Rev. Green Williams son of Wilson Williams (1804-1879)

WILLIAM GREEN WILLIAMS AND HARRIETT KEARSE

Reverend William “Green” Williams, farmer and Baptist minister, was born 7 March 1804 according to Bible records. Further investigation has determined that he was the eldest son of Wilson and Elizabeth Kirkland Williams of Swallow Savannah, South Carolina. The community of Swallow Savannah no longer exists however a small cemetery, which was once part of the Swallow Savannah Methodist Church, still re­mains in Allendale in present day Allendale County.

Allendale County separated from Barnwell County in 1919 so at the time of William Green Williams' birth, his father's lands laid within the boundary of Barnwell District a few miles from the Savannah River.

According to the family traditions of grandchildren of Rev. Green Williams, he was quite bitter towards his South Carolina relations and would tell his children very little of the history of his family or allowed his wife, Hattie, to do so. He said, in effect, "What those families are does not matter. The only thing that counts is what we are!"

Few of Rev. Green Williams descendants even knew that he was from a prominent Barnwell District family or even that his father's name was even Wilson Williams. In fact a history of the Williams family writ­ten in 1959 by a great grandson of Rev. Green Williams stated erroneously that Rev. Green Williams was named after his father whom he called William Green Williams Sr.

Although he was named William Green Williams, he went by both “Green” Williams and “Wylie Green” Williams as an adult. Green Williams' mother, Elizabeth Kirkland Williams, named him William Green probably for a prominent land surveyor and neighbor in the region.  He may have been a Baptist also. This William Green’s name appears on many of the plats of the late 1700s.  He made the survey for Elizabeth [Calthorpe] Williams's state grant of 100A in 1785. 

Green Williams was born into the plantation class of Barnwell District's society and was virtually related to all the governing families of the region; through either blood or marriage. His father, Wilson Williams, was a prosper­ous farmer and livestock raiser, and as far as it is known, the only son of Britton Williams, an American Revolutionary War Soldier. Green's mother was the daughter of George Kirkland another Revolutionary War Soldier and a slave owning planter. On his mother's side, Green Williams became related to the numerous Kirkland relations of Barnwell District.

Green's mother died while he was about thirteen years old. Later his father Wilson Williams filed a petition on the behalf of Green’s brother and sisters as well as himself for their share of the estate of his grandfather, George Kirkland. In this partition request, Wilson Williams stated that he was the legal guardian of the children of Elizabeth Williams, his wife being deceased.

Green Williams’ father remarried Esther Roberts, who was only eight years older then Green. The children of Elizabeth Kirkland who were raised Baptist did not get along well with their stepmother, the young Esther Williams and as soon as she was having children of her own, she doted over them and did not feel motherly to her stepchildren by Wilson's two previous wives. 

Religion also played a role in the growing family tension between the children of Mary Mallard and Elizabeth Kirkland and their step mother Esther Williams. Esther was a devout Methodist while most of her stepchildren were Baptists who resented that their father began attending  Methodist Services with his young bride.

Green Williams grew to young manhood among the enslaved African Americans that belonged and worked for his father and other relatives. This was the world in which he spent his adolescence. As a young man he and his younger brother began to court the daughters of a neighboring plantation owner who lived within the community of Buford Bridge. Harriett “Hattie” Kearse and Sarah "Sally" Kearse were the daughter of William and Flora Brabham Kearse.  Hattie was born October 4, 1810 on her father’s farm on Alligator Pond, near Buford’s Bridge.

According to the History of Buford's Bridge and Its People by Rev. M.M. Brabham written in 1923, "William Kearse-originally spelled Kersh-was a German, but came to America from Holland. He was born 1746 and died 1837. He settled first just below Barnwell Village near where Hagood’s Mill later was built. He was probably a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His first wife was Flora Brabham, daughter of Joseph Brabham and Flora McPhail. By this marriage, so far as I know, were only one daughter and one son. The son's name was George, he married either before or after going to Mississippi, which was his first place of residence after leaving South Carolina. Later he moved to Texas where he probably died. He was fond of good stock and liked farming though he seemed somewhat given to speculating also. It is said of him that on one occasion, having sold a load of cotton, and returning home with the proceeds of the sale, which was in silver money, suspended from his neck and shoulders in a small sack which worked against the saddle till a hole was worn, through which a considerable part of the money gradually wasted, on reaching home after dark, he discovered his loss and early next morning, retracing his journey, recovered most of his lost treasure. The daughter of William Kearse, by his first wife Flora Brabham, is said to have married a Baptist preacher named Rev. Green Williams. They went to Alabama and we know nothing more of their history."

THE KEARSE FAMILY CONNECTION

William Kearse was certainly the son of George and Barsheba [Barbara] Kersh a pioneer German settler. George and Barsehba Kersh had at least four sons, William Kearse husband of Flora Brabham and Elizabeth Rebecca McMillan, Evans Kerce, George Kerce Jr, and John Kerce husband of Rebecca McLain,  Jacon Kearse husband if Nancy Brbham Mrs. Elijah Gillette., 

George Kearse Sr.may have been the son of Hans George Kersh. He was born circa 1746 and died after 1813. He was a Revolutionary War Soldier in 1775, in Capt. James Jones Company of  Volunteers at "Saltketcher". 

On 3 April 1775 George Kersh "of Granville County sold lands at Boggy Gut a branch of Lower Three Runs waters of the Savannahto Aaron Gillette and John Weekley lands .

On 1 January 1789 George Kersh of "Winton county" bought 4 slaves with Solomon Owens

He was granted on 27 Aug 1791 426 acres at the head branch of Coosawhatchie River with all sides vacant. In 1793, he-bought land from James Waldrup first granted to Thomas Cox. The Witnesses were John Allen and John "Kearsh". 

On 25 July 1801 George Kersh had lands at Boggy Gut adjoining Aaron Gillett, Henry Connerly, Joseph Allen, Thomas Allen, and Abraham Markley. On 27 July 1801 he had lands at Log Branch and Jackson Branch adjoining Joseph Allen, Thomas Allen, Henry Connerly, David Edenfield, John Weekley, and Williams Sturgis. George Kersh with Eve Atkins on 8 Aug 1801 had 217 acres lands on Coosawhatchie and Log Branch adjoining Joseph Allen and Thomas Allen, William Sturgis, Thomas Arrington, and James Lipsey

On 8 Dec 1804 George Kersh sold to Stephen Sylvester Middleton 217 acres on Coosawhatchie and Log branch adjoining Thomas Herrington, and Joseph Allen. At the same date  George and his wife “Barshaba” sold to Stephen Sylvester Middleton 209 acres on waters of Coosawhatchie River. The Witnesses were George Stokes and Samuel Middleton

Hattie Kearse’s mother also died when she was a child and her father remarried Elizabeth “Betsy” McMillan who was said to be a granddaughter of Britton Williams and first cousin to Rev. Green Williams.  William Kearse actually had five children by his first wife and seven by his second wife. Although her father was quite wealthy, Hattie Kearse was never schooled nor learned to read nor write.

Green Williams and Hattie Kearse were married 3 Nov­ember 1825 probably at Swallow Savannah, at the ages of 21 and 15 in Barnwell District South Carolina. The couple must have appeared odd because Green was said to be a fair-haired, blue-eyed, lanky six-footer while Hattie was not even five feet tall, and very petite with dark hair and dark eyes. Their first known child was a daughter they named Mary Elizabeth Williams born in 1827 at Swallow Savannah. 

In 1829 land records of Barnwell District show that Green Williams had lands at Three Hole Savannah near Bud Land, where his father’s plantation was located. He was neighbors with his brother Martin Williams, cousin James McMillan and the Dunbar family.

The 1830 Federal Census of Barnwell District, South Carolina, listed Rev. Green Williams on page 140 showing that he lived between his father Wilson Williams and his brother Martin Williams. He would have been 26 years old. According to this census he had three African American slaves within his household. His father, Wilson Williams, owned 11 slaves and his brother Martin owned 1 slave. In this census Rev. Green was listed as the head of a household consisting of his wife Hattie, and his two children William Rice and Mary Elizabeth Williams although they are not named. 

Reportedly when Rev. Green and Hattie were married, Wilson Williams set them up with some land and slaves. According to one version Rev. Green lost this farm and his slaves by signing a note with some one whom then defaulted. Another is that he was simply a poor manager and became so involved financially that he lost his property.  It seems that neither he nor his brother Martin Williams had a head for business and may have been too interested in theological matters as that they both became ministers although in different denominations.  When Green's father died in late 1835 he left his estate intestate without a will. Probate records seem to indicate that Green Williams had the use of an old African American named Ben until he was sold back to the estate.

Green's father-in-law, William Kearse then offered to provide another farm and slaves for Green however with the provision, that the property would be deeded to his wife Hattie, in such a way that Green could not encumber it. Green’s pride made him refused to allow Hattie to accept the offer on these terms. However when William Kearse died he willed to his daughter Hattie Williams two slaves. 

Land records of Barnwell District show that  Green Williams had lands adjoining James R. McMillan, Hattie Grimes, Kellis Halford, and Mrs. Nestor in 1833. Hattie Grimes was a maternal aunt of Hattie Kearse Williams. Lands records of 1834 stated that Green resided in neighborhood of Three Hole Savannah on lands adjacent to his brother Martin and James McMillan.

Green's father, Wilson Williams died in late December 1835 and the riff between him and his stepmother deepened after she was appointed Administratrix of Wilson's Estate. No will could be produced for Wilson Williams so the courts declared his estate intestate.  Wilson’s probate records show that Rev. Green Williams bought several household items from his father’s estate in January 1836. “1 old saddle $1.00, Leather and 4 halter chains $4.62, cutting knives $1.75, 1 shot gun $8.00, 1 trunk and 2 kegs $.'50, 1 lot of crockery $1.25, Castors and lots of bottle $1.25, 1 lot of ovens, pots, and pans $5.75, a half bushel of salt at 57 cents per bushel 28 cents, and 60 bushels of cotton seed $5.40.”

A year after his father died, deed records of Barnwell District show that in December 1836 Green Williams bought a tract of land containing 100 acres on Well Branch in Barnwell District from Hattie Grimes, his wife's aunt. This document proves that he was still living in South Carolina as of this date even though several of his children who were born in the early part the 1830's declared that they were born in Georgia. Additionally Barnwell District Equity Records show that Green Williams was appointed guardian of Piety Jane Grimes March 6, 1837.  Piety Jane Grimes was the illegitimate daughter of Harriett Grimes, and was a young cousin to his wife. “Piety Jane, under 12, no father or guardian…her kinsman and friend William G. Williams appointed guardian of said child.” On October 2, 1837 Green and his brother-in-law Absalom B. Best posted a bond of $400 as surieties for the child.

The earliest that  Green Williams could have moved to Georgia is in 1838 after a last transaction was made between him and his father’s estate. On 1 January 1838 Green Williams was paid $300 for an African American slave named Ben. "Cash paid W. G. Williams for Ben." It seems logical to presume that the estate took Ben back from Green Williams or as some have suggested that he was selling his slaves in preparation to enter the ministry.  Later in the year Ben was sold to James Madison Loper for $225.  Ben must have been old for that price.

Hattie Williams inherited two African American slaves named Molley and Dorcus from her father's estate in September 1838. They were probably sold to finance the family’s move from the state as that the 1840 Census for Green Williams showed no slaves within his household. Green's son, Rev. George Kearse Williams, in a short statement dictated to a granddaughter shortly before his death in 1941, stated that his father sold his slaves when he was ordained into the ministry. However a mortgage deed record found in Randolph County, Georgia records show that Green Williams had in his possession an African American male slave named Harrison in 1842.  Whether this means that Rev. Green Williams went into the ministry after this time or whether his son was mistaken is unclear.

In the 1830's Green and Hattie Williams had four more children, Rice, Hanson,   Georgiana and Wilson. The military records of Green’s son, James "Wilson" Williams, who died in the Civil War, state that this son was born in Crawford County, Georgia, in the latter part of 1838. However all these other children had to have been born in Barnwell District. Hattie may have been pregnant with Wilson when they left South Carolina. Other military records for Green's younger sons state that they were all born in Randolph County, Georgia in 1842 and 1845 respect­ively. Green’s youngest son, G.K. “Babe” always maintained that he was born near the village of Cuthbert in Randolph County, Georgia.

