The Williams families of Henry County, Tennessee. Williams, E. Ray. Paris, Tenn.. E.Ray. Williams. 1971.

OCCASIONEM COGNOSCE "recognize opportunity."
Seize your opportunity, recognize your opportunity, This is a memo to you: luck is when preparation meets opportunity. No matter how prepared you are, you still need to occasiomem cognosce.
"Y fyno Duw, y fydd;" What God willeth, will be

THE WILLIAMS FAMILIES OF HENRY COUNTY, TENNESSEE - FOREWORD

To begin in the year 1960 to gather from many sources, names, dates, and words and combine them into a family history dating back to the 1700s, gives rise to many problems. 

One's interest in a family history should develop early in life so older people and relatives still living could answer questions concerning his ancestors. This would make the job easier than doing time-consuming research in the Court House, the Archives and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. 

It would have been helpful if the older ones had left a few lines for the younger generation; some did, to be sure, but many did not. There have been many persons in the Williams families of Henry County, Tennessee better qualified, both educationally and financially, to make this search, than the writer. 

This Williams family research has been interesting and at times the writer "lived along with the times." After many, many hours of research to the present date (1971) ,one wonders if a saner person would have started a project such as this. 

The research for this book was done in the Library of Congress and the Archives at Washington, D.C. Also extensive use was made of newspaper articles over a period of years. Most of what is written here about the Williams families are direct comments of the writer, however the census was copied from the original books. 

If the reader will familiarize himself with the system of indexing in this book, the relationship will be easier to follow. The first abbreviation on the top line (Gen) is for generation. The number under that is the generation number from the first known person of this f amity listed. The next heading (Fam) is for family, the number under it is from the first known person T s family. Starting with the eldest child, then his or. her children, his grandchildren, and so on are listed up to the present date or as late as there is a record of them. The second child is then listed and so on. The family numbers stay in sequence, making the line of descent and relationship easier to trace.

Next is born, died, parents, married date (Wed) and then children. Birthplaces of some of the early settlers will be shown if they were not born in Tennessee. 

HISTORY OF THE WILLIAMS FAMILY - CHAPTER I

THE NAME WILLIAMS

Williams is a Welsh word or name and has been in use since about 1,000 A.D. The name in Welsh is "Gwylym." The verb "Gwylis" means to watch. The noun of this verb, "Gurlym", (pronounced William) therefore, means a watcher, a guard, a sentinel. So the name William or Williams literally translates to mean "sentinel."
The name William increased in popularity after William the Conqueror invaded England. He wrote it Wilhelm when he came, later wrote it Pillelm, and still later, Willelm. "Pillelm" was the spelling on the British coins, as "p" had the sound of "w". The Old English spelling, "Wi1" means stout and "helm" is helmet, two german words, meaning "Stout Warrior", almost the same as the Welsh "Sentinel."
"A festival was held in the court of Henry II at which Sir William St. John and Sir William Fitzhamon commanded that none but the name of William should dine in the great chamber with them. They were accompanied by 120 knights, all named William." - From Robert Monlensis - Record Anns - 1173.

William is one of the characters in Shakespeare in King Henry V (Act IV Scene I, 1413-1422). (William Shakespeare's schoolmaster was a Welshman, Thomas Jenkins).

Morgan Ap William was one of the first to use the name Williams. "Ap" meant the son of, so add "s" to William in place of ap and the name becomes Morgan Williams. Morgan of Glomerganshire, Wales was the son of William, son of Evan, son of Thomas, a descendant of Brutus, 1100-B.C. The present line of English kings and queens are from this root. The first King of England was Brulies. (Note.- Some histories differ about this; at times more than one person claimed to be King of England.

Morgan Williams had six sons; Oliver, Robert, Henry, Richard, Philip and Ralph. The second son, Robert, was the greatgrandfather of "Cromwell The Protector", or Oliver Cromwell, whose real name was Oliver Williams. He took the name Cromwell to please his maternal uncle, but in signing his name he always added, alias Williams. Morgan Williams and Katherine Cromwell, age 18, sister of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, were married in a Pulney church in 1494. From this marriage sprang in the fifth generation, the "Protector of England", Oliver Cromwell. He was knighted by King Henry VIII in 1639 and reigned as ruler of England from 1653 until his death in 1658. Although not necessarily an ancestor, Cromwell was connected with the Williams family of Henry County. In some Welsh towns, half the families are named Williams; half of the males are named John. It is next to impossible to trace one's ancestry in Wales if the name is Williams. Many other names there that begin with a "W" are derived from Williams.

