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The Williams Family History

 

 

Photo 4 Back L/R: William Hiram (Bill), James Amos, Oscar Lee Mannon; 2nd Row: Cora Belle, George Emanuel, Rolland Thomas, Minnie Alice, Francis Alice (Raines), Mary Ann;Front Row L/W: Harriet Lou, Martha May, Charity Ellen. Three more children were added to this family by 1909: Florence Manerva, Robert Ernest, and Lee Edward.

 

 

The Early Beginnings of The Williams Family

Research, notes, and photos by Joyce (Williams) Miles
Compilation and editing by Lois (Williams) Gates
Excerpts and pictures from “History of the Williams Family” used here with permission of author
Click here to Order“The Williams Family History”

The family name of “Williams” came about as a gradual development of spoken language over a period of years. The name William is an English-sounding name…because it was actually derived from in and around that region many centuries ago. When an -s is added at the end, it most often indicates Welsh ancestry; putting -son after it designates Irish descent. Thus, Williams is more likely to be Welsh than Williamson. The name Williams is an English surname the Welsh claimed as a family name.

The original Williams ancestors were Celts. They tended to be light-skinned, fair-haired people, though many had darker colored hair and complexion. They were a people admired for their quiet determination. They were the first to invade 5th Century England and conquer Cambria (now known as Wales). The ancient Celts were a courageous, warlike, and hardy people. They valued their freedom and fought many conflicts with intruders to retain their independence and their newly acquired territory. Parts of Wales were finally conquered, but the Celts (Britons) who had fled westward into the mountainous region of Cambria, kept their independence for hundreds of years. They occupied most of the island that is England and Wales.

In 1071, William the Conqueror declared himself lord of Wales. The proud Welsh succumbed, but struggled against English rule in order to keep their land. William would give the land of those who resisted him to his followers to hold in support for their military service. But, more often than not, the Welsh fought for independence. In the 1200’s, a Welsh prince, Llewelyn Griffith won control of much of the country and King Henry III of England recognized him as Prince of Wales. His reign lasted almost two decades. In 1295, Edward I brought Wales under English control. In 1301, he gave his son, Edward II the title of “Prince of Wales” who had been born in Wales. (He was the first English Prince of Wales.) By 1307, Edward II had become King. Edward IV became King in 1461. After many years of revolt against English rule, a Welshman named Owen Tudor and wife Catherine came to the English Throne in 1485. Their grandson, Henry Tudor, became King Henry VII. He married the heiress of the House of York, uniting the two families.

The proud Welsh people slowly, but finally, accepted the idea of union with England. In 1536, King Henry VIII united Wales with England and decreed that the same laws would govern both countries. After 1536, the history of Wales and its people was inter-mingled with England and Great Britain.

In 1553, Mary inherited the throne and established Roman Catholicism as the state religion. When Mary died in 1558, her half sister, Elizabeth came to throne and reestablished the Church of England. About this time (1600), more and more English ships crossed the oceans to distant lands. Trading companies and explorations were set up.

King James VI of Scotland was the heir to the throne when Elizabeth I died. He became James I of England in 1603. He strongly believed in his divine right to rule. He was intolerant of Protestant dissenters. The Puritans, as these dissenters were called, founded the first English settlement in the new land (America) by establishing a colony at Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1607 near the mouth of the James River in what is today the state of Virginia. They named it Jamestown in honor of James I of England. (The King James Version of the Bible was translated and published in 1611 during his reign.) By 1619, free colonists had been granted land of their own and the settlement was becoming self-supporting, growing tobacco for export. In a few years, more settlements were founded up and down the east coast.

During the mid-1700’s, colonists (English, Scottish, Irish, and Welsh) who had earlier settled in Pennsylvania and Virginia began to move south into the interior of South Carolina and into the western part of North Carolina (now east Tennessee). In 1775, land speculators bought a large area of land from the Cherokees who lived in the western part of North Carolina. Daniel Boone blazed a trail from Virginia across the mountains at Cumberland Gap to open this land to settlement. His trail, the famous “Wilderness Trail” became the chief route to the new settlement. These pioneers, or colonists, were enjoying their choice of worship and their new sense of freedom.