Eventually Green and Hattie Williams were the parents of ten known children. It appears probable in view of the available facts that their first four children were born in Barnwell District, South Carolina and sometime before 1838, near present day Allendale and Ulmers.  Mary Elizabeth Williams was born circa 1828, William “Rice” Williams born circa 1830, Sarah “Hanson” Williams born August 4, 1832, Georgiana Williams circa 1834, and James “Wilson” Williams in 1838, perhaps in Crawford County, Georgia as the family was moving to Randolph County.

It seems that Green and Hattie left South Carolina on bad terms with their extended families.  With their relocation from South Carolina, they severed their family association with the inflexible slave holding class system of the old South. If Green and Hattie had left on more amicable terms, then family members who remained behind would have known more about them. But as Rev. M.M. Brabham commented wrote in 1923 "They went to Alabama and we know nothing more of their history."

Green Williams at the age of 34 moved his family nearly three hundred miles away to Randolph County, a county in the southwestern part of Georgia. Randolph was established by act of Congress on December 20, 1828 from Lee County and named for John Randolph of Virginia. At the time Randolph County included all of Stewart and Quitman Counties and parts of Terrell and Clay Counties. Cuthbert was established and made the county seat in 1831 and was incorporated into a town in 1834. American Indians were in this area until as recent as 1836 when they were driven out after the Creek Rebellion and relocated to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi.

A near neighbor and family friend of Green Williams, Matthew “Allen” Moye, son of Matthew Moye and Susannah Ward, had moved to Randolph County, Georgia in 1834. It is highly likely that Rev. Green Williams moved to Randolph County because of this association with the Moyes. Allen Moye and Rev. Green Williams were about the same age grew up as Baptists in the same community and may have been childhood friends.

Allen Moyes  father had received 160 acres of land in Lee County from the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery. Later this part of Lee County became part of Randolph County in 1828.  Allen Moye's mother Susannah Ward married a William Rice as her 3rd husband and Green's eldest son was named William Rice Williams. Additionally Hattie's uncle John Brabham had married Martha Moye an aunt to Allen Moye. 

Allen Moye married Sarah Jane Rice and became a deacon in the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Cuthbert in 1834, and became partners with David Rumph proprietors of the first store built in Cuthbert. Allen Moye was also a Georgia state representative from the county in 1837, and county sheriff. In 1838 he became a state Senator. He died June 10, 1843 at the age of 43 in Randolph County, Georgia

 The Rumphs, Holmans, Rices, and Odums families came to Randolph County from Barnwell District South Carolina in 1834 and certainly glowing letters were sent back to Barnwell about the new area and especially about Cuthbert becoming an important cotton-trading center. 

 When Allen Moye moved to western Georgia in 1834 it was still the frontier. The Creek Indians burned down the community of Roanoke in July 1836 and Randolph County pioneers huddled at the Mount Zion Baptist Church, which was a large log structure just outside of Cuthbert. The Creeks were subdued and in 1838 the United States began the removal of the Cherokee Nation to Oklahoma, fulfilling a promise the government made to Georgia in 1802. General Winfield Scott, arrived on May 17, 1838 with 7000 men and early that summer the United States Army began the invasion of the Cherokee Nation to remove them forcefully from their homes and lands. About 4000 Cherokee died as a result of the removal. The route they traversed and the journey itself became known as "The Trail of Tears". 

When the American Indians were removed from Georgia a flood of settlers moved west including Green Williams’ family. In 1837 a Baptist Missionary Society was organized in Randolph County, which would have attracted Green Williams to the region.  Cuthbert, Georgia began to develop economically in 1838 when the first frame homes were built in town. Previously all homes had been log cabins.    

In 1839 The Rehobeth Primitive Baptist Church was organized which also shows the new growth in the area. As Green Williams was a Baptist, certainly his family would have attended. One of the early Baptist pastors at both Mount Zion and Rehobeth was a William Lewis Crawford. It seems plausible that Green Williams named his fourth son Lewis Crawford for this preacher.

   
In 1840 Rev. Green and Hattie Williams are found farming in the vicinity of Cuthbert in Randolph County where Cotton was king. Randolph County had a population of about 5400 whites and 2600 blacks according to census records. The 1840 census also reveals that Rev. Green Williams family had grown to include besides his wife Hattie, his eldest daughter Mary Elizabeth, his eldest son, William Rice, a daughter Sara Hanson, a daughter Georgiana, a son James Wilson, and a baby daughter named Winifred Elliott. Also living within Green's household was an unidentified white male age 20 to 29. This may have been Hattie’s brother George Kearse or perhaps simply a hired hand.
     
Deed records of Randolph County, Georgia have scant information on the family of Green Williams while they were living in there. In 1842 records indicate that he owned a 160-acre farm described as lot 253 of District 9 originally recorded in Lee County. Dr. August C. Hawkins of Monroe County, Georgia was the originally Lottery winner of that parcel of land in 1827. Records do not show how or when Rev. Green Williams acquired the property.

On May 31, 1842 “William G. Williams” of Randolph County sold to Andrew J. Pace of the same county a “parcel of land” described as lot 253 in the 9th district of originally Lee County. He sold the land for $1500 and fifty cents. The deed was recorded June 7, 1842 Deed Book F page 61. A following deed was recorded at the same time with Andrew J. Pace recording promissory notes for the mortgage. The notes were to be paid in two installments one for $775 and the other $750. Also this deed either gave or used as collateral the use of an African American Slave named Harrison to Rev. Green Williams. This sounds like he did not own Harrison but rather was using his labor.

      
The following year A.J. Pace paid Rev. Green Williams on New Years Day all his crop of “corn, cotton, peas, and potatoes now growing on the plantation of said Andrew J. Pace” for the first installment of payment on the note held by Rev. Green Williams. The remainder of $775 was paid on 23 August 1843. No other land deed records have been found in Randolph County concerning his family

It is here in Randolph County that Green was probably ordained a minister in the Mission­ary Baptist Church. Perhaps around the time Lewis Crawford Williams was born. Missionary Baptists are a group of Baptists that grew out of the missionary / anti-missionary controversy that divided Baptists in the early part of the 19th century, with Missionary Baptists following the pro-missions movement position. Those who opposed the innovations became known as anti-missions or Primitive Baptists. Since arising in the 19th century, the influence of Primitive Baptists waned as "Missionary Baptists became the mainstream".

 According to family members, "Rev. Green" began to press his family very hard in the fall to get a bale of cotton ready for market, so that he could pocket the money to go off on trips visiting his churches and to attend meetings, until the money gave out. This may have been why records show that he owned no property of his own after this 1842-1843 transaction. However the 1840 through 1850 land records of Randolph County, Georgia have not been fully researched and thus it’s not clear whether Rev. Green Williams owned other property during his ten years of residency in that County.  Most likely he rented land on which his family subsisted. 

Rev. Green and Hattie’s family continued to increase in the 1840’s. Additional children were born into the family during these years,  including Elliott Winifred “Winnie”, born 1840, Miles Perry born 1842, Lewis Crawford born 1845, and George Kearse born 1847. Rev. Green and Hattie’s eldest son Rice Williams died the 7th of December 1845 while living in Cuthbert, Randolph County, Georgia. He was only about 15 years old. 

 A year later Rev. Green and Hattie’s oldest daughter Mary Elizabeth Williams married John Allen West on December 27, 1846. John A West was born circa 1825 in Jasper County, Georgia the son of Rufus M West and Nancy Merrill.  In the 1840 census Rufus West was shown as living in Talbot County, 75 miles northwest of Randolph County where he was a farmer with ten slaves. Their first daughter was named Harriet Kearse West.

 By 1850 Rev. Green Williams had moved his family nearly one hundred miles west from Georgia to Pike County, Alabama where they settled in the community of Missouri Village just west of the town of Troy. The move was based on the fact that he was hired as a preacher for the Missouri Missionary Baptist Church where he preached for the next 10 years.

 Missouri Village, Alabama was located in the northwesterly portion of Pike County and does not appear to exist anymore. When the family moved from Cuthbert is unclear exactly. The youngest daughter of Rev. Green, Mattie R. Smith, stated in the 1900 US Census of Cass County, Texas that she was born in August of 1849 in Alabama. However the census of 1850 does not include her in the family indicating that she was probably born after December of 1850.

The information of the 1850 census is hard to read but it stated that the family was living in Pike County, Alabama some 350 miles from Swallow Savanna, South Carolina. They are enumerated as the 1883 household visited on 20 December 1850.  Green Williams is listed as a 50 year old farmer, and Harriet as being 45; both born in South Carolina. The ages for both of them was wrong as Green was 46 years old and Harriet 40 years old. Children still listed in their household were Hanson age 19, Georgian age 16, Wilson age 14, Winiford age 10, Miles age 8, Lewis age 8 and George age 4. All of these children are listed as having been born in Georgia. When the census was taken Hattie must have been  pregnant with her last child, a daughter born that was born in August the following year. Their eldest daughter Mary Elizabeth Williams was married to John Allen West. Green’s first known grandchild was Hattie West born 1848 in Cuthbert, Georgia.

The 1850 U.S. Census shows that the Williams were living near relatives from Barnwell District, South Carolina. The next successive family living in the neighboring household was Hattie's maternal Uncle Archibald Brabham and his wife Rebecca Grimes. Archibald Brabham was the younger brother of Flora Brabham Kearse, Hattie's mother.  Archie Brabham moved from South Carolina to Georgia in 1838 as did Rev. Green Williams and they may have been traveling together. Rebecca Grimes Brabham’s brother Nathan Grimes was married to Green’s maternal aunt Esther Kirkland.

Another neighbor of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams in Pike County was the family of George Ward Moye Jr. from Barnwell District; SC. G. W. Moye Jr. as he was known was the son of George Ward Moye Sr and Rebecca Spears who were residents of the Buford’s Bridge area. George W. Moye Jr married Susannah Barwick November 2, 1845 in Washington County, Georgia where he had two children before moving to Alabama. George W Moye deserted his wife and children later in life, when the children where about grown. He then went to Texas and stayed a few years. It has been said that he had another family out there. He came back to Alabama later and remained here until his death.

The following was in the May 14 1903 issue of the "Crenshaw County Critic" newspaper: "Mr. William Welch of Patsburg has discovered his father-in-law has been absent for 18 years. He was supposed to have been dead for eleven years. His name is G.W. Moye and is 94 years of age." (According to his birth he would have been 73 years old.) A granddaughter of Rev. Green Williams later would marry into this Moye Family.

The family of Rev. Green Williams was not wealthy but neither were they poor farmers.. A few years after this census was taken Rev. Green Williams was listed in the tax roll of 1852 as paying a tax of 25 cents on a very expensive clock. His address was given as Missouri Beat Two.  

The Williams like most early settlers raised corn, oats, rice, and sweet potatoes on their farm along with some livestock but not much cotton. These were principal crops of the Pike County region.  Cotton was grown mainly on large farms as it was a labor intensified crop and after 1850 Rev. Green Williams no had cheap labor beyond his own family.

 The Agriculture Census for 1850 showed  that Rev. Green Williams was working a 40 acre farm worth $350. Only 25 acres were improved. The census showed that for livestock he owned only a horse and 20 hogs [swine] but no milk cows for all those children. His livestock was worth $110. On this farm Rev. Green raised 150 bushels of Indian corn, 25 pounds of oats, 25 pounds of rice, 20 bushels of sweet potatoes, and 4 bales [400 pounds] of cotton.  The family manufactured $50 worth of goods to sell and had $75 worth of slaughtered livestock.

Hattie and her daughters carded, spun, and wove the family clothes. There wasn't much cotton raised at that time just a little as most families had to pick the seed from the lint and spin and weave the cloth for clothes.

The nearest market for Pike County was Troy northeast  of the Williams’ home. They only went to market about once or twice a year and bought a years supply of sundry goods then. The family raised nearly everything they had at home so it wasn't necessary to go to market so often. 

In the 1850’s Rev. Green and Hattie’s daughter Mary Elizabeth and son-in-law John Allen West moved from Pike County Alabama, while daughters Hanson, Georgiana, and Winnie married sons of local farmers. Three of Rev. Green and Hattie’s eldest daughters were married by 1860. Hanson Williams married Andrew Jackson Mills on the 3rd of October 1854.  Jack as he was called was the son of William and Eleanor Graham Mills having been born 1833 in Columbus, North Carolina.

