This is the final family sketch, if it can be called that since little is known, for the children of William and Hepsabeth Williams.
First, Child #12 needs to be remembered. Little Hepsabeth L. Williams was born on 10 November 1853, but she must not have been a healthy newborn as she sadly died at the age of just four days on 14 November 1853.
William and Hepsabeth had lost two other children, Christopher and John, in childhood, but Hepsabeth was the only child who died in infancy. Her name, birth and death date were carefully recorded in the family Bible, which is owned by a descendant today.
Child #13 was the last born to Hepsabeth with 26 years separating her first and last born children.
Francis Davidson Williams was born on 13 April 1855 in Lafayette County, Arkansas. Little is known about him aside from being enumerated at home in the 1860 and 1870 censuses in Lafayette County.
By 1870, his father had died and his mother, brother Thomas and he had moved in with Cosby and Mollie McClellan, his sister and brother-in-law.
On 6 March 1876, Hepsabeth had sold her home to her son, James Henry Williams and it’s likely that she and her two youngest children moved in with the McClellan family at that time.
A year later, on 16 December 1877, Frank, as he was known, married Mary Elizabeth Ham in Lafayette County, Arkansas.
That is the last official record in which Frank’s name is found and what became of Frank and Mary was a puzzle for many years.
Remember, back in the earlier Williams family sketches, I mentioned Smith County, Texas?
- Smith County is located in eastern Texas, a county away from Hopkins County, where William’s and Hepsabeth’s son, John C. Williams settled.
- Sophronia Virginia Powell, a daughter of Benjamin and Judith Woodward (Williams) Powell married Joseph C. Murphy in 1880 and, although he died before 1900, Sophronia is next found in 1900 living in Tyler, Smith, Texas. She was a dressmaker. Mary Williams (below) and daughter Izora were seamstresses.
- James Lackey, son of Jackson and Martha Jane (Williams) (Lackey) Forrest was living in Tyler, Smith, Texas in 1900. With him were his mother and cousin Ida Jones.
Returning to old research is a good research trait today because more records are digitally available and full-text search can help out.
Besides cousins widowed Sophronia Virginia Murphy and James A. Lackey both living in Tyler, Smith Texas in 1900, another surprise popped up.
Mary E[lizabeth] Williams, born September 1856 in Tennessee, was enumerated in 1900 at home with daughter Izora Williams, born in 1878 [Her death certificate added 4 November 1878, Lafayette County, Arkansas.] Both mother and daughter worked as seamstresses and Mary was a widow.
It also included the tidbit, which still has me stymied, that Mary had given birth to three children and all three were living. However, they were not living with Mary and Izora. More about one of them in a moment.
Izora married in Smith County soon after the census taker came around. On 25 October 1900, William Capes, an Englishman, married Izora and they settled into married life.
Eventually, they had a family of four daughters, with three of the girls having had children.
Izora died on 25 August 1954 in Jacksonville, Cherokee, Texas. Her death certificate named her parents as Frank Williams and Elizabeth Ham! She had a short obituary which included the name of a brother, E.W. Rockett, who apparently is Edward Wilder Rockett.
Edward Wilder Rockett is also MIA in the 1880 census, but on 28 November 1900, he married Ophelia Virginia Friday in Nevada County, Arkansas.
He was born on 26 August 1874 in Bodcaw, Nevada Arkansas and died on 11 February 1956 in Idabel, McCurtain, Oklahoma.
His parents are said to be Oscar Rockett and Mary E. Ham, but no marriage record has been found for them. In 1900 Oscar A. Rockett was living with his brother’s family in Hempstead County and enumerated as single. He died in 1909.
Back to the Smith County, Texas relatives! To conclude, in 1900, we have Sophronia Virginia Murphey, Mary E. Williams and James A. Lackey with extended family members all living near each other in Smith County.
By 1910, James had returned to Arkansas. Neither Sophronia Virginia nor Mary E. Williams has been found after the 1900 census.
So, we now know that Edward Rockett was not a child of Francis Davidson Williams, but that Frank, as he went by, does have descendants through his daughter Izora.
It is also unknown when or where Frank died or when Mary and Izora moved to Texas. My guess is that she might have moved there with James Lackey and the Murpheys as she probably would not have made the trip by herself with a young daughter.
This concludes the family sketches for the children of William and Hepsabeth (Davidson) Williams. They have many descendants today!