Great Britain tried to limit every freedom worshipped by the colonists; taxation without representation was “the straw that broke the camel’s back” so to speak. The resistance of the American colonists soon led to the Revolutionary War. By 1781, these American patriots defeated the British and within two years drove them out of the new land. The pioneering efforts of the patriots to settle in the colonies were to continue.

The westward movement placed many hardships upon our forbearers. The thick forest had to be hacked through by cutting out underbrush and clearing for a road. Small streams were crossed by way of log bridges built across them and rafts carried the people across larger streams. The adventurous life was full of danger from hostile Indians and wild animals. There were few comforts of any kind for the early frontiersmen.

JOHN & MARY WILLIAMS

The Tennessee River rises in the eastern part of the state and flows south nearly 150 miles into Alabama. By the early 1800’s, many early settlers had begun to migrate into the State of Alabama which was once the home and range of the Five Civilized Tribes. On December 14, 1819, Alabama became the 22nd state of the Union.

It was about four years after Alabama declared statehood that John Williams was born (1823). His parents were descendants of early Welsh settlers from Great Britain who had settled in Virginia in the 1700’s. We catch up to John, however, with the June 1860 U. S. Census in White Plains Township, Alabama.

Census: June 1860 White Plains Township, Alabama

John 38 AL 1823 VA VA

Amanda 35 AL 1825 VA VA

Married at 17 years old in 1841

Children (6):

Lucy J. 18 AL 1842

Nancy 16 AL 1844

Samuel C. (Calvin) 14 AL 1846 Was possibly killed in war of 1864

James 12 AL 1848 (Old Uncle Jim) Was married to Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) by 1869 and lived in Cedar Valley on Long Creek until 1875 or 1876; lived in Bee Creek & Cedar Creek areas until 1880; then, moved back to Cedar Valley in 1881. By 1882, taxes were paid by the Cornett’s who claimed the farm.

John and Amanda had been married twenty years when she died an early death sometime in 1861. John remarried by 1862 to a 32-year-old woman named Mary. They farmed for a time in Alabama but soon headed west of the Mississippi for unknown territory. They settled in Boone County, Arkansas.

Boone County, Arkansas had once been home to the Quapaw and Caddo Indians. In the 1770’s, most of their camps were along the mighty White River. The Spaniards were the first white men to come to Boone County, Arkansas. Then, Frenchmen came about a century later, followed by settlers looking for farmland and a place to raise their families. Some of these early pioneers were traders, trappers, and hunters.

In the early 1800’s, the Osage Indians moved into the area that comprises North Arkansas. There were several large Osage villages in present day Boone County. One such village was on the White River at the mouth of Bear Creek. After the Osage Indians got used to calling this land “home”, the United States government moved the Cherokees into this area and did not set a boundary between the two tribes. They pillaged each other’s villages and, before long, these two tribes were at war.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, English-speaking whites moved by boat up the White River to put down some roots. They didn’t seem to mind that the two warring tribes were a stone’s throw down the river. They went about their business of building log houses and filling their smokehouses with buffalo and bear meat.

These first mountaineers built simple one- or two-room log cabins, most of which had only dirt floors. Doors and windows were mostly hung on leather hinges. In almost every case, the families were large and the children slept four or five to the bed, which was usually a shuck tick covered with rough quilts and bearskins. The only heat came from the fireplace, which also served to do the family cooking. A single iron pot hanging on a crane was used for cooking, heating water, washing clothes, and making soap. At night, the pioneer cabins were lighted by crude lamps made from homemade wicks stuck in gourds filled with grease or bear oil.

Practically all homes had one or more gourd dippers made from its dried shell. These shells were also used to hold grease, sugar, or honey. Above the pioneer’s door hung a Kentucky rifle or musket and shot pouch or powder horn. These were the most important implements in the household. The dense woodlands abundantly supplied every kind of wild game known to the area. Much time was spent in hunting, and generally there was meat on the table. The early settler did some noodling for fish (diving under water and catching fish with their hands). They also did some netting (catching fish with simple homemade nets). Many of the more skilled “archers” would resort to shooting fish with a bow and arrow.