"Some of the names in Wales trace their lineage as far back as Adam or Noah and some of the Welsh carry their genealogical tree a little further," according to Historian Edmund Burke.

Sir Watkins Wynn, talking to a friend about the antiquity of his family which he traced to Noah, was told that he was a mere mushroom.

said he, "How so Pray?

"Why," replied the other, "When I was in Wales a pedigree of a particular family was shown to me. It filled about five large skins of parchment, and about the middle of it was a note in the margin: - 'about this time the world was created'." -Burke.

Wales is about 135 miles long from north to south. It is 95 miles wide at the south end, narrows to 35 miles wide in the north and contains about 8,000 square miles. Its population is a few less than 3,000,000. The Welsh language is older than the Greek language and may well be the parent of the Greek language, according to Burke. The Welsh language contains 80,000 words and is the oldest in use today traceable in origin to the sixth century, except perhaps the Chinese.

A Germanic people who with Saxons and Jutes conquered England in the fifth century A.D. From their names came the word England and English, Anglian, the language. A Welshman could read a paper or letter written back in the sixth century. "The language of the Angles, of men and of birds" it is called. - From the Commercial Appeal Magazine in reporting the ceremony of investiture of Charles the Prince of Wales, July 1, 1970.

Some say the written history of England and Wales really began in the fourth century, B.C. when a Greek mathematician named Pytheas came to the southern coast of England. Pytheas brought some ideas to England and he carried some back with him, but the language exchange was believed to have been long before this time.

Caesar tried to land at Deal on the south coast of England in 55 B.C., but was repelled by savage warriors. He returned to Rome, but the next year, 54,B.C., succeeded in bringing England island partly under the rule of Rome. Rome ruled the island for more than four centuries, then left it unprotected because the Gauls were causing them trouble on their north borders. After the Romans left in the fourth century, it was not long before the Gauls or Celts from the mainland of Europe invaded England.

The Celts were the first invaders to stay and mix with the aboriginal people, a short, stocky people of the Iberian type (Spain and Portugal).

About the year 800, invaders were again in England, this time called Danes, Gauls or Brythons, from whom the name Briton was derived. They were called many other names too, but these were not so complimentary. These invaders with light hair were taller and stronger than the first invaders and subsequently pushed the Celts into Wales and Ireland and some into Scotland.

The Welsh, Scots, Irish, and French came from the Celtic branch of the Indo-European family. The Anglo-Saxon, Dutch, German, Danes and Swedes evolved from the Teutonic branch that came from Asia centuries ago. These are the chief members of the white race back to Noah and Adam.

Fifteen tribes lived in Wales at the time of Roderic Maur (Roderis the Great) King or head man of Briton, about A.D. 849. William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, but Wales was not brought under the rule of England until Edward I, about 1290.

King Edward I of England in 1301 proclaimed his son (later to become Edward II) as the first Prince of Wales, keeping a promise made to the Welsh people. The first investiture was held in 1343 at Caernarvon Castle, Wales. This ceremony, of course, is practiced to this date.

Madoc, a Welshman, discovered America before Columbus, according to Encyclopedia Americana. There is a marker on a roadside in southern Alabama, placed there by the Virginia Cavalier Chapter of the D.A.R. "In memory of Prince Madoc, a Welsh explorer who landed on the shores of Mobile Bay in the year 1170 and left behind, with the Indians, the Welsh language." (Who would argue with the D.A.R?). Henry Morgan, another Welsh bucaneer, is said to have sacked Panama City. He lived to be 90 and died while smoking his pipe in his rocking chair.

See: http://www.madoc1170.com  Also http://www.tylwythteg.com/fortmount/Ftmount.html

The short, stocky, dark-skinned Welshman's son you see in America today probably came from these early people of Wales and undoubtedly also has mixed lineage stemming from the first Celtic invasion. Of the many invasions by many different people, it took about 3,000 years of history to form the present stubborn Welsh race and the Williams families.

Up to 1900 there were more graduates from Oxford and Cambridge by the name of Williams than any other name.

CHAPTER II - ENGLISH RULE AND AMERICA

Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was the daughter of Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn. Elizabeth was held in semicaptivity while in school at Woodstock where, under the direction of Roger Ascham, she learned to speak French and Italian as fluently as English, She became an excellent scholar. When her half sister, Mary Tudor, died on November 17, 1558 , Elizabeth was qualified and ready to rule England.

In Elizabeth's time, there were no free elementary schools, but in most towns the young children had schools available where they could learn to read and write. Elizabeth inherited a religious problem, the disagreement between the Pope and her father Henry VIII. She was unable to solve this in her lifetime, but she did avert a civil war and passed some of the problems on to James I.