Georgiana Williams married a medical student Dr. William L. Simmons on the 3rd of January 1856. He was the son of Daniel and Elizabeth Simmons and a graduate of Graefenberg Medical Institute in  Dadeville, Alabama 1858. Dr. William and Georgiana Simmons were the parents of two children, George Joyce Simmons born December 8,1856 in Goshen, Pike County, Alabama and Elizabeth P. Simmons born the August 17 1861 also in Goshen. Georgiana Simmons was the wealthiest of any of Green’s children due to her marriage to Dr. Simmons. The 1860 census reported that he owned a plantation worth $11,600 and had a personal estate worth $1,815. While war records described Wilson Williams as dark complexioned, Georgiana Simmons was reported to have been a beautiful, vivacious redhead.

Georgiana had married Dr. William Simmons over the strong opposition of her parents because of religious differences between the two families. Close familial ties were broken because of Green’s opposition to the marriage.

Winifred Williams married James “Jim” A. Hawkins on the 29th of December 1859.  He was the son of William Hawkins and Anna Shanks.

By 1860 Rev. Green Williams had moved his family from the village of Missouri to the community of New Providence where there was another Missionary Baptist congregation. In 1860 James J. Thurston, N.C. Kirkland, James Brabham and Hugh Cameron from Barnwell District South had come into Chapel Hills neighborhood to preach a revival meeting. James J. Thurston was the brother-in-law to Jones M. Williams, Rev. Green Williams nephew. James Brabham may have been Hattie’s uncle. Her uncle Archibald Brabham was located in the county and was near neighbors to the Williams.

There in New Providence, Rev. Green continued to farm and Pastor in several Missionary Baptist churches in the county including the Good Hope Baptist Church., which was a simple log cabin structure.  Times were sometimes difficult during these moves. It was remembered by some of Green’s children that he would sometimes move his family into very dilapidated and undesirable houses with all his frequent moves. One of his daughters remembered one of these particularly bad moves and recalled her mother Hattie going in and out of the house carrying out ashes, dirt, and trash with tears streaming down her face. Hattie was the daughter of a prosperous plantation owner and she was not accustomed to such a life.

Rev. Green Williams was quite active in the Missionary Baptist ministry during the antebellum years. Marriage licenses on file in Pike County show numerous weddings performed by Rev. Green Williams from the mid-1850’s to the start of the Civil War.

Rev. Green Williams was a strict; no nonsense Missionary Baptist Pastor while Hattie was a enjoyable, lively person with a fun loving disposition who enjoyed dancing and parties, however strict Missionary Baptist doctrine excluded members for dancing or even allowing dancing in their homes. Rev. Green Williams, as a minister, sternly disapproved of such festivities so when Rev. Green was away on weekends serving his churches, Hattie would invite neighboring young people over for dancing and partying. This was kept from Rev. Green Williams for many, many years.

This census of 1860 was taken a year before the Southern Rebellion began revealing that Green Williams was a middle class Southern farmer, a respected Baptist minister with a large, nearly grown family. Rev. Green and Hattie’s daughter and son in-law Mary Elizabeth and John West had moved out of the county but not out of state, but the rest of the family were either at home or living within the county. Only the following children Wilson Williams, Miles Williams, Lewis Williams, G.K. Williams, and Mattie Williams were all living at home in 1860.  Within five years, he would be ruined financially, and had a son and two sons in law lost to the war of secession. 

In the census taken 12 June 1860 Rev. Green Williams was listed as “Wyley G. Williams” living in the Western Division of Pike County with the Post Office address of New Providence. He is listed as a 56 year old farmer which is correct and worth $1000 in real estate and $800 in personal estate.  Harriet is listed as 50 years old which she would have been in October. Both said they were born in South Carolina. Harriett is listed as not being able to read nor write. The children living at home were listed in this order; “Myles P” age 17 a farm laborer in school, “James W” age 22 a farm laborer, “Louis C” age 15 in school, “George K” age 15 in school and “Martha R” age 10 in school. All of the children except Martha were said to have been born in Georgia with Martha born in Alabama. The age if George Kearse Williams is wrong as he was circa 13 years old.

The 1860 U.S. Census reveals that Rev. Green Williams was fairly comfortable and well off owning $1000 worth of real estate and $800 worth of personal property. While not as wealthy as his father, neither was he a poor preacher. Agricultural census records show that he cultivated 75 acres and had 73 acres of uncultivated land valued at $1000. His livestock had increased during the decade of the 1850’s as now he had 3 horses, 5 milk cows, 2 working oxen, 4 head of cattle, 10 sheep and 30 hogs [swine]. The value of his livestock was $700. On his farm he raised 300 bushels of corn, 1 bale of cotton, 27 pounds of wool, 100 bushels of peas and beans, 200 bushels of sweet potatoes and 75 pounds of butter. The family manufactured $150 worth of goods and sold $100 worth of butchered livestock.  The family certainly had fowl on their farm however the census did not bother to record that asset.

After the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, America was thrown into its worse crisis ever. On January 11, 1861 Alabama votes to secede from the United States.  On the 12th of April 1861 Alabama, as part of the Confederate States of America, was at war with the Federal Union.

Green’s son Wilson Williams immediately enlisted in Company H of the 18th Alabama Volunteers on 29 July 1861 at Troy Alabama. By 1861, the population was of Troy was 600 making it the largest town in Pike County. Hotels, taverns and mercantile stores made the town a social center and when the Civil War began a recruiting station.

Confederate service records described Wilson as being five feet eight inches tall, dark complexion, with black eyes and black hair. He must have gotten his coloring from his mother who were said to have been dark complexioned.

 The 18th Alabama Regiment was fully organized at Auburn, Alabama September 4, 1861, with its field officers appointed by President Jefferson Davis. A few weeks later, it went to Mobile, by way of Huntsville, and was there brigaded under Gen. Gladden of Louisiana, with the Nineteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-second, and Twenty-fifth Alabama regiments, Withers' division. Ordered to Corinth, Mississippi in March 1862, the regiment was there brigaded under Gen. J.K. Jackson of Georgia, with the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Alabama regiments.

Wilson Williams as a member of the 18th Alabama Volunteers fought at the Battle of Shiloh April 6-8, 1862, which was one of the great battles of the War Between the States. The battle erupted near the banks of the Tennessee River at Shiloh, Tennessee.  Following the battles of Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson, Union General Ulysses S. Grant moved his troops south along the river to Pittsburg landing for training and field exercises.  Many of his men were raw recruits. Grant did not fortify his position. 

Following the losses of Ft. Henry and Ft. Donelson Confederate forces under the command of General Sidney Johnston established a new line that covered the Memphis to Charleston Railroad.  General Johnston concentrated his forces near Corinth, Mississippi in hopes of engaging Grant's army before it could be reinforced. Johnston began marching from Corinth on April 2, 1862 towards the suspected location of the Union forces.  By the evening of the 5th, Johnston was prepared to attack.  Grant wired his superior, General H.W. Halleck, with slight suspicion of attack.  Halleck ordered Grant to stay at Shiloh and await reinforcements from General Beull.  It was believed that the nearest Confederate forces were at Corinth, Mississippi. The following morning, April 6, 1862, Johnston launched his attack.  The Union forces were quickly driven back to the north and east.  They found themselves rapidly approaching the Tennessee River to the east and Owl Creek to the north.  However, the Union troops finally established a line at a area known as "the sunken road".  Confederate forces launched eleven attacks against the position, but the line would not break.  The area became known as the "Hornets Nest" because of the intensity of gunfire and grazing of bullets.  Finally the southern troops brought sixty-two artillery pieces to bear on the Hornets Nest, many at point blank range.  After holding the position for six hours, the Union forces surrendered. 

Fighting also occurred near the Hornets Nest in a peach orchard.  General Johnston personally led the final Confederate assault.  He emerged with clothes torn from grazing bullets.  He was moved to a nearby tree where it was discovered that he had been shot in the back of the leg.  He refused medical attention and bled to death even though a tourniquet would have saved his life. 

General Buell arrived with Union reinforcements the evening of the 6th.  They arrived by river under the cover of fire from the Union gunboats Lexington and Tyler.  The Federals had established a line near Pittsburg Landing.  The arrival of fresh troops and gunboats only strengthened this line.  By morning the southern army was outnumbered.  The combined Union Army of the Tennessee and the Ohio numbered 65,000. The Confederate Army of the Mississippi numbered 45,000.

General Beauregard, who took command after the death of Johnston, was aware of the gunboats, but unaware of Buell's reinforcements.  Beauregard attempted attacks on Pittsburg Landing with no success. The Confederate Army was forced to retreat to Corinth, Mississippi.  The final number of dead or missing was 23,746:  13,047 on the Union side and 10,699 on the Confederate side.

The Eighteenth fought the first day at Shiloh, and lost 125 killed and wounded out of 420 men engaged. It was detailed to escort the brigade of Gen. Prentiss, which it had largely aided to capture, to the rear, and did not take part the second day. After the battle, the regiment being without field officers was for a short time under officers detailed for the purpose. 

Military records show that in June 1862 Rev. Green’s son James Wilson was reported sick at the university hospital in Oxford, Mississippi where he died on 16 June 1862. News of tragedy reached the family of Rev. Green and Hattie. When they learned of the death of their son Wilson Williams, their son Miles Williams filed a death benefit claim, and carried it with him to Mobile, Alabama. His father had given Miles Williams power of attorney.  The claim was filed with company authorities on the 16th of October 1862 and it stated that James Wilson Williams had served under Captain Ruff who was then in command of Company H. This claim showed that pay was due Wilson Williams from 31 December 1861 to 16 June 1862. An official certificate of discharge for Wilson was issued on the 10th of October 1862.

The discharge papers were apparently forwarded through regular army channels to the War Department in the Capital at Richmond, Virginia and a record for a request for confirmation by the Second Auditor's Office of the Treasury Department was made on 25 February 1863. However on 22 May 1863 the Adjutant and Inspector General's office reported that the muster rolls of Company H did not report to them the death of Wilson therefore it wasn't until 1864 that his death was finally verified.

Only then was the claim was forwarded to the Confederate Comptroller on the 11th of August 1864. Payment was finally authorized on the 15th of August 1864 and Rev. Green Williams then received $60.86 for his son's back pay, $25.00 for his clothing allotment, and a bounty of $50.00. In all Rev. Green received $135.86 for the death of his son. However he was paid in Confederate currency, which at this point of the war was virtually worthless.

Inflation was eating up any real value of Confederate money. For an example in 1860, 10 pounds of bacon had cost $1.25 but by 1863 the price had skyrocketed to $10. Sugar had zoomed from 40 cents for five pounds to $5.75 and coffee from fifty cents for 4 pounds to over $20! By 1864 the cost of a pair of boots was $50 so the bounty money that Rev. Green received from the death of his son was comparable to the worth of a pair of boots.

Rev. Green and Hattie's son-in-law, Jim Hawkins had enlisted in the service even before hostilities broke out between the North and the South. He was a private in Company I of Alabama's 1st Artillery Battalion. He enlisted on the 12th of March 1861. The 1st Alabama Infantry regiment was the first to be organized under an act of the Alabama State legislature authorizing the enlistment of troops for 12 months. The companies rendezvoused at Pensacola in February and March 1861, and about the 1st of April organized and elected regimental officers.  The men were recruited from Barbour, Lowndes, Macon, Pike, Talladega, Tallapoosa, and Wilcox counties.

The Jim Hawkins’ Regiment was transferred to the army of the Confederate States soon after organized and it remained on duty at Pensacola for a year. It occupied and manned the batteries, taking part in bombardments on 23 Nov 1861 and 1 Jan 1862. A detachment of the Regiment was in the night fight on Santa Rosa Island. As the oldest regiment in Confederate service, it was the first called on to reenlist for the war, at the end of the first year, and seven of the companies did so. Ordered to Tennessee, the regiment, 1000 strong, reached Island No. 10 on 12 March 1862, and it joined General J.E. Johnston at Alatoona, Georgia.

Jim Hawkins died of what was called “Camp sickness” on 25 May 1862 probably at Alatoona, Georgia. He died a month before his brother-in-law Wilson Williams did but news failed to reach the family until after news of Wilson's death.