Distilling their own liquor was an art that many early settlers brought with them. They had the common belief that it was a God-given right that every man be able to make his own whiskey…and drink his own whiskey. It was a sure bet that a jug would be passed around at special occasions like log-raisings and gatherings at someone’s home for fiddling and dancing.

By the time John and Mary arrived in Boone County, Arkansas, the average mountaineer had several acres cleared and could see the home of his dreams taking form on the land he had cleared from the wilderness. The hill people’s main goal was to be left alone to clear and farm their land, but threats of war were becoming a reality. Groups of men within certain areas started to meet and organize military companies by electing officers.

The people of Arkansas were actually fighting two wars: one an open, declared war, the other a conflict with an unseen army that crept from hiding when the regular troops were absent. These hidden enemies were bushwhackers, or jayhawkers, who seemed to have no alliance with either North or South.

The war changed the prosperity of the hill people. People were forced to sustain life by resorting to the most primitive means. Wild game was the only meat available and, since firearms were dreadfully scarce until the troops came home, it was next to impossible to kill an adequate supply of large game. Wild honey was an excellent source of sugar, and sassafras tea took the place of coffee during the winter months. During the rest of the year, roasted barley or parched sweet potato peelings were brewed as a substitute for coffee.

If you were born during the war, the country was wild and lawless. Rolland Thomas Williams was born right smack dab in the middle of the Civil War. He was born in Boone County, Arkansas on May 28, 1863. (He is also referred to as Roe T. or Roley throughout this book.)

When Roley was just one year old, the family loaded the wagon and headed out again. They hadn’t let any grass grow under their feet…they were in Boone County, Arkansas less than two years. They were, no doubt, in search of a safer and more peaceful and abiding existence - an escape, perhaps, from the ravages of war. Their destination most likely was not Taney County due to the historical accounts of the destruction in, around, and beyond the Ozark hills. It seemed they, just like everyone else, could not escape the destruction so prevalent at that time in history. They were not aware of the devastation in Taney County, Missouri until they arrived and looked upon the burned out farms and saw the faces of the displaced families. The county was nearly depopulated by the end of the war.

A decade prior to the Civil War, however, much progress had been made in Taney County and the upper White River valley. New roads were opened through the wilderness and farmstead improvements were commonplace. One man, Harrison Snapp, played an important role in the development and progress of Taney County. He had settled in Forsyth, Missouri in 1839 and invested heavily in land and was soon one of the wealthiest men in the area. He was a well-educated man with a patriotic spirit.

The Snapp family contributed much to community advancement and improvement, even having a cemetery named in their honor. Many of our ancestors are buried in the Snapp Cemetery in Forsyth, Taney County, Missouri. Among them, of course, is Roley T. Williams who wasn’t even born when Harrison Snapp played such a powerful and influential role in the mid 1850’s and 1860’s.

There was enormous interest in obtaining steamboat navigation on upper White River. It was the hope and the talk of almost everyone in the region. The persuasiveness of the people in that area convinced the Missouri Legislature to appropriate funds from the state treasury in 1851 for improvement to White River above the Arkansas border. An expression of this interest resulted in the official seal of Taney County bearing the imprint of a steamboat.

In June 1852, the steamboat, Yohogony, was the first to battle the rugged shoals and treacherous currents as far up the river as Forsyth. Commerce on upper White River grew to new heights. Dubuque, AR, a village located on White River about two miles below the Missouri-Arkansas state line, was of much interest to the people of Taney County because it was the upper limit of steamboat travel at times when the river was too low for the steamers to reach Forsyth.

By 1854, the Yellville mail route ran from Yellville, AR via Lead Hill and Dubuque to Forsyth, a distance of 60 miles and back, once a week. By 1855, postal services were being improved and commerce on White River was expanding, with steamboats occasionally coming as far upstream as Forsyth.

With the commerce on White River and the ever-increasing number of people moving in, not only were efficient steamboats and mail runs needed, but also a new and larger courthouse was deemed necessary to meet the demand of a growing population and an expanding economy. The log courthouse had become outmoded and inadequate. A new three-story “brick” courthouse was constructed in Forsyth, using bricks manufactured locally. It was reportedly one of the finest buildings in the White River region.