King James I (1603-1625)had religious difficulties too, including the "Millenary Petition." One of the demands of the petition included having the Bible translated into English. The "King James Version" was first published in 1611 and was warmly welcomed by the Welsh people. They did not believe they would receive other favors or any more freedom as a result of the religious struggle, thinking the next reign would probably bring other religious changes. The ,Welsh began naming their children names from the Bible and began looking for ways to emigrate from Wales to America to an anticipated freer and better life.

Until this time (1600), England had been consolidating her holdings in India and trying to out-trade the Dutch in the East Indies. There had been very little colonization in North America since its discovery. A hundred years passed before England showed very much interest in America. Jamestown, Virginia, was the first permanent English settlement in America (1607). This colony received the first shipload of slaves in 1619. From the time of the land grant from Charles I to Lord Baltimore to settle Maryland as a refuge for oppressed Catholics

(1636), the emigration race to America was on. During the 17th. century twelve of the thirteen original English North American colonies grew up along the Atlantic Coast.

It seems timely to review briefly some English history of those eventful times. The Williams families, through the reign of Henry VII, Henry VIII and Oliver Cromwell were historically important making this era genealogically interesting to the descendants of the Williams family. The review also explains why so many people wanted to emigrate to America.

After Queen Elizabeth I, there were numerous religious, prestige and power struggles. Wars and civil wars were waged all through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There were eleven rulers of England from the time of Elizabeth to the American Revolution - James I, Charles I, Cromwell, Charles II, James II, William and Mary, Anne, George I, II, and III. Oliver Cromwell refused to be crowned king, so he was known as the "Protector." His reign, a military rule, lasted five years (1653-1658. In fact England was a commonwealth (no king) from 1649 to 1660. The reigns of the above include the Tudor, Stewart and Hanover families.

For the first fifteen or twenty years after the founding of Pennsylvania (1682), the Welsh was the largest class of immigrants to that colony. William Penn gave them 40,000 acres of land west of the Schuykill River when they began to arrive. Many of these new colonists were Williams families but there are records of Williams families living in other colonies before this date.

Before being divided into North and South Carolina, the land contained in "The Clarendon Grant" which was given to the Earl of Clarendon, was located between the 31st. and 36th. degrees of the north latitude. In 1665 just over one-half degree was added to the northern boundary and two degrees added to the southern line, both lines running from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Quite a hunk of land!

By 1690 the names of North and South Carolina were in common usage but they did not become distinct colonies until 1727. The church of England was established by decree in these colonies in 1703. By 1750, Presbyterian and Baptist churches were being constituted in North Carolina. They were constituted in Virginia much later. At this time (1750) settlers were flocking to the Atlantic seaboard of the new land. North Carolina was an answer to the Welshman's prayers and fulfilled his dreams.

This could have been near the time the Williams' of Tennessee came to North Carolina. They could have been in the Welsh settlement made in Martin County, North Carolina in 1735, which overflowed into Bertie County, created in 1722, or Edgecome County, created in 1735. They, of course, could have come from some other colony in America. Very few people came to America from 1776 to the time the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783. A few persons in North Carolina remained loyal to the Crown, but most of them were in sympathy with the American Revolution. This was a time (1776-1783) of incomplete records and there were no census records until 1790. This census showed Virginia to be the largest state of the new country with a population of almost 750,000. West Virginia was still a part of Virginia at that time. North Carolina had a population of less than 400,000.

The Sandy Creek Baptist Church in North Carolina is known as the Mother Church of all separate Baptists. It was founded by the Reverend Shubal Stearns in 1775 on Sandy Creek in Randolph County, North 'Carolina. There were many families named Williams in Randolph County, according to the 1790 census.

It was near Orange, Virginia (1788) that John Leland, a crusading Baptist minister, sat down with James Madison, later to be President of the United States, and worked out the First Amendment to the Constitution which reads in part;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of relig' ion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." John Leland had migrated to Virginia from Graf ton, Massachusetts, which i s near Salem Hall, site of the hanging of the witches. He knew how Baptist Roger Williams had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony and how some Quakers had been hanged on Boston Common because they sought to worship in their own way. They were hanged and banished by the Puritans who had come to New England to seek religious freedom but failed to grant it to others.

John Leland's marriage to Sally Devine was never officially recognized in Massachusetts because it was performed by a Baptist preacher. If he had moved to Connecticut he could not have been sure of owning property because the controlling Congregational Church sometimes seized the property of a non-Congregationalist.