Rev. Green’s daughter Winnie Hawkins became was a young widow at the age of 22 years with a two year old daughter and a six month old infant son. She returned to her father's household after the death of her husband and lived with them throughout the remainder of the war. The death of her husband was not the only tragedy to strike Winnie Hawkins. Before the war was over, Winnie’s daughter Mary Etta Hawkins died on the 14th of November 1864- at the age of 4. The little girl was buried at the New Providence Baptist Church Cemetery in Pike County, Alabama.

Both Wilson Williams and Jim Hawkins deaths within a month of each other were contributed by the precarious medical services of the Confederate Army. Measles, malaria, smallpox, pneumonia and other diseases took a heavier toll of life on Southern soldiers than did Yankee bullets. Of the estimated 258,000 deaths on the Confederate side, 164,000 were said to have resulted from disease and other causes not associated with combat!

Rev. Green Williams’ son in law Jack Mills was the only member of his family who actually died from wounds associated with fighting. Mills joined the Confederate Army in May 1862 around the time his brother in law died, and was a private in Company A 39th Alabama Regiment of Pike County. The 39th Alabama Infantry Regiment was organized at Opelika, Lee County, Alabama in May 1862 with men from Barbour, Henry, Pike, Russell, and Walker counties. It was sent at once to Mississippi where it participated in the march into Kentucky with little fighting, and came back with the army to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The regiment took part in that battle, and took heavy losses. Ninety-five soldiers including Jack Mills were casualties in the fighting.

The family evidently had to learn from other returning soldiers that Jack Mills had been wounded in battle at Murfreesboro, but he had sufficiently recovered from his wounds to attempt to travel. However he could not have gotten far, for the Battle of Murfreesboro lasted for some time after he died January 2, 1863. Family tradition is that somewhere on his journey home, he is presumed to have died and is buried in an unknown grave. probably from his wounds and his name is inscribed on a monument in the town square of Troy, Alabama as a Confederate Soldier from Pike County. His widow, Hanson Mills remained on her husband's farm and raised her three surviving children alone.

The husband of Rev. Green's daughter Georgiana Williams, Dr. William L. Simmons did not join the military but rather was in charge of the military hospital at Troy Alabama.  n 1864, while in Key West, Florida, on an expedition to recover salt to bring back to Alabama, Dr. Simmons was captured by Federal Troops and taken as a Prisoner of War. It was said he and a group of Confederate Soldiers had been captured while bathing the Gulf of Mexico.

At the Federal Prison at Key West, Dr. Simmons was offered his freedom if he would take the oath of allegiance to the United States and serve in Union Hospitals for the duration of the War. Since he had not actually been a Confederate soldier nor taken up arms against the Federal Government, he was given this opportunity to be paroled from the Prison Camp.  Dr. Simmons, believing that as a physician it was his duty to relieve the suffering of the sick, accepted these terms. He was carried away to the Mower Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he served as a contract surgeon for the duration of the War. 

Dr. Simmons was assigned to Wards 33 and 35 by the hospital's executive officer on the 4th of October 1864 about the same time his brother-in-law G.K. Williams enlisted in the Confederate Army at Troy Alabama. After the War, Dr. Simmons was awarded a citation for his services, which was unusual with him being a Southerner, and the patients of the hospital in appreciation of his kindness and efficient service presented him a silver watch, which he treasured highly and wore for many years.

When the war ended Dr. Simmons was allowed to return to Alabama and to his wile Georgiana who had grown fragile and frail from the hardships of managing his farm during the brutal war years.

 All of Wylie Rev. Green and Hattie Williams' sons would eventually serve in the Confederate armed forces. Miles Williams enlisted on the 25th of July 1862 in his older brother’s Company H 18th Alabama Infantry, at the age of 19, Lewis Williams on the 1st of May 1863 at the age 18 in the 47th Alabama Infantry, Company H, and George Kearse Williams in 1864 joined the 47th Alabama Company H on October 1, 1864 at the age of 16.

After Miles Perry joined the 18th Alabama Infantry he was sent to Mobile, Alabama. There the Eighteenth remained till April 1863, when it rejoined the Army of Tennessee, in a brigade with the Thirty-sixth and Thirty-eight Alabama regiments, and the Ninth Alabama battalion. 

In the woods surrounding a small creek in northwest Georgia, Union and Confederate armies clashed September 19-20 1963 in some of the hardest fighting of the Civil War. The prize was Chattanooga, the key rail center and gateway to the heart of the Confederacy. The 18th Alabama fought in this battle as it had done so in other western battles since Shiloh.

As in most Confederate regiments, the members of the 18th were not plantation owners, rather they were farmers, shopkeepers and common everyday folk. At Chickamauga the 18th was terribly mutilated, losing 22 out of 36 officers, and 300 out of 500 men, killed and wounded. At Mission Ridge where the Eighteenth was engaged, they and lost about 90 men, principally captured.

Early in September 1863, the Federals crossed the Tennessee River to the southeast of Chattanooga and again forced General Bragg to withdraw without a fight. Eluding his Federal pursuers, Bragg concentrated his forces at LaFayette, Georgia, 26 miles south of Chattanooga. Here reinforcements from East Tennessee, Virginia, and Mississippi swelled his ranks to more than 66,000 men. Thinking that Bragg was in full retreat, General Rosecrans of the Union Army split his army into smaller commands and swung the various parts south over Lookout Mountain trying to catch Bragg. However, Bragg was not in retreat, rather Bragg was moving to catch and destroy these isolated commands.

Twice he tried unsuccessfully to destroy segments of Rosecrans' army as they crossed the Lookout Mountain range. Alerted to the fact that Bragg was not in retreat, Rosecrans began concentrating his troops along the LaFayette Road near the Lee and Gordon Mill. Then, on September 18, hoping to wedge his troops between the Federals and Chattanooga, Bragg posted his army on the west bank of Chickamauga Creek along a line from Reed's Bridge to just opposite Lee and Gordon's Mill.

Fighting began shortly after dawn on September 19 when Union infantry encountered Confederate cavalry at Jay's Mill. This brought on a general battle that spread south for nearly four miles.  The armies fought all day on the 19th and gradually the Confederates pushed the Federals back to LaFayette Road. On the 20th Bragg again tried to drive between the Federal force and Chattanooga, but failed to dislodge Rosecrans' line.

Then the fortunes of war changed in favor of the Confederates when, due to a staff error, Rosecrans ordered a division to close in on the division to his north. This movement created a gap where by chance Confederate General James Longstreet's right wing was attacking. As the Confederates poured through the Federal line much of the Federal right, including General Rosecrans, were routed from the field. At Chickamauga the Alabama 18th had a part in an uncommon sight for the Army of Tennessee, the routing of a Federal army from the field.

 However Miles Williams was seriously wounded, in the thigh in the Battle of Chickamauga on September 20, 1863. Miles Williams was just one of thousands wounded on the battlefield. He was unconscious when he reached the army hospital but regained consciousness in time to hear the Surgeon giving instructions for the removal of his injured leg. Miles protested and absolutely refused to have the leg amputated, saying that he might never get well and go home, but that if he did he would have two legs. Eventually the leg did heal and it gave him very little trouble in later years.

Miles as a wounded soldier was allowed to go back home to Goshen, Alabama were he recuperated from his injuries. Originally called Goshen Hill,  Goshen was one of the oldest communities in Pike County, which organized in the 1820s. The Elam Primitive Baptist Church, established in 1830, was one of the earliest institutions serving the town and county. Land around Goshen Hill was fertile enabling farmers to grow cotton, corn, peanuts, and hay for cattle. During the Civil War, the fields around Goshen Hill were used as training grounds for Confederate soldiers.

On June 1, 1864 Miles re-enlisted at Florence Alabama back in the 18th Alabama Infantry Company H where he was given the rank of 2nd Sergeant and later promoted to corporal. He fought with the regiment in Northern Georgia trying to stop Sherman’s Atlanta to the Sea campaign;  fighting all the way down to Jonesboro, Georgia where by late August his regiment lost nearly half its number during the campaign. Miles was in Macon, Georgia when the unit he was with surrendered in April, 1865 and was paroled at Macon Georgia April 28, 1865.

Rev. Green son Lewis C. Williams is shown in Confederate records as enlisting in the Alabama 47th Regiment Company H. The 47th Alabama regiment was organized at Troy, in Pike, March 1863 as part of the brigade of General Clanton of Montgomery. Lewis Williams was in some of the fiercest fighting of the war after the 47th joined the main Army of Northern Virginia, and marched into Pennsylvania. He was at the Battle of  Gettysburg which was fought over 1-3 July  1863 where his regiment suffered 40 casualties.

Two months later, Lewis Williams was transferred to north Georgia where the 47th was at the Battle of Chickamauga on 20 September 1863. His brother was in the same battle and was wounded. Lewis C. Williams told his family when he came home that he escaped capture by Federal Troops at Chickamauga by some very hard running.                                

Lewis C Williams then took part in the Battle of Knoxville, Tennessee on 17 November through 4 December 1863 and in other operations in East Tennessee before the 47th rejoined the main Army of Northern Virginia again, in the spring of 1864. The 47th fought in Battle of the Wilderness on 5-6 May, 1864 and lost 111 men. They participated in the charge on Union Troops at Spotsylvania where the Alabama Brigade opened the battle.

Lewis Williams was finally wounded at the Battle of Cedar Creek on19 October 1864, in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. At dawn, October 19, 1864, the Confederate Army of the Valley under Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early surprised the Federal army at Cedar Creek and routed the 8th and 19th Army Corps.  Union Commander Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan arrived from Winchester to rally his troops, and, in the afternoon, launched a crushing counterattack, which recovered the battlefield. Sheridan's victory at Cedar Creek broke the back of the Confederate army in the Shenandoah Valley. During the battle a bullet “blistered” his big toe, making it painful for him to walk.

In the fall of 1864, Lewis C. Williams was furloughed to go home and there he convinced his folks to allow his youngest brother, George Kearse Williams, who was a large 16-year-old boy to join the Confederate Army. Green and Hattie Williams agreed as long as Lewis promised to look after him. Babe Williams, the youngest son of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams joined the army October 1, 1864 at Troy, Alabama enlisting in his brother’s company. Later the 47th was consolidated into the 57th Alabama Infantry Regiment. He later was made a corporal in the 57th Alabama Infantry Unit.

The 57th  was originally organized at Troy, in Pike County, in March 1863, as part of the brigade of General James H. Clanton of Montgomery. The 57th joined the Army of the Tennessee in time to share fully the hardships of the Dalton-Atlanta campaign in early 1864. The casualties of the regiment, however, were not severe until the Battle of Peach Tree Creek, when it was cut to pieces. Afterwards the regiment was consolidated with other decimated regiments including the 47th. In the 57th the Williams brothers participated in the movement into Tennessee, and at Franklin and Nashville, where losses were again large. Transferred to North Carolina, the regiment fought at Bentonville, North Carolina with severe losses.

On 19 March 1864, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston,  with 21,000 men, surprised General Sherman's left wing just south of Bentonville, North Carolina. The Confederates were initially successful, but the Federals had taken-up positions on the battlefield. On 21 March, That night the vastly out-numbered Confederate force withdrew across Mill Creek with the Confederates suffering 2,606 casualties.

George Kearse Williams was granted a furlough April 1, 1865 at Greensboro, South Carolina and he was on his way home when the war ended. He surrender and was granted parole at Augusta, Georgia not far from Barnwell County, the home of his grandfather, many of  his relatives. He arrived home the later part of April walking all the way.

The dream of Southern Independence was doomed from the start when at the beginning of the conflict the Northern States had a population of 22,000,000 while the South had only 9,000,000 and three million of these were African American Slaves.   The North's superior resources and Europe's neutrality were principally responsible for the Confederate defeat. The South was incapable of fighting a Modern War, which required massive armies, skilled workers, and trained managers. 

The Civil War did not end when General Robert S. Lee surrendered to General Grant on the 9th of April 1865, however that signaled the end to formal hostilities. John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln within weeks of the surrender of the armies of Virginia, and President Jefferson Davis was captured with what was left of the Confederate Government on the 10th of May 1865. 

During much of the war years, Rev. Green Williams was supporting a household consisting of himself, his wife Hattie, his daughter Winnie Hawkins, and her two children, Mary Etta Hawkins and Willie Green Hawkins, a son George Kearse Williams, and daughter Mattie Williams. During the war years, they lost a son, two sons-in-law, Andy Mills, and a granddaughter.  Rev. Green Williams was also entering his senior years. In 1864 he was 60 years old.