Despite progress being made, there were rumblings of war. In General, the people of the Ozark region did not support either the North or the South. In the presidential election, they looked with disfavor on Abraham Lincoln, his policies, and the new Republican Party. Secession began soon after Lincoln was elected to the presidency. On December 20, 1860, South Carolina seceded from the Union, and within six months ten southern states had also seceded. Missouri Legislature held a special session to decide what stand they would take on the secession movement. They hoped to remain neutral and try to influence a compromise between the North and the South.

While the people of Missouri and Arkansas were trying to remain neutral, the president issued a call for 75,000 troops to suppress the Rebellion. Each state was asked for a quota of men. This was painful for both states. They did not want to break ties with the Union, nor did they relish the idea of fighting against their neighbors and kinsmen east of the Mississippi River. On May 6, 1861, a last ditch effort by the hill counties of Northwest Arkansas to keep Arkansas in the Union failed. The vote of the delegation took Arkansas out of the Union.

Regardless of their sympathies toward the South, the people of Taney County and the White River region were loyal Americans and held deep respect for the Union. Missouri was torn by turmoil and strife; it was a divided state in a divided nation.

The Civil War was not long in coming. The First Battle of Bull Run, the first major conflict of the Rebellion, was fought on July 21, 1861. The very next day, July 22, 1861, Union and Confederate forces were engaged in combat at Forsyth, Missouri.

The Confederates seized control of Forsyth and the courthouse, which was used for their headquarters and storage for supplies. Union troops fired upon the courthouse, which left large, gaping holes in the structure. After the Union’s defeat at the Battle of Wilson Creek, the Confederates again occupied the courthouse. On April 10, 1862, the Federals set fire to the town to make sure their fortifications didn’t fall into enemy hands. All that remained was the burned out walls of the still-new brick courthouse (only 12 years old). Taney County’s seat of justice had been reduced to ashes.

The civil strife was slowly coming to a close but reconstruction had not yet begun. In 1862, the U. S. Congress enacted The Homestead Act that guaranteed 160 acres of land to the head of every family. This news reached John and Mary Williams. They would become part of the resultant inflow of people into Taney County and the Ozark region. The free land had definitely been a deciding factor for them settling down in the Taney County region. John and Mary, the younger children of John and Amanda (James-16, the other sibling-13, and Martha-10), and little Roley (one year old) arrived in the spring of 1864 in the southwestern part of Taney County, Missouri on Long Creek. They actually fled from one war-ravaged place to another.

The great burnt district of the Missouri-Arkansas border extended from Ripley County westward to Indian Territory and from Greene County, Missouri to Van Buren County, Arkansas. Taney County lay in the heart of the great burnt district.

The few who had remained in the upper White River country during the latter years of the war had also suffered at the hands of one side or the other and often both. They had often secreted themselves in the brush and caves to elude the enemy. Frequently, these people faced starvation. They sustained themselves by parched acorns, boiled weeds, and the wild fruits and nuts of the woodlands.

When the war was over, the majority of the refugees, with many doubts and misgivings, returned to their old homesteads in the White River country to find their buildings and fences all burned and their fields reverting to the wilderness. Some had escaped with a few household goods. Others had buried tools, dishes, and sometimes a little money, which could be retrieved upon their return and put to good use. Many of the refugees, without tools, livestock, or money, chose to return to the valley, hoping against hope for some stroke of good luck of fortune that would give them an opportunity to rebuild their shattered dreams of a more abundant life. To see their goals achieved, they gave much and asked little.

John and Mary (and the children) were now in the midst of all this devastation. Their hopes to build a good life here amongst the ruin echoed throughout the hills. In all the states of the South, there was union of purpose in reconstruction among the people.

The reconstruction period brought back the farming and the raising of livestock. Our pioneering Williams family raised corn, other grains, and a little tobacco. The earth was good, fertile bottomland. Fish & wild game were plentiful. Life was good for this big family.

Commerce on White River was renewed. The railroad was completed through Springfield providing better transportation to better markets. School districts were organized, postal services restored and new gristmills and sawmills were erected to aid in the rebuilding process.

John and Mary were part of this great resurgence of energy, power, and progress. After putting down roots as homesteaders, things began to look up. Within a year, records show a daughter (Margaret E. Williams) had been born. The place of her birth was Missouri. Two years later (in 1867) another daughter, Susan (Babe) Williams was born.