In Virginia, the. Episcopal Church, then the state church, was not as fanatical, though it did ban Quakers and would not permit Baptist and other religious groups to conduct services. Virginia taxes, however, were collected for one state church and no preacher could preach without a state license. Before John Leland arrived in Virginia, another Baptist, John Ireland, had been horse-whipped, jailed, pulled from the pulpit, ducked in ponds and driven out of the town of Orange, Virginia. John Leland, a huge man, fared much better. Thomas Jefferson wrote a provision in 1785 which was passed into law by the Virginia General Assembly giving complete religious freedom in the state.

CHAPTER III - WILLIAMS FAMILIES IN THE COLONIES

Thomas Williams who came to this country on the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth in the year 1620, is probably the first person of that name to arrive in America. He was a signer of the Cape Cod Compact -- (Name History )

Robert Williams of Roxbury, Massachusetts, born in Norwick, England in 1593, is said to be the forefather of many Williams families of New England. He and his family came to America in 1637. There is no clear record of his descendants having migrated into the states of Virginia and North Carolina, but his descendants are traceable into New York and Pennsylvania.    Robert had four sons, Samuel, Isaac, Stephen and Thomas. Thomas died young, having no family of his own. Robert Williams lived at the same time and geographically near Roger Williams, although the record does not show any relationship. They were very closely associated, however.

William Williams of Connecticut, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was the fourth generation from Robert Williams.

Roger Williams was born in 1599, the son of James Williams, and was baptised July 24, 1600. He was educated at Oxford and Cambridge Universities in England and married to Mary Warnard. They came to America in 1631 on the ship "Lyon." He was known as Roger Williams of Rhode Island. He and Oliver Cromwell were born the same year and were friends, if not relatives. Roger had three sons and two daughters. To the first son there was no issue; the second son (2)- Daniel, was born February 1641.   (2)- Daniel's family is interwoven with the Spencer and Randall families. There is no record of the sons of (2) Daniel. (2) Joseph, the youngest child of Roger, was born December 12, 1643. (2) Joseph Williams married Lydia Olney on December 12,1669. (3) Joseph Junior was born September 26, 1670 and died young.
(3) Thomas, born February 16, 1672; died August 1724. (3) Thomas first married Mary Blackmar; his second wife was Hannah Sprague. The son of Thomas, (4) Joseph, was married to Mercy Carpenter, February, 1721. They both died in 1750. (4) Joseph and Mercy Carpenter Williams' son (5) John was born in 1729 and died in 1813; the only record of  (5) John. (5) Thomas Williams was born on July 5, 1731 and became a minister. Reverend Williams was married to Mary Williams who was born February 22, 1734. Mary Williams' family is unknown to this writer. (5) Christopher was born December 1732; died February 1, 1806. The sons of Reverend Thomas Williams and his wife Mary, were (6) Benjamin, born November 16, 1755; and (6) Abraham, born March 21, 1757.

The above was taken from the book Williams and Murphy Records  by Robert Murphy Williams, Library of Congress. 1947. The record does not show that any of Roger Williams' descendants came to North Carolina. Neither do any of the records examined show connection with the Henry County, Tennessee families under examination.

(1) John Williams was born approximately 1620 in the town of Glamorganshire, Wales. He subscribed fifty pounds to Cromwell's army; and was granted land in Ireland on September 26, 1653 for his part in the invasion. The land, called "The Groves," was near the town of Monaghan.

(2) John Williams, a hat or felt maker, was buried in the Tyholland Church yard about two miles from the Groves. He was born in 1653 and died on February 14, 1723.

(3) John Williams, born 1675, was 15 years old at the time of the Irish Revolution in 1690 and lived to be 75 years old, dying in 1750. (Samuel Williams record). John had nine children, five daughters and four sons. The sons were Henry, John, Matthews and William. Henry and William immigrated to America some time before 1750, settled in Virginia remained loyal to the crown of England at the time of the American Revolution, and had all their property consficated by the United States. (Cited by John Flecher Williams in the book The Groves and Lappan - Library of Congress). No further record was found on Henry and William Williams.

Many of the Tories in the south or west during the Revolution went further west. However, from the states some 25,000 of them were shipped to Nova Scotia, Canada. Only one Tory of Revolutionary days from North Carolina has been identified as a settler in West Tennessee. He died in Lauderdale County, name unknown.

CHAPTER IV - WILLIAMS FAMILIES IN VIRGINIA AND NORTH CAROLINA

The Isle of Wight County, Virginia, was created in 1634. Later in 1749, Southampton County was created from part of Isle of Wight and part of Nansemond Counties. Earlier Brunswick County (1720-1732) was made up of a part of Isle of Wight County -- so the early land grants of Isle of Wight County could have been in any of these counties.