The personal cost of the Civil War to the family of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams can never be fully measured. On the home front as the war continued the cost of living escalated almost daily and the Confederate dollar dwindled until in early 1864 it was worth a Yankee nickel. A barrel of flour sold for $150 in 1864 and by March 1865 it was nearly $300! The ever-tightening naval blockade made it a daily struggle for families such as Rev. Green Williams just to keep clothed and fed. This may have been a consideration in allowing George Kearse Williams to enlist at the young age of 16 years

The eminent collapse of the Confederacy was evident when it began to recruit 16-year-old boys like George Kearse Williams and talked about granting slaves their freedom in exchange for military service. The fall of Atlanta and General Hood's defeat in Tennessee showed that the South's iron determination was not enough to overcome the Yankee's vigor.

In late spring 1865, the war was behind them and Rev. Green Williams and his remaining three sons who had returned from the war, planted crops and tried to repair the damages years of neglect had done to their father's farm. They raised corn, cotton, cattle and tended a vegetable garden and peach trees.

It was shortly after the war that Rev. Green Williams quit the Missionary Baptist Church ministry when he had considerable differences with them.  He joined the Primitive Baptist Church and after being received into the church he asked to be licensed to preach. When Wylie Rev. Green preached his trial sermon it proved unsatisfactory to the Primitive Baptist Elders and he was forbidden to preach. Green’s pride was hurt and he said some harsh words to the Primitive Baptist Elders who excluded him from the church. Rev. Green Williams returned to the Missionary Baptist Church but he refused to preach anymore and retired as an active minister.

After the war when Dr. William Simmons returned from Philadelphia, his wife Georgiana and he moved to Lowndes County, Alabama where he set up practice for about two years. The family may have moved from Pike County due to an incident that involved a freed person of color shortly after the Civil War according to one family legend. Supposedly Dr. Simmons rode away one night on a medical call when a man jumped at his horse's head but missed the bridle reins. Dr. Simmons managed to get away and it was assumed that the man then went to the house and broke in.  According to the family legend Georgiana was setting at her vanity brushing out her long red hair when she spied a man in her mirror hiding under the bed. Coolly she got up and made a fuss like she had forgotten an item in another room and went to another part or the house where she could run out side and alert her neighbors. The unfortunate fellow, hiding in Georgiana’s bedroom, was lynched without benefit of trial. This appalling episode may have hastened Georgiana’s demise, who was said to have been very delicate and in frail health.  

Not long after moving to Lowndes County, the lovely Georgiana Simmons died on the August 13, 1868 at the young age of thirty-three years. She left behind an eleven year old son George Joyce Simmons and a six-year-old daughter Bettie P Simmons. Now Rev. Green and Hattie Williams had out lived three of their ten children, Rice Williams, Wilson Williams and Georgiana Simmons.

Dr. Simmons remarried a year later on 20 December 1868 in Pike County, Alabama, Mary E Kirbo (1849–1893) who raised Georgiana’s two children.  Dr. Simmons left Alabama afterwards and took Rev. Green and Hattie Williams' grandchildren by Georgiana off to Texas where they settled at Weatherford. George Joyce Simmons and Bettie Simmons grew up on the Texas frontier near Weatherford where their father had a successful medical practice. 

Rev. Green William’s granddaughter Bette Simmons later married Winfield Scott who became a Texas Millionaire dealing in cattle, cottonseed oil, and real estate. She built a magnificent mansion at 1509 Pennsylvania Avenue in Fort Worth Texas, which has been acquired by the city and is open to the public for tours. She became a pillar of Fort Worth High Society and donated thousands of dollars to civic projects. She died in 1938 at the age of 77 years and is buried at the family mausoleum in East Oakwood Cemetery.

Grandson George J. Simmons married Lennie Coleman in Weatherford Texas in 1896 at the age of 41. He had ranches at Colorado City, and Big Spring Texas. George Simmons lived at Big Springs, Texas until 1911 when Winfield Scott, his brother-in-law died.  George Simmons then moved to Fort Worth to help her sister manage her fortune. George Simmons ran the large Scott ranch some thirty miles southwest of Fort Worth while retaining his own ranch near Big Springs. George Simmons died of cancer of the stomach on the 16th of May 1919 age 63 years.

In January 1866 Rev. Green and Hattie’s sons Miles and Lewis married daughters of local farmers. Miles Perry married on January 11, 1866 Nancy McLeod, the daughter of Malcolm and Christian McLeod.  Nancy grew up on a farm only a few miles from Rev. Green.  A week later Lewis Crawford married on January 18, 1866 Louisa J. Owens that daughter of Evan Owens and Sophia Caffey.

Miles P. Williams bought out father’s farm in Goshen, and Rev. Green then retired from farming.  Miles built a home for him and Nancy only a few hundred yards from the site of his parent's home. Miles and Nancy lived one mile east of Darien for the remainder of their lives. Here they reared their family of five children; two son and three daughters. Lewis C and Louisa Williams moved to the Darien Community where the Darien Primitive Baptist Church was located about two miles from Goshen.

In the fall of 1866 the widow Winnie Hawkins met and married James Jordan Calhoun Prim an ex-Confederate Soldier whose family had removed from Dale County, Alabama to Pike County. Jim Prim was the son of Abraham Prim and Elizabeth Davis and he courted Winnie Hawkins at her father's residence while her four-year-old son Willie Green Hawkins sat on his lap or straddled his neck.

Jim and Winnie were married 4 October 1866 on Hattie Williams's 56th birthday.  Jim Prim hired out as a farm laborer in the New Providence Community where Winnie and their first child Eliza Ann Elizabeth Prim was born August 8 1868. The following year the Prims moved to Clarke County Alabama in 1869 where Jim purchased a farm from his brother Thomas Jefferson Prim of Salltpa. Here a second child was born to Jim and Winnie Prim, another daughter Mattie Moyler Prim who was born December 27,1869 at Salitpa in Clarke County.

Crenshaw County was established on November 30, 1866, about two months after Winnie Prim’s 2^nd marriage. It was created by the Reconstruction era legislature from parts of Butler, Coffee, Covington, Pike and Lowndes counties. Rev. Green and Hattie's farm was incorporated into the new county. Crenshaw County is located in south central Alabama in that section of the state known as the timber belt.

Rev. Green Williams’ eldest daughter Hanson Mills is shown in the 1870 census as forming a household of her own and owning real estate valued at $200.00 and personal property worth $150.00. Her post office address was given as Rutledge as was true of all residents in Crenshaw County at the time. Rev. Green Williams three grandchildren were listed as Augustus age 14; Graves age 11, and Elizabeth age 9.  Gus Mills as he was called was shown as being hired out and Graves was also listed in his uncle Lewis Williams household, where he may have been working or being taken care of.

Hanson Mills raised her several children alone after the death of her husband. She had four known children. Her eldest was John Allen Mills was born October 7, 1855 near Rural Home. John Allen was named for Hanson’s brother in law John Allen West and died September 9, 1856 in Pike County at the age of' 2 years. George Augustus Mills was born September 29, 1857 and married Edith Wise. He lived in Crenshaw County, Alabama all of his life and died May 20, 1893 just before his 36th birthday. James K. Graves Mills or Graves Mills as he was commonly known was a prosperous and well-respected farmer in the Stokes Cross Roads Community in western Pike County.  Elizabeth A. Mills was born December 9, 1861 and married George Moye the son of George W. Moye and Susannah Barwick, and lived many years in Crenshaw County until they moved to Conecuh County, Alabama where they are both buried in the Belleville Baptist Church cemetery.

Hanson Mills never remarried and lived out the remainder of her life in the Chapel hill community of Crenshaw County, Alabama. Hanson was said to have resembled her father Rev. Green Williams and was a tall, thin, somewhat large-framed woman with a rather sparsely build. Hanson Mills died on May 29 1900 and is buried in the Chapel Hill Cemetery in Western Pike County, Alabama.

Winnie and her husband Jim Prim were living in Clarke County, Alabama according to the 1870 census. In this census they were listed as living in the Good Spring's community on a farm worth $300 and a personal property valued at $1OO. Here they farmed until all their children were grown and married with children of their own. In 1911 Jim and Winnie Prim moved to Jackson near the Tombigbee River. However Winnie Prim died on the June 12, 1911 shortly after moving to Jackson. Jim Prim died on the May 22, 1933, almost completely blind, deaf, and bedridden at the ripe old age of 95.

 Winnie's son by her first marriage, Green Hawkins married Josephine Browning and lived on a small farm his step-lather gave him at the Cross Roads community, about three miles from Salitpa. Later he bought another farm about four miles from Jackson until he sold it and bought a house in Jackson. Here he engaged in the trucking business while his wife kept a boarding house. Eventually Green Hawkins health became impaired and he sold his trucking;, business. A few weeks before he died, his son Jim Hawkins brought him to Mississippi and where he died. Green Hawkins was brought back to Jackson and buried in the family plot at Jackson. .

Eliza Ann Elizabeth Prim or “Annie” as she was known grew up in the Salitpa community in Clarke County. She was a good student and eventually became a teacher and taught for a number of years. Annie married late in life at the age of 45 to John L. LaCoste a widower about 16 years older than she. They removed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where Annie LaCoste also kept a boarding house. In 1922 John and Annie LaCoste left Tuscaloosa and returned to Jackson to care for her father who was now some 89 years of age. As they were packing their things for the move John L. LaCoste had a heart attack and died. He was buried at Jackson and Annie assumed care of her father. After the death of Jim Hawkins, Annie LaCoste sold the old home and purchased a small house on Rose Street near her half brother Green Hawkins where she lived until her death in 1958. She is buried in the family plot beside her parents.

Rev. Green and Hattie’s granddaughter Mattie Moyler Prim was born December 27, 1869 and married Gerald Walthall “Watt” Creagh on the December 29, 1897 at Salitpa, Clarke County, Alabama. Watt Creagh was the son of Gerard Walthall and Emma May Creagh. They lived in Salitpa until moving about forty miles to Suggsville Community in 1899. Here Watt Creagh worked the family farm. In 1918 they bought a home in Suggsville where they lived until they died. Mattie Creagh died on Christmas Day 1962. Watt Creagh was born July 28, 1868 and died September 11, 1963. Their joint headstone reads; “True and dependable servants of God.” They are buried in the Creagh Family Cemetery located on County Road 35, at the site of the Old Suggsville Methodist Church at Suggsville. 

On the 1st of August 1867 Green's youngest son George Kearse Williams who was also called by his nickname “Babe” and by the initials “G.K.” married Shelomith Rushton in Crenshaw County. Shelomith was the daughter of William and Rebecca Fanning Rushton who had moved to the county from Ramar in Montgomery County. The Rushtons were near neighbors of the Williams according to the 1870 census. After his marriage Babe Williams farmed a small portion of his father's land and lived with his parents.

Miles P. Williams had purchased Rev. Green Williams’ 160-acre farm on Christmas Day 1868. This family farm was located in the Northeast quarter of Section 13, township 9, Range 18. The farm had been homesteaded by Thomas Axon in the 1850’s then sold to an Oliver Fleming before Rev. Green acquired it.

Mattie Williams was the last to leave Wylie Rev. Green and Hattie' household when she married John Arnold Smith, a former confederate soldier. The pair was married the December 3, 1868 in Crenshaw County, Alabama over the objections of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams who felt Smith was a poor match for their youngest daughter. John was ten years older than Mattie, and had been previously been married and had a son named Marion. 

The 1870 U.S. Census showed a different South then did the 1860 census. Gone were the slave rolls and the large plantations and in their place were small farms and tenant farms worked by both white and black sharecroppers.  Rev. Green and Hattie Williams’ family are enumerated on 16 June 1870 in the census of Crenshaw County. Rutledge is their post office address. Rev. Green’s  occupation was given as both as farming and a minister. He formed a household which included himself “W.G.” age 60, Harriett age 54 and their daughter Mattie Smith age 20, her husband John Smith age 30 and their eight month old son, John Smith who was born in October the previous year. Rev. Green owned $200 worth of property and his personal estate was worth $250.00. No real estate or personal property is shown for John and Mattie Smith. The Rev. Green Williams family was listed as the 249 household.  His widow daughter Hanson’s household was number 247.   George Kearse Williams’ widowed mother in law Rebecca Rushton’s place was number 252.  Miles Williams place was number 266 and George K Williams lived at household 267.

