Category Archives: Williams

Williams

Roger, Thomas and Matthias Williams, Cumberland Co., VA

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Notice: Because our latest adventure will again leave me without easy internet access, Recommended Reads will be on hiatus for the next few weeks.

While Recommended Reads is on hiatus, I will be sharing some digitized resources  that I have written through the years and will also share a few very locale-specific books that have been invaluable to me along my genealogical journey.

Today I’d like to share a work of which I am very proud – The Williams Family of Cumberland County, Virginia and Their Westward Migration. Being the History of the Descendants of Roger Williams and Brothers, Thomas and Matthias Williams From 1720 to 1865.

I worked on unraveling this family for twenty years before I self-published it. I am not selling anything now. In fact, I only printed enough copies to cover paid requests with a handful of extras to donate to libraries. One of those repositories was the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and I was thrilled to find it digitally available online.

After a painstaking search for parents of my husband’s great great grandfather, John Christopher Williams, born in 1847 in Lafayette County, Arkansas, I kept running into road blocks trying to unravel the many Williams family members with the same names, living in the same places. I was determined not to let this family or the myriad of burned counties where they lived stop me from discovering their familial origins.

Eventually, I traced the family back to patriarchs Roger, Thomas and Matthias Williams of Cumberland County, Virginia. Although some have tried to associate Roger with Roger Williams of Rhode Island, there is absolutely no evidence linking this Virginia clan with the Rhode Islander nor have I found proof of a familial relationship between Roger in Virginia and brothers Thomas and Matthias Williams. However, Roger’s family knew of Thomas and Matthias. One of Roger’s granddaughters actually married a grandson of Thomas’s and I tend to believe Roger might have been a first cousin of Thomas and Matthias.

The book is divided into five sections. The introduction gives an overview of the earliest records of the Williams family in 1700’s Virginia. Parts I, II and II each contain five chapters, one for each Williams generation in that branch of the family.

By the close of the American Revolution, this family had left Cumberland County for Bedford and Campbell Counties, Virginia and then Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee and beyond. Several branches ended up in eastern Tennessee by 1805 so the closing chapter covers loose ends in that state.

There are footnotes galore in the book – the 2 1/2 page introduction alone has 22 footnotes – and there is an every name index at the back of the book. The original text was 147 pages long and I have added about 100 more pages to my own Word document since the book was published in June 2001.

I had a very specific formula for determining whether or not a Williams descendant was included in the fifth (and last) generation I chose to include in the book. That person had to have married and had at least one child born by the close of the Civil War. My goal was to document the earlier generations who left less of a paper trail and I figured by 1870 and later, descendants would have a much easier time finding their families.

If you have a Williams ancestor and are at a brick wall in terms of taking the line back any further, you might want to view my book. Although my Williams groups lived in many places after Cumberland County, Virginia, major stopping points included Hardin County, Kentucky, Coles County, Illinois, Morgan, Roane, Anderson, Marion and Rhea Counties, Tennessee and Lafayette, Cole, Maries, Osage and Moniteau Counties, Missouri.

Major allied families with the Williams include Rector, Pryor, Creasy, Mahon, Hudnall, Landrum, Nance, Witt, Stephens, Crouch and DeShazer, all originating in Virginia or just over the border in Rockingham and Caswell Counties, North Carolina.

I would love to hear from distant cousins and am more than happy to share the newer, 250+ Word doc with descendants if you contact me. All I’ve ever asked in return is that you share my contact information with your own future contacts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Old Photos, Williams

Photographic Family History – Williams of Hopkins County, TX

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John Christopher Williams was one of my early brick walls. When I found him in the Texas census, I learned that he was born in Arkansas around 1847-1848 to an unknown Williams set of parents. After reading almost every Williams entry in the 1850 Arkansas census (this was way before the internet and there were a LOT of Williams families there by 1850), I discovered that he was the son of William A. and Judith Williams. That led to other difficulties as they had come from Marion Co., Tennessee, which lost its records in 1922. Eventually, I untangled many branches of the Williams family and even self published a book about the Williams family of Cumberland County, Virginia.

I’ve been lucky in terms of having photos of this family as I not only found some cousins along the way, but my father-in-law inherited photos of his grandmother Minnie Mae’s family. Minnie Mae was the daughter of John C. Williams and his first wife, Louisa Miller.