Bertie County, North Carolina, was created in 1722 from the counties of Chowan and Bath. Chowan was the first county in this section of North Carolina. It was formed in 1670. The county included many of the present counties.    Bath County was discontinued in 1739.

What is now Edgecomb, Northampton, Halifax and part of Martin and Hertford counties were a part of Bertie County when it was created in 1722, - so the land grants could have been anywhere in the northeast part of North Carolina and registered in Windsor, the county seat of Bertie County.

In the 1700s, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, and Bertie County, North Carolina, came together for many miles along the state line as do Henry County, Tennessee and Galloway County, Kentucky today. It was easy for people in Isle of Wight, Virginia, to apply for land grants in North Carolina.

Over three hundred land grants were issued and dated prior to 1667 in the name of Williams, and "John" as a first name composed about one--fourth of these. Most of these grants were south of the Black Water Swamp.

In 1665 when the one-half degree, or more, North was added to "The Glarendon Grant" (over 35 land miles), a great number of families from Virginia were gerrymandered overnight to North Carolina. Many of those becoming "instant" North Carolineans were Williams families. Black Water Swamp was partly within the one~half degree which was added to North Carolina in 1665. Part of Black Water Swamp was later known as Williams Swamp. Dismal Swamp is a short distance to the north and east in Virginia. In and around this part of the United States, is the early home of the Williams families who later came to Tennessee

As a rule these families were large. There were interconnections between them and families in Wales, which accounts for the continued immigration into this section of this country from Wales.

John Williams came to Isle of Wight County, Virginia from Wales in 1638. On September 29, 1645, John received 250 acres of land in Warwick County (across the James River from Isle of Wight County), and on. August 30, 1647, 150 acres more in the same county.

Obed Williams, on May 6 1645, received 440 acres in York County, adjoining Warwick County and on April 10, 1703 Nicholas Williams paid William Williams 5000 pounds of tobacco for 110 acres of land on the south side of Black Water Swamp, adjoining John Williams.

Of this family, Nicholas was the son of John and the father of Benjamin Williams, Sr. Benjamin, Jr., Ann, Mary and James were the children of Benjamin Sr., and his wife, Nicola.   Uz Williams, son of Benjamin Williams, Jr., dated his will December 8, 1778. Jesse was also the son of Benjamin, Jr. and made his will on September 27,1773. In it Jesse named his wife, Ann, and sons, Lot and Hill, giving them 100 acres each. He also named his daughters, Sarah, Ester, and Hannah in his will. All of this land was around Black Water Swamp.

(1) Nicholas Williams and wife made deeds to their children, William,    (2) Nicholas, Jacob, Jonah, Lazrus, Richard, Benjamin, Patience, Mary, and Sarah, in the year 1744. Jonah died in 1770, in Southampton County, North Carolina. Jonah's children were Martha, Jacob, Celia, Wilson and Jesse. Wilson died in Halifax County, North Carolina in 1771. Jessee died in Halifax County, North Carolina in 1795. (Ref: Deed Book 6, Page 382 - Isle of Wight County, Virginia).
(2) Nicholas Williams, died in 1791 in Southampton County, Virginia. His children were Cowper, John, Martha, Ann, (2) Mary, Elizabeth, Lucy, and Elias. Elias died in 1789 in Southampton County, Virginia. John who was known as Maj. John Williams, died in 1791 in Halifax County, North Carolina.
Robert Williams emigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania in 1720, and came to North Carolina about 1730. Robert was married four times and lived to be one hundred and five years old at his place on Tar River in Edgecombe County, North Carolina.    (1) Robert had a grandson named (21 Robert, who was a doctor and served as a surgeon throughout the Revolutionary War. Dr. (2) Robert Williams was born August 25, 1758 and died October 18, 1840.