Eventually Miles Williams and his sons became large landowners in the Vidette-Darien Community and operated a cotton gin and gristmill. Miles Williams was an active member of the Dorman-Vidette Community in Beat  7 for much of his adult life. He served as a Petit Juror for Crenshaw County in spring 1891.

Miles was a member of the New Harmony Missionary Baptist Church of which his father had been pastor.  Miles’ wife Nancy McLeod Williams was a member of the Elam Primitive Baptist Church near Goshen, in Pike County to which her family had belonged.   They lived the remainder of their lives in Beat 7 approximately one mile east of the Darian Church, his home only being a few hundred yards from the site of the house in which Rev. Green and Hattie Williams lived just before leaving for Texas in late 1871.

On May 11, 1893, after a popular election the county seat of Crenshaw was moved from Rutledge to the new and enterprising town of Luverne.  Luverne, later to become the leading town of the county, and is located in the central part of the county on the Patsaliga River near the site of an old Indian village. The land where the town was built was at one time part of the Cody Plantation. Luverne was named after the wife of M.P. LeGrand of Montgomery who had purchased land in the county for a railroad.

Sometime after the Crenshaw county seat was moved to Luverne, Miles Williams who was a great friend of Judge John Frank Walker, was said to always stop by the Courthouse to visit with the Judge. One thing they enjoyed very much was bragging about which one had the poorest set of sons-in-law. One day Miles went to town with a son-in-law, Henry Patterson and after attending to his business Henry went by the Judge’s office to see whether Miles was ready to go home. He walked in just in time to hear Miles assure the Judge that no one could possibly have a sorrier set of sons-in-law than Miles had. Miles had a lot of explaining to do on the way home and kept saying over and over again, "Dang it all, Henry, you know I wasn't talking about you!"

Nancy McLeod Williams was on the other hand very quiet, reserved by nature, and she dressed somewhat soberly but neatly and well. However it was reported that when she went with Miles to his Missionary Baptist Church she would wear some of her older clothes but when she attended her own church at Elam or any other Primitive Baptist Church, she would wear her newest and best. 

On one Sunday morning when it was meeting time at Nancy’s church, it was also meeting time at Miles Church, a few miles away in the opposite direction.  Miles plowed until it was time to go, hitched up his horse and buggy to pick up Nancy to go to her church.  Nancy got in the buggy, reached over and took the reins  from Miles and turned the buggy around and started up the road the wrong way to the Primitive Baptist Church.  When Miles asked what in the world she meant, she said quietly, “We are going to your church today!”, and they did.  He was too dirty to attend her church she thought.

In 1871 George Kearse Williams and his brother-in-law John A. Smith decided to immigrate to Texas where their eldest sister Mary Elizabeth West had written glowing accounts of fresh opportunities and new beginnings. John and Mary Elizabeth West had moved to Kaufman County, Texas in 1869.  As George Kearse Williams saw no future for himself nor his family any longer in the seemingly poverty stricken rural countryside of Alabama, he decided to leave for new opportunities. By 1871 George Kearse had a small family three daughters and John Smith had a family of two sons John and Willie Smith and he had a difficult time providing, for them.

Rev. Green Williams still smarting from the rebuke the Primitive Baptist community gave him and having differences with the members of Missionary Baptist Church decided to go with his youngest son and daughter to Texas. Hattie Williams was heart broken over leaving her home of the past twenty years and her older children and grandchildren; but she held it was her duty to remain at her husband's side. Hattie resigned herself to moving to Texas because Green’s health was failing and she hoped the western climate would do him some good. She was however encouraged by the prospects of seeing her daughter Mary Elizabeth West and her older grandchildren in Texas.

The departure of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams along with his youngest children from Alabama was a momentous decision. They never were to see their Alabama children, nor grandchildren again. For the third time in their lives, Rev. Green and Hattie were making a break from all former associations. In 1838 Rev. Green left South Carolina in a huff depriving Hattie of the association of her kinfolk there. In 1850 he uprooted his family from Georgia to move to Alabama. Now in 1871 it was Rev. Green who was being taken from his children and grandchildren, who had established a life for them selves in post-bellum Alabama. However one only can imagine the teary farewell as Rev. Green, Hattie and their youngest children prepared for departure and said their goodbyes. They spent their last Christmas in Alabama and after the New Years 1872 were ready to leave.

The families set off from Darien-Vidette and traveled to Mobile Alabama where they sailed to New Orleans. Here they traveled by paddleboat up the Red River to the Cypress River where they landed at Jefferson, Texas on January 12, 1872. Jefferson, Texas resembled Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri more than it did Texas to the West.  Instead of ranchers and cowboys there were lumbermen, riverboat captains, and dockhands.  In fact, the earliest settlers probably didn’t consider themselves Texans at all. 

Situated on Big Cypress Bayou, Jefferson early became a river port town, and, in fact, has been described as the "River port to the Southwest." The boats came up the Mississippi River into the Red River, through Caddo Lake, and up Big Cypress to what was known as, and still is termed, the "Turning Basin" where the stern-wheelers loaded and unloaded cargo.

The years after the Civil War became Jefferson's heyday with people coming from the devastated southern states seeking a new life. In 1872, there were exports in the thousands of dry hides, green hides, tons of wool, pelts, bushels of seed, several thousand cattle and sheep, and over a hundred thousand feet of lumber. For the same period, there were 226 arrivals of steamboats with a carrying capacity averaging 425 tons each.

George K. Williams, after landing at Jefferson, took his father, mother, sister and brother in law to what was then Titus County near the Lake of the Pine where his sister Mary West lived. The community they settled in was known as South Union and here George K Williams bought a farm known as the Kendrick's Place. 

South Union was about four miles south of Daingerfield in the southern portion of the County and just a couple miles west of Hughes Springs in neighboring Cass County. The region had a strong Primitive Baptist and Missionary Baptist Churches at an early date, which would have been a prime reason for settling in the area. In 1875 Morris County was created from Titus County and Daingerfield was selected as the County Seat. The East Line and Red River Railroad came to Daingerfield in 1877 which brought more goods to the area.  The family of John and Mattie Smith's also settled at the South Union Community where Rev. Green and Hattie made their home with them.

By 1871, half of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams's  posterity became Texans; the Wests, the Simmons, the Smiths, and George K. Williams' descendants while the other half of the family remained in Alabama; the Mills, the Hawkins-Prims, Miles Williams, and Lewis Williams.

Earlier in 1872, Rev. Green and Hattie lost a third grown child. Shortly after Rev. Green and Hattie had moved to Texas, Mary E. lWest died in Titus County. She was the mother of 12 children born between 1850 and 1872.

In November 1875 Rev. Green and Hattie had been married fifty years. However Rev. Rev. Green Williams was quite feeble and while living with his daughter Mattie Smith, he fell from a porch and broke his hip in early summer 1878. Mattie Smith was unable to care for her father properly and Hattie and Rev. Green went to live with their son George K. Williams. There Green’s health failed and he died at the home of his son on or about July 12, 1879 near Jenkins, in Morris County, Texas.  Rev. Rev. Green Williams was 75 years old at the time of his death.

The death date is only calculated from the second hand source of Rosa Lee Perser Williams who was married to Rev. Green Williams grandson, Edgar L. Williams. Edd Williams said he remembered not having a birthday celebration when he was 6 years old because his grandpa had died. He never remembered the old gentleman but remember not having a party. Morbidity Schedules for the 1880 census of Morris County also stated that  “W.G. Williams” age 76 died July 1879 of Catarrhal Fever, an obsolete term once applied to various respiratory and upper respiratory infections, including the common cold, influenza, pneumonia and bronchopneumonia. 

Rev. Green Williams was buried at the Old South Union Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery. None of his children from Alabama could make the long journey to Texas for his funeral.  His grave was marked originally with a native sandstone tombstone, which has since worn away. In 1959, 80 years after his burial, some of  his descendants tried to find his grave but all trace of his marker had disappeared.

 The church that once was there is also long gone but the small cemetery is still there. The cemetery has only twelve rows of graves, all facing the east. Most of the graves are only denoted by a pile of rocks or by native sandstone markers that inscriptions have eroded with time. The cemetery can be located by taking US 259 from the community of Jenkins south to 3421then head east to Jerusalem Road head north on county road 2113 for a half-mile then turn left another 8/10 of a mile. The property is on private land and you must ask for permission to enter. Most of the identified graves are from the Glover and Collins families. The oldest date found in the cemetery is for Mary Ida Collins who died February 4, 1887.  Granddaughters of Rev. Green Williams married into both the Collins and Glover families.

The 1880 Agricultural Census of Morris County listed "Green Williams" although he died in July 1879. Since the census included farm produce from 1879 to 1 June 1880, Green's farm was listed.  The census placed a value on crops and livestock raised on the farm but excluded cabbage and potato patches as well as family vegetable gardens.  This census showed that Green's farm consisted of 39 acres which was being rented for a share of the product. The farm had $10 worth of farming implements and $130 worth of livestock. All in all the farm produce was worth $600.  The farm  according to the census had 30 acres in corn which produce 300 bushels, 2 acres planted in oats which produced 20 bushels. He had 10 acres in cotton which he produced 9 bales. Livestock listed on the farm were 2 horses, 2 milk cows and 3 head of cattle. During the year 2 calves had dropped and 40 pounds of butter churned.  The place also had 19 hogs and 25 barnyard fowl that produced a 100 dozen eggs.   As that Rev. Green Williams was nearly 76 year old at this time and his son George had his own farm, surely he had hired help working this place. This is the last known record for Rev. Green Williams.

 Relatives remember Rev. Green Williams as being tall over six feet with a large frame.  He was a man with thick shoulders and a rather large head. He probably inherited his looks from his Kirkland side of the family many who were described as tall people over six feet tall. He had a heavy growth of hair on his head and wore a long heavy beard for much of his life. His son G.K. Williams was said to have favored his father in looks.  

As a widow, Hattie Williams went to live with her son George K. Williams because she did not care for her son in law John Smith.  She moved with her son’s family from Morris County to Cass County where her son, George K was now a Baptist minister in Hughes Springs. Hattie Williams also had extended visits with George .K. Williams grown children after they married, including Rosa Williams who doted over her. Rosa even named a daughter after her.

Mattie Smith's husband John Smith also became a Missionary Baptist Minister and was ordained by the Turkey Creek Church located between Avinger and Hughes Springs. He was ordained into the ministry around 1890 and the first marriage license for a wedding, he performed, was recorded the 7th of February 1892.

Relatives who knew John and Mattie Smith remember John as being nervous, impulsive, high strung, subject to violent rages of temper, and given to violent and extreme statements, and expressions of opinion. He was also described in records as being “fleshy” which today we would say obese. Mattie Smith is remembered as being very quiet, very even tempered, but positive and strong-willed. She could very quickly quiet her husband down when he was in one of his rages by facing him, and stating that she heard enough of that, and that there was not going to be any more of it.

While visiting her daughter Mattie Smith, who had moved to the Watson Creek Community in Cass County, Hattie Kearse Williams died in her sleep on or about the 22nd of May 1900. The Watson Community was half way between Hughes Springs and Linden. The 1900 census record of John and Mattie Smith was taken on June 1, 1900 and Hattie is not listed in their household nor is she in any other family member’s household so she must have had recently passed away. 

Her grandson’s wife Rosa Lee “Granny Rose” Williams remembered Hattie Williams’ funeral because Rev. Green Williams had died when her husband was about six years and Hattie died when Rosa’s oldest boy was five years old. In her old age Granny Rose could not remember what she had for breakfast but could tell stories from her youth and young married life. The family of Edgar L. Williams would have certainly attended the funeral of his grandmother, having lived within miles of the Watson (Bear Creek) Community.

Hattie Williams was buried in the Watson Cemetery over the protest of George K. Williams who wanted his mother buried at the South Union Cemetery next to Rev. Green Williams. However by then, nearly twenty years after Rev. Green died, the location of his grave had been nearly forgotten. The Watson Cemetery in which Hattie is now completely abandoned,  and grown up in underbrush. Hattie’s grave was unmarked but was located on a hill above the house where Mattie Smith lived in 1900.

Hattie Williams was remembered as being bright and lively right up until her death at the age of ninety. She was a small dark complexioned woman who was brisk and quick in her actions. She had a lively disposition.  She was less than five feet tall while her husband had been over six feet! Hattie’s son Wilson, who died in the Civil War, was said to have favored her.