All postal services ceased during the latter part of the war because most people had fled their homes, leaving few to need the services of the mailman. The first post office to be reestablished in Taney County after the Rebellion was in Forsyth on April 2, 1866. Roley had just turned three years old.

During the 1870’s, communities sprang up and new post offices established at Bee Creek, Cedar Creek, Brown Branch, Cedar Valley, Haworth, Kirbyville, Kissee Mills, Mincy, and Protem. Most of these communities would become the “stomping grounds” for Roley and his future family.

A great many of the post offices were kept in country stores and were operated by the storekeepers. After the arrival of telephones at the turn of the century (1900), neighbors often called their postmasters when the creeks were up or other reasons prevented them from calling for their mail. Mail carriers were sometimes laden down with catalogs, magazines, newspapers, but few, if any, bills or statements. Bills or statements were called duns and were looked upon as a breach of faith in the customer’s honesty on the part of the merchant.

Just as the reconstruction was well under way, the panic of 1873 brought an abrupt halt to the progress. A grasshopper plague hit the region in 1874, causing considerable damage. The price of farm products sank to new lows, further hindering economic recovery. Recovery was slow, but cotton was revived again and several cotton gins were established along White River below Forsyth. The cotton gin, like the blacksmith shop, store, post office, and gristmill, was a part of every town and village in the region.

John Williams operated a gristmill and saw mill on Long Creek Valley (later to be known as Cedar Valley) between 1865 and 1875 until he and Mary moved to Bee Creek community around 1875.

The 1870 records didn’t have the families of John & Mary or James & Lizzie listed in any county in Missouri. These records could have revealed names and ages of some of the younger children and much about the families. Believing they must have returned to Alabama, I went back and searched all counties but to no avail.

They most probably were missed in the 1870 census because Long Creek Valley on Long Creek was an arduous journey and most times Long Creek was treacherous. Rough and rugged roads and the wild, rushing waters of Long Creek may have prevented the census taker from getting to the Williams farm, missing the entire family’s documentation of information. Yes, the rugged terrain in this remote area was certainly reason enough for the family not being listed on the 1870 census. There were scant few people living in that region during that period.

In the post-Civil War period, the people of the region experienced a great deal of violence and lawlessness. Murder, robbery, and horse stealing became all too common. Criminals could quickly pass north or south of the Missouri-Arkansas state, thus escaping civil authorities. After committing crimes in the upper White River country, the outlaws often sought refuge in Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma) not far to the west.

In addition to the threat of peace and safety, the county government had grown corrupt. The county tax was assessed at a very high percentage and, with the depressed state of economy, made it difficult for the people to pay their taxes.

In the 1880’s, in order to combat the tide of lawlessness and to oppose further increases in taxes, a group of Taney County citizens formed a vigilante committee to watch the proceedings of county government and assist the law enforcement officials in the pursuit, capture, and conviction of criminals. This organization became known as the Bald Knobbers. Note: Before the reign of the Bald Knobbers came to an end, their alleged crimes shocked the conscience of the nation and brought about the intervention of both state and federal officials.

The Bald Knobbers forced many people off their land, but many had fled their land of their own free will years before during the Civil War. These people owed back taxes on many, many acres of land that had been abandoned. The records show the Cornett’s – Martha (James’ sister and Rolland’s half sister) and her husband Levi had petitioned the state of Missouri to pay taxes on the land vacated by earlier homesteaders, Jim Williams included, who had left their farms in the early 1880’s. Their request was granted in 1882. The land became part of a section in Cornett town (later known as Groom Town) and became part of vast land holdings of Levi Truitt and Martha E. Cornett. The old plat map has charred edges but was not consumed in the 1885 fire.