Deed Book No. 3, Edgecomb County, North Carolina, shows the following facts:There was a land grant to
(1) William Williams by patent, dated July 11, 1739 and a land grant to John Williams by patent on January 6, 1762. This land was located on Tar River, Swift Creek and Crooked Creek.
(2) William Williams sold to James Dillard (both of Edgecombe County) on January 10, 1775, 120 acres on the North side of Tar River, for 30 pds. This land adjoined that of Emery Davis, William Bell, and Culmore Sessums, it being part of a tract of 450 acres granted to John Williams by patent on January 6, 1762. From John Williams, it decended to (2) William Williams as lawful heir. Wit: Joseph Dillard, Uriah Williams and Samson Dillard. (2) William sold Richard Strother fifty acres for 23 pds, on July 25, 1774. (2) William Williams and wife, Mary sold Uriah Williams 300 acres, Sept 15, 1774, for 12 pds. (Seemed to be their son). (2) William Williams sold to Jacob Fort, a parcel of one acre on the north bank of Tar River, including a fishing place, for 30 pds. (2) William Williams sold to David Smith 192-1/2 acres on the south bank of Moore's Swamp for 100 pds. on September 6, 1777. (2) William sold Moses Moore one hundred acres for 55 pds. on February 23, 1778. (2) William and wife, Mary sold to Robert Pitt, on October 27, 1779, 150 acres of land and the old home place, for 1,500.0 pds. current money. Joseph Dillard Married a daughter of (2) William Williams. The Dillard land of 100 acres was his wife's "dower". Wit: by Uriah and John Williams.

William sold to a Mr. Aaron, on November 25, 1780, a tract of 50 acres for 1000 pds. On December 26, 1783, (2) William Williams sold Uriah Williams a tract of 150 acres for 100 pds.

By February 1, 1785 Mary was a widow.

John Vander Williams came from this section of North Carolina. He named his first--born son Dillard Robert. It is known that John's family was close to the Dillard families of this part of North Carolina and it is believed that his mother was a Dillard and his father was named Robert.

In the 1790 census, this section of North Carolina had almost all of the Wimberly families to be found in North Carolina as well as most of the Williams families of that state. These families are found together in Kentucky and on into Tennessee.

CHAPTER V - TENNESSEE

Daniel Boon was in the territory now known as Tennessee as early as 1760s. When the first settlement in east Tennessee (1768) was being formed, William Bean of Virginia was living in a log cabin on the land that was later Tennessee.

The Watauga Association in Tennessee (1769-1777) was the first to establish a government on the continent absolutely free of religious test, class distinction or a kingly dictation. North Carolina was settled by the freest of the free. The Watauga people were from North Carolina and Virginia. They received their mandate to settle Tennessee from Wake County, North Carolina on May 19, 1775.

At the battle of "Kings Mountain" on the state line of North and South Carolina October 7, 1780 where British Commander Ferguson was forced to surrender, more than half of the Revolutionary forces who fought against the British were Tennesseeans. They fought with their "Deekhard" rifles. A Compact of Government was formed at Nashbourgh (Nashville) in 1780. (This was the State of Franklin from 1784 to 1788.)  Of the 256 persons who signed this "Compact," only one person made his mark Cx).

North Carolina ceded Tennessee to the United States government in 1790. The population in 1795 was listed as 60,000. The State of Tennessee was admitted to the Union on June 1, 1796.

There is a great deal of history recorded in the settlement of Tennessee. The three sections of the State were settled in a different time.. John Sevier had to fight the Indians many times, so the rifle was the most important piece of equipment in settling East Tennessee. In Middle Tennessee the Indians were always a threat with their sneak attacks. James Robertson was the untiring leader who helped settle Middle Tennessee with the rifle and the ax.

In West Tennessee, settlement was made with the ax and plow; the rifle was used for game. West Tennessee was known to the Indians as No Man's Land and they used it as a place to hunt. Just south of where Paris is today, the Indians periodically would burn off large areas to keep the land growing grass like a prairie so the deer would graze there, making the hunting easier.

Henry Rutherford was hired by the state of North Carolina to make a survey of West Tennessee. One historian said that Rutherford came down the Cumberland River to a point in Stewart County, crossed overland to the Tennessee River, then went across the river to West Tennessee. In West Tennessee Rutherford organized his surveying party and they walked to the mouth of the Forked Deer River in 1789. (Ref: History of Tennessee by G. R. McGee).

There is another account of Henry Rutherford, son of General Griffith Rutherford, travelling with Edward Harris and Isaac Roberts. They left Nashville by canoe in 1785, went down the Cumberland River to the Ohio River, down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River, then down the Mississippi River to a small river emptying into the Mississippi from the East.  The Indians called this small river "Okeena." at its mouth the party killed a deer with horns of a peculiar shape, so they called the river "Forked Deer," the name it still bears. A place that Rutherford called "Key's Corner" West Tennessee, was surveyed from this point and was marked by Rutherford in 1789. (Ref: Beginning of West Tennessee by Samuel Cole Williams) Note: Rutherford probably made two different trips, or more.