Strangely Hattie Williams could neither read nor write although her husband and all her children were literate and wrote a good hand. It seems out of the ordinary that she being the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner that she was never taught to read and write.

Hanson Williams Mills died within days after her mother on May 29, 1900 in Alabama after receiving news of the death of her mother.

Rev. Green’s daughter in law Nancy McLeod Williams died on March 17, 1922 and his son Miles Williams died on the September 10, 1924 at the age of 82.  Miles’ Will was filed May 16, 1925, in Crenshaw County Probate Records Book A page 276.  It stated that he was at the time of death an inhabitant of Crenshaw County, Alabama. “Being in failing health but of sound mind do make and publish this my last will and testament, hereby revoking all former wills by me at any time heretofore made….I give to my two sons H. (Hugh) Williams and J.W. (James Wilson) Williams all my land ....I give and bequeath to my daughter Sarah Christi Rhodes $200 in cash. My last request at my decease I want to be buried at Emmaus Cemetery [Location City of Luverne] as near my daughter Docie Patterson’s grave as can conveniently be put also fixed with the same kind of material as her grave is fixed with….I do nominate my two sons H. and J.W. and my legal counsel and friend M.W.Rushton to be Executors.  Signed April 01,1925.

The dates on this document are extremely strange. Perhaps the transcriber got the dates wrong because Miles died nearly six months before this document was signed.  The request that he be buried near his daughter Docie Patterson was not honored evidently because both Miles and Nancy Williams and their youngest child are buried in the Elam Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery near Goshen in Pike County, Alabama. Goshen is about ten miles from Vidette. Miles and Nancy had three sons Hugh Williams, James Wilson Williams, and Willie Make Williams and three daughters, Mary Ola Patterson, Sarah Rhodes, and Effie Donie Patterson.

Lewis Williams and his wile Louisa Owens reared their family on a farm near Darien and were members of the Darien Primitive Baptist Church. Louisa Owens Williams died the May 24, 1904 and Lewis Williams died May 6, 1906. They are  both buried in the family plot at Darien Baptist  Cemetery. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters. George Lee Williams died age 24, Lewis Crawford Williams Jr. died age 72 Evan Green Williams died age 72, Bailey Griffin Williams died age 60, Calvin Kearse Williams died age 57 years, Lella Golden, died age 27, Lula Jane Thompson died age 32, Marietta king died age 22, Georgia Ann Texas Davis died 1961, and Sarah Winifred Williams died six months.

Lewis Williams Will was filed May 4 1908; in Probate Book A page 145. He was at the time of death an inhabitant of Beat 7 Crenshaw County, Alabama.(Darian). “I give to my son L.C. Williams Jr.,one dollar…and to my daughter Marieter King, one dollar…and to my daughter Lula Thompson one dollar….and my son E.G.Williams one dollar…and Lella Golden one dollar. I will to my 2 sons B.G.Williams & Calvin Williams the following land ....I will to my daughter Georgia Williams the following land ....I leave my personal property with my 2 sons Bailey and Calvin Williams to be divided and do as they see proper. I hereby appoint my sons B.G.Williams and Calvin Williams to be Executors of my will without bond .  Signed April 19,1906.

The youngest children of Rev. Green and Hattie Kearse Williams died in Cass County, Texas. Mattie Smith died 4 May 1936 and her brother Rev. George Kearse Williams died 6 December 1941 in Hughes Springs. He died the day before the attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entrance in to World War II.

WILLIAM “REV. GREEN“ Wylie Green” WILLIAMS son of Wilson Williams and Elizabeth Kirkland

Born March 4, 1804 Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina
Died July 12, 1879 South Union Community, Morris, Texas age 74 years.
Buried South Union Baptist Church Cemetery, Morris, Texas
Married November 3, 1825 Buford’s Bridge, Barnwell, South Carolina

 HARRIETT “Hattie” KEARSE daughter of William Kearse and Flora Brabham

Born October 4, 1810 Buford’s Bridge, Barnwell, South Carolina
Died May 22, 1900 Watson Community, Cass, Texas age 89 years
Buried Watson Cemetery, Cass, Texas

CHILDREN AND KNOWN POSTERITY

“MARY” ELIZABETH WILLIAMS was born 1827Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina and died 1872 Titus County, Texas age 45 years complications from childbirth. She married John Allen West on December 27, 1846 in Cuthbert, Randolph, Georgia. He was born circa 1825 Jasper County, Georgia and died after 1880 in Kaufman County, Texas. The 1880 Census of Kaufman County shows that John West was living in Precinct 6 as a widower with a large family.
A. Harriett Kearse West  born June 1850 Cuthbert, Georgia died 1855 Pike County, Alabama
B. John Allen West Jr. born February 28, 1851 Missouri Village, Alabama and died  6 August 1916  McCurtain, Oklahoma. He married Martha Daisy Smith and had George Washington West, James J West, Mary Rebecca West, and Daisy Jullieth West.
C. Miles Green West born March 20, 1853, married Nancy A. Crocker December 18, 1879 in Kaufman County, Texas and 2^nd Barbara Ella Price by whom he had three children Ernest L West, William Doyle West, and Mrs. Verna Bell White
D. James Hartsfield West born August 26, 1855 died after June 1929. He married December 24, 1879 Mary E. Crocker born 1858 Mississippi to Thomas and Louisa Crocker. She was the sister of Nancy A Crocker. He helped secure a Confederate Pension for his uncle George Kearse Williams in 1929 saying, “I was well acquainted with G.K. Williams in 1864 and know of my own knowledge that he enlisted in the Confederate Army about October 1st, 1864 and served 7 months in Company H 47th Alabama Regiment.”  Jim West and Mary were the parents of William Claude West husband of Bessie J Anderson, James Frank West husband of IdaBelle Cagle, Charles West husband of Minnie Della Green, and Walter W West husband of Lena J Reed.
E. Mary Amerine West born March 1858 in Alabama married Mr. Hines, 2nd November 26 1882 W.C. Black, 3rd A.W. Cunningham on August 18, 1885. Daughter  Bettie Hines born 1877 Texas
F. David Franklin West was born 7 April 1860 in Pike County, Alabama and died 10 April 1940 in Fort Worth, Texas. He married Mary E Kemp a native of Indiana 13 November 1887 in Kaufman County, Texas. No known offspring.
G. Frances “Fannie” West born 1862 in Pike County Alabama married Samuel W Cole 14 March 1880 in Kaufman County, Texas. Nothing further is known.
H. Minnie West born 1864 Alabama. She is mentioned in the 1880 census of Kaufman County, Texas but nothing more is known.
I. Georgia Ann West born 1866 Alabama. Nothing more is known of her after 1880.
J.  Mary “Mollie” C. West born 6 February 1869 in Alabama. She died 3 October 1944 in Victoria, Texas. She married Joseph Peter Jecker of French descent but they were divorced by 1900 and she never remarried. Her children were Frank P Jecker 1886-1934 husband of Derena Schroeder, Clarence Victor Jecker 1888-1966 died unmarried. Leila U Jecker 1893-1990 married William C McRae later divorced and was married to a Mr. Karm, and Frederick Joseph Jecker 1895-1976 husband of Ruth Madden.
K. Nancy West born 1870 Titus County, Texas Nothing more is known of her after 1880.
L. Evie West born 1872 Titus County, Texas Nothing more is known of her after 1880.

 WILLIAM RICE  “Rice” WILLIAMS was born 1830 in Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina and died September 7, 1845 in Cuthbert, Randolph, Georgia age 15

SARA HANSON WILLIAMS was born August 4, 1832 Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina and died May 29, 1900 in the Rural Home Community, Pike, Alabama age 68 years. She is buried Chapel Hill Baptist Cemetery, Pike, Alabama. Hanson married October 30, 1854 in Missouri Village, Pike, Alabama, Andrew Jackson “Jack” Mills the son of William and Eleanor Graham Mills. He was born 1833 in Columbus, North Carolina and died Jan 2, 1863 Murfreesboro, Rutherford, Tennessee during the Civil War as a soldier.  

A. John Allen Mills was born October 7, 1855 Missouri, Pike, Alabama and died September 9, 1858 Pike Co, AL age 2 years
B.   Green Augustus “Gus” Mills was September 29, 1857 Missouri, Pike, Alabama and Died April 17, 1893 Mitchell, Pike, Alabama age 35 years. He married Edith F. A. Wise by 1880 in Mitchell, Pike, Alabama. Edith Mills never remarried after the death of her husband and reared her children on her farm near Camp Ground Church. Their children were Hubert Mills, Carrie Mills, Parker Mills, Augustus Mills,
C. James Robert Graves Mills was born November 4, 1859 New Providence, Pike, Alabama and died May 24, 1934 at Rural Home, Pike, Alabama. He married Mary Emma Rhodes. Graves as he was known was a prosperous, respected and well-known farmer in the Stokes Cross Roads Community in Pike County. He married and had at least one daughter Ola Mills Finley.
D.  Elizabeth “Lizabeth” A. Mills was born December 9, 1861 New Providence, Pike, Alabama and died February 1, 1920 Belleville, Conecuh, Alabama.  She married George W. Moye by 1880 Fullers Crossroads, Crenshaw, AL.  He was born March 1860. They lived for many years in the Camp Ground Community where they reared a large family. In later years they moved to Conecuh County, AL near Belleville. Both are buried in the Belleville Baptist Cemetery. Their children were George Moye 1881-1973, Mrs. Sally Jones, Sam Moye 1884-1975, Henry Moye  1886 -died Apr 1970 Mattie  Moye wife of Will Jones

GEORGIANA WILLIAMS was born 1834 Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina and died August 23, 1867 Lowndes County, Alabama at the age of  33 years. She married Dr. William L. Simmons January 3, 1856 Troy, Pike, AL. After her death, he married 2nd Mollie E. Kirbo December 28, 1868 Pike County, AL. She was only 18 years old. After the death of Georgiana, Dr. Simmons lived in Butler County in 1869 before moving to Texas in 1870, settling in Weatherford where his brother Dr. Austin S. Simmons was practicing medicine.  Dr. William L. Simmons and his family sailed to Galveston and went by stage to Waco, on to Cleburne, and then Weatherford. Family history stated that Dr. Simmons stopped practicing medicine and went into the cattle and livery stable business in Texas. However the 1880 US Census of Parker County shows that in that year was still practicing medicine and wealthy enough to employed a cook. Dr. Simmons secured a patent for a “liver Invigorator” which was sold quite widely in the South for many years. The commonly known name of the product was “Dr. Simmons Liver Regulator” The Simmons brothers both died in 1913 and are buried at Weatherford.

