This is the final family sketch covering the many children of Matthias Williams (1803-1884) of Roane County, Tennessee.
Deborah was the last of sixteen children born to Matthias Williams, but the tenth child born to his second wife, Millie A. Elizabeth Shackelford, on 2 January 1882. Her father, Matthias, was almost 79 years old.
Matthias died in 1884 in Roane County and, by 1900, only widow Elizabeth and her youngest child, Debbie, were living at home. That was soon to change, too, as Deborah married Lemuel Asberry Price on 27 September 1900 in Roane County.
Debbie’s older sister, Hulda, was married to William Harrison Price and Asberry, as he was known, was William’s son by his first marriage. That means that when Asberry and Deborah married, his stepmother became his sister-in-law and Hulda was not only Deborah’s sister, but her step-mother-in-law. Got that???
Asberry Price was born on 10 March 1880 and died just before 18 May 1939, when his obituary was published in The Knoxville Journal, in Loudon County, Tennessee.
Deborah Williams married Asberry Price on 27 September 1900 in Roane County, Tennessee. They were the parents of six children (All events in Loudon County unless noted otherwise.):
- Lucinda, born 29 November 1905; died 22 June 1937 of tuberculosis; married Alonzo Jenkins, 8 December 1921
- Minnie Mildred, born 5 October 1907; died 23 October 1944 of tuberculosis; married (1) Earnest Preston, 8 June 1924 (2) Jake Stevens, between 1930-1940
- Susie, born c1911; died after 1950; married Nathaniel Pesterfield, 9 December 1928
- Hazel Verona, born 25 September 1912; died 27 February 1960, Roane County, Tennessee; married Jesse M. Cook, 24 December 1934, Roane County, Tennessee
- James Franklin, born 22 March 1915; died 12 April 2002, Cherokee County, Georgia; married Nellie Mae Tatum, after 1950
- Carl Barstell, born 12 June 1919; died 19 December 1983, Dade County, Florida; married (1) Laura May, before 16 October 1940, when he listed his wife on his World War II draft registration card (2) Virginia Faye McKinley, 19 December 1960, Monroe County, Tennessee
Deborah (Williams) price died on 11 April 1961 in Loudon County, Tennessee and was buried in Cave Creek Cemetery, Roane County, where her father, Matthias Williams, is also buried.
This has been a deep dive down a rabbit hole, but well worth the time for all that I’ve learned about this family. Of course, there are still a few missing pieces to this Williams puzzle, but I am hoping that a reader might be able to correctly place a few more pieces.