Isaac Shelby and Andrew Jackson, with the Indian Chiefs of this territory, on October 19, 1818, made the treaty of West Tennesse and West Kentucky, sometimes called "Jackson's Purchase."  The thirtyfifth degree of north latitude, the Tennessee south boundary, was enlarged west to the Mississippi River, north to the Ohio River, east to the Tennessee River, south to the beginning. Payment to the Indians for the new territory included a reservation of four square miles and a salt lick near Big Sandy River in Henry County, the area now known as the Sulphur Well. (see page 102). James Monroe was President at this time.

Squatters had been coming into West Tennessee since 1800. James Williams was recorded at Manleyville, Tennessee, in 1819, from Stewart County, Tennessee. The first white person born in Shelby County was John W. Williams in 1822.    There is a record of a person named Trousdale being born in Henry County, Tennessee in 1817. - "The Trousdale for Truesdell) Genealogy" by General Karl Truesdell - Library of Congress, 1960 -C-S71 - T868.   Immigration to West Tennessee in 1825 exceeded any other year.

CHAPTER VI - OTHER WILLIAMS FAMILIES

This chapter contains names, dates and places secured from a number of different sources.

George Williams was in Bertie County, North Carolina in 1738. George Williams daughter married Abner Andrews. This is the lineage from whom the Bell Witch of Tennessee issued and became famous in Andrew Jackson's time.

(1) John Williams and wife, Mary, came to Edgecomb County, North Carolina about 1745, from Hanover County, Virginia. (2) John was the oldest son of John and Mary Williams, having been born in Virginia in 1732. (2) John first intended to be a carpenter but later changed to the study of law and was Attorney General at Hillsboro, North Carolina in 1768. (.Ashe-North Carolina History)

General Otho Williams was born in Prince George County Maryland. George Washington said, "Otho Williams is the noblest looking General in the Revolutionary Army." (Rev. William Asbury Williams - a Methodist his book -   Early Williams of America - 1916.

(1) Nathaniel Williams of Rockingham County, North Carolina had two sons, (2) Robert and (2) Maraduke. While (2) Robert was in the Congress in the early 1800's, he was appointed Governor of the territory of Mississippi by President Jefferson, which may account for some of the Williams families in Mississippi and Alabama. (1) Nathaniel had a brother named John Williams, who was a United States Senator from Tennessee. John was defeated by Andrew Jackson in 1822. (Samuel Cole Williams in his book    Beginning of West Tennessee 1841.)

(1) David Williams was married to Mary Malsby on November 30, 1704 in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. His son (2) Jonathan was born in 1710. (2) Jonathan and Mary Williams, his wife, lived in Frederick County, Maryland. (3) David was born to Jonathan and Mary on January 24, 1742.
(2)- Jonathan and nary Wi l1iaais { with- they children (31: David and Saxah- and i3re othex. families, moved from Maryland to fifty miles inside North Carolina, This area included the present Caswel1, Person, Alamance, Chatham and Orange Counties withh parts of Rockingham,Guilford, Randolph, Lee, Wake and Durham. Their main reason for leaving Maryland was because German immigrants were coming into Frederick County, Maryland in large numbers. Frederick township had been named for Frederick the Great and the six families were strong Quakers.
(3). David married Tabitha Hardin in Cheatham County, North Carolina in 1774.
A Quaker Church, the Cane Creek Meeting House, was built in 1751 at Snow Camp in what is now Southern Alamance County, North Carolina, (Orange County at that date.) There were many religious ups and downs with some members being de'-churched and some reinstated. The church ruling body was the law and authority in this new church settlement.The record does not show any relationship between (3) David Williams and Azariah Williams, who was already settled on the Tennessee River in Blount County, Tennessee at a settlement called Friendville, but he joined (3) David and his wife, Tabitha and their eleven children, (4) David, Jr., Nathan, Zadoc, Benajah, Gabrial, Soloman, Dorcas, Susanna, Hanna, Martha and Margaret - fourteen in all - and they made their way into Tennessee from Yadkin County, North Carolina, over the pass, north of Grandfatherts Mountain about 1790. They came upon a tributary of the Holston River, known as Lost Creek,' at a point east of the present city of Elizabethton, Tennessee. Following the Holston to its junction with the French Broad River, where the Tennessee River begins, they then proceeded down the Tennessee River to a point twenty miles southwest of the village of Knoxville. It took this family of fourteen two months to make the trip to Friendville, Tennessee.