While searching in the rain for the Cornett descendants of Levi Truitt and Martha E. (Williams) Cornett, we were fortunate enough to make acquaintance with a grandson (Vance Lewis Cornett) who obligingly offered to drive us to the location where his grandparents were buried. After several attempts to locate relatives, names of which were given to us by several old timers in the vicinity of Forsyth, we followed directions given us to Cedar Creek, Taney County, Missouri, Highway 160 east from Forsyth to Road M. When we went past the Cedar Creek School and topped the second hill, we saw what was once Groom, Missouri. Many still refer to it as old Cornett town. The old large homestead had fallen into a state of disrepair and a large barn and shed could be seen still standing high on the meadow. Levi T. Cornett is still remembered as Uncle Pea or Old Uncle Pea Cornett. He owned acres and acres of land almost to the Arkansas border. We laid eyes upon large barns, horse stalls for saddles and workhorses, and sheds that once held cane for sorghum. Wheat, oats, potatoes, corn, and fodder were part of the landscape in the early 1900’s in and around Groom town. Levi was a merchant, owning a huge grocery and mercantile store that carried almost everything…anything a person needed. He employed the hill families around the area. One of these families was Oscar Lee Mannon and his new bride Martha May Williams.

Census: June 1880 Taney County, Scott Township, Missouri

John 55 AL 1825

Mary 50 AL 1830

Married around 1862, she was 32 years old.

Children (3):

Rolland Thomas 16 MO 1863

AR MO

By spring of 1864, was in Missouri

Married Francis Alice Raines in 1887 in Cedar Valley, Taney County, Missouri

Margaret E. 14 MO 1865

Born in Missouri

Married by 1885 to James A. Dillon; they lived in Conners, Taney County, Missouri which is near Forsyth. In later years, Margaret possibly lived in and around Sapulpa, Kellyville (Kiefer) County, or Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

Susan (Babe) 12 MO 1867

Married by 1887 to James Ball

NOTE: The census enumerator’s handwritten names and dates were often times either jotted down incorrectly or illegible. The birth date for John Williams, as well as others, may vary slightly from one census year to the next, depending on the penmanship of the census taker and his attention to detail. Lots of times, too, the person who gave the information gave incorrect dates or misspelled names. This was not uncommon; however, in most cases, the names and dates are a pretty close match.

The 1880 U. S. Census showed John & Mary with Rolland and two sisters living in the Scott Township. Other family members (John & Amanda’s grown children and their spouses and children) lived in and around the Bee Creek and Cedar Creek areas. It is believed that John and Mary had died by 1885. Their names were not listed on the 1885 county record where we find Rolland T. Williams being from Cedar Valley on Long Creek and marrying Francis Alice Raines from Cedar Springs, present-day Imyrna (sp?).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Alice Raines Williams

Note: The Taney County Courthouse burned twice during the war and again on December 19, 1885 in the midst of the Bald Knobbers’ reign. With few exceptions, all official records of the county, as well as the files of the county’s only newspaper that was being published in one room of the courthouse, were destroyed. A new courthouse was completed in 1890. (There was no census for 1890.)

James, (second son of John and first wife, Amanda) looked after his father John and his stepmother Mary until he vacated the farm and moved back to Cedar Valley around 1882. Roe T. (half-brother to James) would have been about nineteen years old. James was fifteen years his senior. Roe T., or Roley, would not be getting married for about five more years and, since he had younger muscles than James and was free to help out in any capacity, he was more than a big help with the day-to-day farm chores and activities.

John and Mary lived out the remaining years of their lives in and around the Cedar Valley and Bee Creek areas. They probably lived near Martha and her family and other family members (James and his wife Lizzie and Roe T. and his new bride Alice) who helped look after them until their deaths. John and Mary were buried at the old Bee Creek Cemetery.

Note: Cedar Valley was once Long Creek Valley…until about 1885. It boasted a wild and turbulent stream until the dam finally bridled the waters and settled them down. After the dam’s completion, that area was described as a lovely, quiet, serene place with cedar and oak groves and large sycamore trees. The site was named Cedar Valley. (This is where Roe T. and Francis Alice were married in 1887.) Some years later, the name was changed to Oasis until Table Rock Dam was constructed and the little town of Oasis, with its mill, stores, schools, and shops, was completely covered by the lake waters.

  • If you would like to read more of the exciting travels and adventures of the Williams Family, including the marriage of Rolland T. Williams and Francis Alice Raines and the intriguing episode of “The Murder of Roll T. Williams” then please order the CD! You can order the CD by e-mailing Lois Sandra (Williams) Gates at: sandra50@sbcglobal.net