Category Archives: Williams

Williams

Polly Williams Love

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With Valentine’s Day “Love” almost upon us, I decided to share the very short story of Polly Love Williams, daughter of Samuel Williams of Cumberland County, Virginia.

I worked on unraveling the many branches of the Williams family of Cumberland County for about twenty years. Polly Williams Love is one of the elusive buds on the tree that has never blossomed.

Samuel Williams, born 18 September 1744 in Virginia married (1) Susannah Ligon and (2) Mary Wright, before 13 September 1794.

His children are all named in his will and extensive information has been found on all of them except for Polly. If Polly is the younger female in Samuel’s household in 1820, then she apparently married Mr. Love after 1820, but before her father wrote his will on 2 July 1821.

Samuel Williams was head of a household in 1820 that consisted of himself, an adult female, likely second wife Mary Wright, and a female aged 10-16. There is no indication of how old the adult female is, other than 45+. There is also no way to determine if this girl is Polly and is a child of Samuel by his second wife or if the girl is a child of Mary Wright by her first husband, born about the time the husband likely died. If this is not Polly, then Polly was probably born around either 1769 or 1779, as that is where gaps are in between the other children.

If that didn’t complicate things enough already, without knowing her age, there is no way to even guess if Mr. Love was a first or later husband.

Children of Samuel and Susannah Ligon Williams:

1. Anderson, born c1767; died after 1860, possibly in Botetourt County, VA; married Mildred Shepard, 18 December 1786, Cumberland County, VA.
ii. William Ligon, born 6 June 1771; died 13 Oct 1848, Coles County, IL, when his will was probated; married (1) Mary Gannaway, before 1 December 1794, Cumberland County, VA. (2) Catherine Keller, 4 October 1830, Coles Co., IL. He originally migrated to Hardin County, Kentucky.
iii. John, born c1773, VA; died by Oct 1853, when his will was probated in Roane County, TN; married Mary Lee, before 1 Dec 1794, Cumberland County, VA.
iv. Charles, born c1775, VA; died between Aug 1825 and Jan 1826, Morgan County, TN; married (1) Unknown (2) Elizabeth Cobb. She was possibly a Goddard by birth.
v. Reuben, born c1777, VA; died after July 1828, probably Roane County, TN; married Elizabeth Butler, 25 June 1801, Campbell Co., VA.
vi. Samuel, born 19 Mar 1781, VA; died 29 Nov 1849, Bedford County, VA; married Betsey Wingo, Dec 1803, Amelia County, VA.
vii. Benjamin, born c1785, died before 22 Mar 1855, Anderson County, TN; married (1) Cizire (?Keziah) Williams, 4 June 1815, Roane County, TN (2) Nancy McCormack, 23 June 1851, Roane County, TN.
viii. Robert, born 15 Aug 1786, VA; died 18 July 1865, Roane County, TN; married Sarah A. Manley.
ix. Joseph, born 14 May 1789; died 29 May 1862, probably Howard County, MO; married (1) Susan Woodson, 10 June 1815, Cumberland County, VA.
x. Polly

Have you noticed that almost nothing in this post is about Polly? Yep, that is because I don’t know anything about her. She married Mr. Love before her father wrote his will on 2 July 1821; the will was probated in Cumberland County, Virginia in October 1823. She might have been born about 1769, 1799 or between 1794 and 1810.

Did she stay in Virginia after she married, like brother Samuel, or did she migrate to Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois or Missouri like her other siblings or somewhere else? Who knows?

If you have a Love family with roots that extend back to Cumberland County, Virginia or Caswell County, North Carolina (where the Williams were known to have ties) and the wife is Mary or Polly who might be the daughter of Samuel Williams, I would LOVE (pun intended) to hear from you.

 

Cobb, Williams

Missing: Asa Cobb, Franklin Co., AL 1850

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Asa Cobb holds the key to one of my husband’s collateral Williams branches. Asa Cobb lived in Coahoma County, Mississippi in 1860.

AsaCobb1860MSCensusAsa Cobb, fifth household

He was married to Adeline, likely a second wife since there is a large age gap between them, and had children Thomas, Georgianne, Abner, Mary and Robert in the household.  A public member tree on Ancestry gives a birth date of 7 Aug 1805 in Roane County, Tennessee and a death date of 20 Nov 1875, no place cited. His wife, Adeline, is identified in the family tree as Adeline Ligon, born 1826 and died in 1882. Neither is found on findagrave.com.

Here is the problem: Mahuldah Cobb married Reuben Williams in Roane County, Tennessee on 7 Dec 1819. Mica Sellers, MG performed the marriage ceremony.

Reuben died about 1835 in Morgan County, TN, leaving children Joseph Miller Williams, Asa Cobb Williams, Robert T. Williams, Deborah R. Williams, Reuben Williams and Francis Williams.

By March 1844, a court record omits children Reuben and Francis, so they likely died 1835-1844. The children were living in Franklin County, AL at that time. A land deed in 1847 identified Joseph M., Asa C., Robert T. and Deborah R. Williams; I believe Deborah may have come of age and her father’s estate was being settled.

Asa Cobb appears to be a brother of Mahulda Cobb Williams. Azariah Cobb, living in Franklin County, Alabama in 1850 and 1860, is probably also a brother to Asa and Mahulda. Undocumented sources identify Asa Cobb of Fentress County, Tennessee as the father of these Cobbs.

It appears that the family of Reuben Williams migrated to Franklin County with the Cobbs. I have never been able to pick up a trace of Reuben’s descendants other than in these two court records.  I had hoped that the 1850 census of Franklin County might shed some light on what became of them.

I looked high and low for Asa Cobb in Franklin County, Alabama in 1850. He is nowhere to be found in the federal census schedule.

Asa does appear in the Alabama 1850 and 1855  state censuses.

However, the state census only lists head of household and age ranges for males and females in the home. It also had a column to enumerate the number of slaves owned. Asa was the owner of 37 slaves and had one free person of color living in the household.

Next, I search the 1850 slave schedules for Franklin County, AL; Asa was, indeed, listed in that schedule:

Cobb1850SlavesAsa enumerated as the slave owner, 1850

So where is Asa Cobb in the regular 1850 federal census record? I thought perhaps he was misindexed so I looked at the neighbors listed in the slave schedule – James Alexander and William Winston.

This is what I found in the regular schedule:

Winston1850Jas Alexander and William Winston, 1850

Notice households #5 and #6. Both James Alexander and William Winston are given the occupation of planter. There is no Asa Cobb to be found. Perhaps it was late in the day. Perhaps the census taker was tired. Whatever the reason, I think the census taker carefully enumerated all the slaves belonging to Asa Cobb, but forgot to enumerate his family.

It appears that the 1850 federal census record for Asa Cobb’s family isn’t going to provide any clues to the whereabouts of Reuben Williams’ family.