I love this photograph and it is the only one I have of Louisa. Louisa was the daughter of Michael Miller and Elizabeth Hendricks of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. She married John on 13 September 1871 in Nevada County, Arkansas. The Millers had already moved to Hopkins County and I am not sure why Louisa was in Nevada County. Actually, I am not sure why John was there either since his family lived in Lafayette and Hempstead Counties, near the county line.

Louisa died on 22 June 1883 in Hopkins County and is buried in Connor Cemetery there. John married (2) Ellen Watson Connor in late 1883 or early 1884.

John and Louisa had four children:

1. James Benjamin, born about 1873 in Arkansas; died 1 April 1936 in Hopkins County, Texas
2. Louella J., born abut 1875, also in Arkansas; died after 1880.
3. Levi, born about 1877; died 8 September 1879, Hopkins County, Texas
4. Minnie Mae, born 23 March 1879, Hopkins County, Texas; died 22 June 1945, Hillsboro, Hill, Texas
5. Unidentified child, born about 1881

Adams, Heirlooms, Stewart/Stuart Family, Williams

Heirlooms, Passed Through Generations, Part 1

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“Heirlooms”

When most people hear that word, they immediately think of museum pieces worth thousands. The truth of the matter is that few of us have inherited heirlooms of that calibre, but we do inherit objects of immeasurable sentimental value.

Not long ago, I read a conversation on line about various items that people had inherited from generations gone by. One person commented that we live in times that encourage us more to throw things away than to treasure, re-use and pass on. She lamented the fact that she had no family treasures to pass on to her own family.

I feel very blessed when it comes to family heirlooms. Not one of them would bring in much money, but I am thankful that my ancestors cared for and passed them down and that I am the current caretaker before they move on once again.

My next few posts will share some of the family mementos that I treasure. Thinking about this topic has made me start to wonder what I will pass on from my own lifetime.

After Dave’s grandmother passed away in 1989, his dad went back to Oklahoma to help his sister clean out the house. Pearl not only had a PILE of old photos, she had some other things that surprised Ed. She had a gardening shed in her backyard and he went out to empty it out, expecting to find gardening tools.

There were indeed some tools, but he also found three “blankets” rolled up and stored out there. These “blankets” were actually three quilts hand sewn by Minnie Mae Williams, mother of Pearl. Being in the gardening shed, one would expect that these old cotton quilts would have been stained, rubbed through with holes and perhaps insect infested. Amazingly, the only stains were there due to nature – the batting consisted of natural cotton and some of the seeds left inside the quilt had decomposed through the years, not a single rip to be found in any of the quilts, and no bugs had made them their homes.

Other family members showed little interest in these quilts, except for you-know-who. I had them appraised years ago, although quilt values have dropped since then. However, I did learn that Minnie Mae was an excellent quilter. They are all hand sewn and the fabrics date from the 1920’s and 1930’s. Minnie Mae passed away in 1945, but none of the family really knew anything about how long she had been quilting.

Take a look. the first quilt is made of plain cotton muslin and colored fabric scraps. They were likely sewed during the Depression years so usable pieces of fabric would not have been thrown away.

Minniescolorquilt

Minnie Mae’s Scrap Quilt

This quilt measures 68 x 76 inches. Even standing on the bed with the quilt on the floor, I couldn’t get the hole thing in the picture. The colors in it remain strong and the quilt is in excellent condition.

Seeing the back of this quilt, one can appreciate how many hand stitches went into making this. Minnie Mae’s stitches are small and evenly spaced, the mark of a good quilter.

The second quilt features mostly blue fabric again paired with plain cotton muslin. It measures 66 x 73 inches and, again, is hand sewn.

Minniesbluequilt2
Minnie’s blue quilt

I love all three quilts, but this one is terrific:

Minniesyoyquilt
Minnie’s Yo-Yo Quilt

This is a yo-yo quilt and each of those individual circles, called yo-yos, is tacked on four sides to the other yo-yos. I couldn’t come close to capturing this one in a photo as it measures 81 x 99 inches. It is made up of 36 blocks, each with 36 yo-yos within, and a pink yo-yo border. I wonder if Minnie Mae was working on this quilt when she died because two adjoining sides have a 2-row border, but there is no border on the other two sides. I would have expected at least a third side with a border if the top of the quilt was to be placed under pillows.

Tomorrow, more family heirlooms.