This particular Williams family moved on west into Indiana near Fort Wayne in 1818. Some of the children went further west. Indiana had become a state in 1816. The dates of admittance into the Union of the different states account for some of the migrating from one state to another. The information in the preceeding paragraphs is taken from: Hinshawts Encyclopedia of Quaker Genealogy Society of Friends, Guliford College, North Carolina; and Colonial Families of United States. Vol. VII and Vol. XXVII, North Carolina Records.

    (1) Sir Richard Williams was sixteen years old when he first came to America in 1632 from England. (1) Richard had one son (2) George, who had a son named (3) Richard. The record shows that (1) Sir Richard returned to the Island of Barbadoes, British West Indies, where he lived and died. Re owned large land holdings there. George had land in Prince George County, Maryland.

(3). Richard Williams was married to Prudence Beals at Monocacy, Prince George County, Maryland, October 11, 1746. They moved to Guilford County, North Carolina in 1750. Greensboro is the County seat of Guilford County. (2) Richard and Prudence Williams had a family of twelve children. The following:

(3) Richard Williams, father of these twelve children, died May 5, 17 81. One of (2) Richard's sons was married three times, had fifteen children and lived to be 98 years old. (From the genealogy of Chenoweth, published 1894. These families (Chenoweth), were connected with the Williams families in England, Wales, New England, North Carolina and other places.)

The families became so large that the creek bottom farms soon were too crowded to sustain men who wanted land of their own. At this time in America land was still plentiful, just for the taking.

Many ships filled with immigrants passed by the way of Barbados, British West Indies, on their way to America from England. The trade winds and the gulf stream helped the sailing ships to use this route and they also had the protection of the British Navy by coming this way. Most ships put in at Virginia harbors, since North Carolina had very few good natural harbors for sailing ships. From Virginia many of the immigrants would go south into North Carolina.

Some of the early Williams who came by Barbados were John, sixteen years old, and Davie Williams, seventeen, who came on the ship "AnnElizabeth" in 1635. Thomas, eighteen, and Anto Williams, fourteen, came on the "Martin of London" May 21, 1635. Lewis, twenty-one and Owen Williams, eighteen, came on the "Alexander" on May 2, 1665. Robert Williams, forty-four, and Roger, sixteen, came in June, 1635. Robert had a land grant in Kent County, Maryland. His will was recorded in 1681.

Another Robert Williams, son of Edward, was born in Ruthin, Wales on April 29, 17 9 0 . Robert's first wife, was Elizabeth Dearman ; his second wife was Ann Shoebridge, daughter of Richard and Martha Bell Shoebridge. She was twenty-six years old when she married Robert Willjams. She lived to be ninety-seven years old.

The following is part of a family which moved from North Carolina to Ohio when Ohio was made a state. A few generations later some of the family moved to St. Louis, Missouri. (11 Edward Williams had a son (21 Robert, born in Wales in 1723. Robert's son (.3) Richard was born in Carteret County, North Carolina Nov. 28, 1770. Richard had a son named (4) Robert, (4) Robert had a son named (5) Samuel; Samuel had a son named (6) Robert, and Robert (6) had a son named (7) Milton F. (Milton Franklin Williams, this son of (6) Robert Williams, wrote a book of genealogy about his family in 1921.) His hammer mill equipment business was still in operation in St. Louis in the 1940s.

From the record of old wills at Annapolis, Maryland: Year   All in Maryland County

This many men with large families would make an enormous number of people with the Williams name in the province of Maryland alone. Only a few men had wills in these years before the Revolutionary War.

The Williams and Wallace families settled in a beautiful valley along Caney Fork River in White County, Tennesee. This vally, named Hickory, was four to five miles wide and six miles long. James Tate Williams came in 1786, but after the Civil War descendants of the James Tate Williams family moved to Texas. (From a book by James Vincent Williams written in 1905 - His information - Maryland, North Carolina, Sparta, Tennessee.

(Generation (1) Seth Williams was born in Wales in the middle 1700s. He had four sons, Miles, (2) Benjamin, William, and James. Miles was born in Martin County, North Carolina in 1779 and came to Stewart County, Tennessee in 1813. He married Frances Rannel. Their children were Williamson, Billie, Harrison (3) Benjamin, Susan and Mariah. Williamson married Agnes Ross in 1837. Their children were (4) Benjamin, Rufus, William Dudly, born in 1843, and Mary Frances 18451928) Arabella Josephine (1848-1880) Martin Agnes (1850-1926, Aliza Jane (1852-1860,) Nathan Miles (1855-1912, Ruben Bruce (1857) and James Madison Williams born in 1860. (From a book by James Madison Williams - Williams and Ross Families of Stewart County, Tennessee, from Sept. 1935; Paris Post Intelligenser