis, 29, and both born in Virginia in Subdivision 20 of Roane County [Page 377]. Interestingly, Joseph’s real estate is worth about $3000 while Esther’s is valued at $1200. Very unusual and while Paul was probably Joseph’s farmhand, his occupation is recorded as none. This Paul has no helpful links to other records, nor do Joseph or Esther. Could this Paul Williams be one of the unknown sons of Matthias?

There is a second unplaced Williams in 1850, William Williams, also aged 22 years and, also like Paul Williams, living in Subdivision 20 of Roane County [Page 431], with the young family of William and Elizabeth Derrick, both aged 29 years with five little children at home. William Derrick was from Kentucky and, like William Williams, was a gunsmith. By 1860, the Derricks had moved on to Oregon. William Williams is nowhere to be found in 1860.

I think it’s possible that these are two of Matthias’s unknown sons, but right now, there are no leads as to what became of either or them.

Now for the unknown daughters!

There are two stray Williams brides found in the Roane County marriage records. George Fritts married Esther Jane (aka Esther Vina) Williams on 14 January 1851. Esther was born c1834 in Tennessee. However, in later census records, she repeatedly reported that her father was born in North Carolina. If correct, that would eliminate Esther as a possible daughter of Matthias because even if not reported that he was born in Tennessee, the family was originally from Virginia.

The second young lady is Polly Ann Williams who married Johnathan Moats on 17 October 1853. In 1860, they were living in Knox County, Tennessee and were only 26 and 25 years old, meaning they were underage when they married in 1853. I wonder if they were both from Knox County and ran off and got married? They haven’t been found after 1860,although Johnathan fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

Next, Elinder Williams married Jeremiah Soward on 6 December 1846 in Roane County. The Sowards seemed to have moved to Arkansas, but they haven’t been found in any census records, so nothing further is known about the couple.

Last, there is Mary Williams who married John L. Turner on 12 July 1853 in Roane County. Unfortunately, this couple isn’t found in any census together and, by 1870, John had married (2) Margaret Pickel so Mary apparently died between 1860-1870.

Matthias had a daughter Mary Ann Josephine, born in 1859, but it’s possible that if Mary (Williams) Turner died in the late 1850s, that he named another daughter in her memory.

It’s also possible that Matthias’s sons married in Marion County and then moved elsewhere, because there are no Williams males there in 1850 born between 1826-1830 who aren’t identified and his daughters might also have married there and are now lost to time because of the courthouse fire.

As for unknown children born to Matthias’s wife Milly A. Elizabeth Shackelford, in 1900, Elizabeth reported she had given birth to ten children with 8 of them still living. Those children would have been born in between censuses in which the family is enumerated and died young. There would be no descendants from those two young children.

If a reader can shed any light on these people who have left little in the way of records to help place them inn our out of the family of Matthias Williams, please leave a comment.

Henry Clay Burns (1844-1910+) and Elizabeth E. Williams (c1844-1925) will be the subjects of the next family sketch.