A. George Joyce Simmons was born 8 December 1856, Troy, Pike, Alabama and died  May 16, 1919 at Fort Worth, Tarrent, Texas of Cancer of the Stomach. He married Lennie Coleman April 22, 1896 at Weatherford. As a widow she married second Robert E. Lee Culp who died seven years later. George J Simmons children were Elizabeth “Bess” Simmons wife of Carl Francis (Pete) Clark,  James Coleman Simmons 1903-1976 husband of Berenice Johnson

B. Elizabeth “Bettie” Perry Simmons was born  August 17, 1861 Troy, Pike, Alabama and died September 20, 1938 Fort Worth, Arrant, Texas. She is buried at the family Mausoleum at East Oakwood Cemetery, Fort Worth, TX. She married Winfield Scott December 9, 1884 and like her mother she was red headed, attractive, and vivacious. The family left Alabama and were living in Weatherford, Texas by July 1870.  Weatherford was regarded as frontier until 1877 because of Indian raids, but Weatherford was never attacked.  Bettie attended Ursuline Academy in Dallas and Weatherford College.  It is told that she taught school in Mineral Wells before she met Winfield Scott. They met in the home of a friend somtime after 1882.  Winfield was a wealty man when he courted Bettie.  She married Winfield Scott who was born 1849 in Missouri and who had walked to Texas as a young boy. He became quite wealthy dealing in cattle, cottonseed oil, and real estate. He had been married previously and had a daughter, Georgia. A marriage license was issued in Parker Co for Bettie Simmons and Winfield Scott on Dec 6 1884.  They were married Dec 9 in Weatherford.  The wedding was reported as most brilliant social event Weatherford had ever seen.  The newlyweds traveled to Europe for their honeymoon, and in Paris, Winfield purchased a diamond dog-collar for Bettie.  In 1885 Bettie and Winfield moved too Colorado City, Texas.  It was more frontier-like then Weatherford but prosperous.  34 cattlemen who were worth $100,000 lived in the city, with Winfiled Scotts name heading the list.  The Scotts sold their home in Dec 1889.  By 1892, they had a residence at Lamar & West 5th(Valcour) and rooms at the Pickwick Hotel. Bettie returned to Weatherford to be at the bedside of her stepmother.  Mrs Simmons had suffered from pneumonia several years earlier and had contracted "consumption".  She was present when Mollie Simmons died at the age of 44.  Both Elizabeth and Winfield attended the funeral at the Simmons home on South Main and the burial in Weatherford. They returned to their home in Fort Worth and after 17 years of marriage, when she was 44 and he was 52, they had a child.  Winfield Scott Jr. was born on 2 Nove 1901, in Fort Worth.  Seven months later , in June 1902, Elizabeth traveled to Deatur to atten the wedding of Electra Waggoner and AB Wharton.  One of Electra's cousins (Annie) married a Simmons.  Fort Worth papers indicate that the Scotts led a busy social life in the early 1900's.  In both 1908 and 1909 the Scotts and Winfield Jr. toured Europe.  They moved to St Louis and lived on Washington Ave in 1910.  At this home they had 3 servants including a cook and a nursemaid for Winfield Jr.  The Scotts moved back the Forth Worth and

purchased Thistle Hill a palatial estate in 1911. Thistle Hill was designated in 1978 as the first City of Fort Worth Historic and Cultural Landmark.  A rare Georgian Revival mansion in a neighborhood once known as Quality Hill, Thistle Hill epitomizes the architectural grandeur of the cattle barons.  Albert Buckman Wharton, Jr. and Electra Waggoner Wharton, the daughter of wealthy pioneer cattleman W.T. Waggoner, moved into to this 11,000 square foot, 18-room mansion in 1904.  Originally designed by Sanguinet and Staats, the house was redesigned by the same firm in 1911 when the mansion was purchased for $90,000 by Elizabeth and Winfield Scott. While the Scotts were remodeling Thistle Hill, Winfield Sr. died at the St Joseph's infirmary on Oct 16.  Elizabeth and Winfield Jr. were the only family present(his death was unexpected).  One of the most impressive surviving mansions of the “cattle baron” era, is Betty Schott's home Thistle Hill which is situated on a 6.5-acre plot in the Near Southside. It and was purchased in 1903-04 and the Georgian Revival-style mansion was remodeled in 1911. Today it is listed on the National Register. The nearly

11,000-square-foot, red brick structure was once the scene of lavish dinners and parties as its owners entertained Fort Worth's powerful and elite. Some said Elizabeth became a social recluse after Winfiel's death. During the next 8 years following her husband's death, Elizabeth lost her uncle, father, and brother George. Bettie inherited her husband’s huge fortune and invested it to make even a greater fortune.  The following is a list of some of her activities:  served on the Children's Hospital Board, was a life time member of the Fort Worth Womans' Club, was an original member when the Fort Worth Garden Club was formed in 1926, member of Rivercrest Country Club, served as a director of Fort Worth State Bank, direcor of the Fort Worth Stock Show, belonged to the West Side Bridge Club and the West Side Luncheon Club, was on the Fort Worth Centennial Livstock/Pioneer Day Commission and was on the hospitality committee for the Fort Worth Garden Club in 1933.  Elizabeth and Winfield, Jr. donated the site of the downtown YMCA.  After several months of health problems, Elizabeth Bettie P Simmons Scott died in Fort Worth on Sep 20, 1938 at the age of 77. Their children were step daughter Georgia Scott 1870-1957 wife of Mr. Carter and Mr. Townsend. She was disinherited and contested her father’s will and received $250,000 from father’s estate in 1915.  Winfield Scott Jr. 1901- 1956 and was married 8 times. He died of alcoholism. Only child was by third wife Charlotte Morgan. After her death the Thistle Hill Mansion was acquired by the Girls Service League of Fort Worth in 1940. The house was then empty from 1968 to 1975. A year later, in 1976, a preservation non-profit organization called Save-the-Scott purchased the house and restored it. On January 1, 2006, Historic Fort Worth, Inc. took possession of the house and has devoted time and resources toward further restoration.The home continues to be rented for weddings and receptions.^[4]

JAMES WILSON  “Wilson” WILLIAMS was born 1837 at Swallow Savannah, Barnwell, South Carolina and died June 16, 1862 at Oxford, Lafayette, Mississppi at the age of 25 years while serving in Alabama 18th Infantry Company H as a Private. He fought in the Battle of Shiloh.

ELLIOTT WINIFRED “Winnie” WILLIAMS was born February 15, 1840 in Cuthbert, Randolph, Georgia and died June 12, 1911 in Jackson, Clarke, Alabama. She married James “Jim” A. Hawkins December 29, 1859 at Goshen, Pike, Alabama. He died in the Civil War. She married 2nd James Jordan Prim October 4, 1866 Goshen, Pike, Alabama.

A. Mary Etta Hawkins was born November 3, 1860 New Providence, Pike, Alabama and died February 14, 1864 New Providence, Pike, AL
B. William Green Hawkins was born February 11, 1862 Goshen, Pike, AL and died after 1927 Jackson, Clarke, AL. He married Josephine Browning
C. Eliza Ann “Annie” Elizabeth Prim was born August 8, 1868 Goshen, Pike, AL and died 1958 Jackson, Clarke, AL. She married John Le Costa
D. Mattie Moyler Prim was born December 27, 1869 Salitpa, Clarke, AL and died December 25, 1962 Suggsville, Clarke, AL. She is Buried in the Creagh Family Cemetery 100-200 yards behind her home in Suggsville. She married Gerald “Watt” Walthall Creagh 29 December 1897 Clarke County, AL. Watt Creagh was the son of Gerard Walthall and Emma May Creagh. Watt Creagh was born July 28, 1868 Greenboro, AL and died September 11, 1963. Their children were Mattie Moyler Creagh 1898- 1991 wife of Allen Lorenzo Glidden and Oscar Dresse, Gerard “Elliott” Creagh 1900-1970 married Flora Johnson,  James “Clyde” Creagh 1901- 1983 married Olive Nolan, “Joe” Massey Creagh 1903-1976 married Sadie Denny, Daisey Lee Creagh 1905-2002 wife of Herbert Spencer Grayson, Joseph Otto Screws, and Mr. Carpenter,  “Edgar” Wall Creagh 1907- 1997 married Georgia Frazier, and Clarence “Aubrey” Creagh 1908- 1979 married Myrtle Sachman 

MILES “Miles” PERRY WILLIAMS was born Sept 26 1842 in Cuthbert, Randolph, Georgia and died September 10, 1924 Vidette, Crenshaw, Alabama age 82 years. He is buried in Elam Cemetery, Goshen, Pike, Alabama. He Married January 11, 1866 Nancy McLeod daughter Malcolm and Christian McLeod. She died March 17, 1922 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL Buried Elam Cemetery, Goshen, Pike, Alabama

A. Hugh Williams was born 23 July 1867, Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died 12 June 1936 Vidette, Crenshaw AL. He is buried Darian Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. He married 1894 Mannie “Perry” Lee Moore [4 July 1871-6 July 1925]. Their children were  Dora L. Williams 1894- 1977 Goshen, Pike, AL married Ivey Sikes,
B. James Wilson “Jim” Williams was Born July 23, 1870 Vidette, Crenshaw, Alabama and Died October 14, 1954 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. He Married Loura Emily Jones 18 Dec 1901. He bought land and built his house at Vidette, south of where he grew up. Here he ran a store, sawmill, gristmill, cotton gin, and farmed. Loura was raised in the Camp Ground Community a very staunch and devoted Methodist. After they were married Jim and Loura joined the Luverne Methodist Church where their seven children became members. “Mr. Jim” enjoyed a long life and instilled the appreciation for hard work in his seven children. Loura was very pleasant and positive lady and always welcomed her children’s friends and others into their home. After her death in 1944, Jim lived at home with four sons until they married. Both Jim and Loura are buried in Emmaus Cemetery in Luverne. Their children were Bernice Williams 1903-2002 wife of John Milton Hightowe, James Ralph “Tony” Williams 1905-1991married Eugenia Smith. Col. Eugene Wilson “Gene” Williams married Virginia Chandler, Leo Harold Williams 1910-1971 married Helen Fomby, Lucille Williams 1910-1992 wife of   Edward Kenny and Ed Mac Farrior, Ella “Kate” Williams 1912-1978 wife of James McGrath, and Dr. Joseph Warren Williams married Martha Brush,
C. Mary “Ola” Williams was born January 11, 1873 Vidette, Crenshaw, Al and died November 12, 1954 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married David Lee “Henry” Patterson born June 1858. Their children were Oliver Patterson, Willard Patterson, Cumi Patterson 1896-1974 wife of  Mr. Norman,  E.J. Patterson 1898-1985,
D. Sarah Christi  “Sac” Williams was born 1875 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died July 6, 1923 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married Joseph “Joe” Lee Rhodes
E.  Fredonia “Effie Docie” Williams was born  April 18, 1877 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died December 22, 1913 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married Robert “Bob” Patterson
F. Willie Make Williams was born September 14, 1880 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died June 5, 1885 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL in childhood. He is buried in Elam Cemetery, Goshen, Pike, Alabama

LEWIS CRAWFORD WILLIAMS was born April 28, 1845 Cuthbert, Randolph, GA and died May 6, 1906 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. He was buried in Darian Baptist Church Cemetery. He Married January 18, 1866 Louisa J. Owens daughter of Evan Owens and Sophia Caffey. She born 27 July 1844  died May 24, 1904  mother of 10 children

A. George Lee Williams was born October 5, 1866 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died Oct 17, 1890 at Vidette age 24 years. He is buried in the Darian Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
B. Lewis Crawford “Dock” Williams Jr. was born January 29, 1868 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died March 6, 1940 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL ..He is buried in the Darian Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. He married Leona Frances Carter (1871-1952) on January 29, 1890 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. Their children were Clinton Williams, Leila Williams,  Carl Williams  1895 died 4 months old,  Bettie Williams, Victor Williams,  James Douglas Williams 1902-1903
C.. Ella E. Williams was born April 6, 1870 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died October 1897, age 27 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married Francis M. Golden
D. Evan “Green” Williams was born February 9, 1874 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died February 24,1947 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. He married Emma Jackson
E. Lula Jane Williams was born born October 31, 1876 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died April 9, 1909 age 32 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married James Zimri Thompson
F. Mary Etta Williams was born born October 1879 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died 1949 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. She married W. Pink King
G. Bailey Griffin Williams was born 4 May 1882 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died May 20, 1942 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL. He never married.
H. Georgia Ann Texas Williams was born 24 May 1884 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died after 1958. She married Columbus Davis (Oct 26, 1879-May 1966Autauga, AL)
I.  Sarah Winifred Williams was born July 14, 1888 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died Dec 13, 1888. She is buried in the  Darian Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery
J.  Calvin Kearse Williams was born October 12, 1889Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died March 4, 1946 Vidette, Crenshaw, Alabama. He married Oma R. Fowler born 01 Oct 1895 and died 15 Aug 1997 in Chancellor, Geneva, AL. He served from Luverne, Alabama in  WWI July 1917

Rev. GEORGE KEARSE “BABE” WILLIAMS was born December 6, 1847 Cuthbert, Randolph, Texas and died December 6, 1941 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. Rev. G.K. Williams is buried in Block 3 Lot 9 with wife and son Leonard Fermon Williams and his daughter in law Vera. Babe Williams married Rebecca “Shelomith” Rushton August 1, 1867, Vidette, Crenshaw, AL daughter of William and Rebecca Rushton. She was born September 13, 1845 Ramar, Montgomery, AL and died July 24, 1924 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas

A. Margaret “Maggie” Jane Williams was born June 1, 1868 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died May 19, 1909 Avinger, Cass, Texas. She married Thomas J. “Tommie” Williams (1867-1921 of Douglasville, Texas) 25 May 1909-We are grieved to record the death of Mrs. Margaret J. Williams which occurred on last Wednesday May 19. Remains interred Hughes Springs Cemetery daughter of G.K. Williams
B. Elizabeth “Bettie” Victoria Williams was born March 2, 1870 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died June 24, 1954 in Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She married Thomas Cobb Glover 1890 son of William Franklin Glover and Sarah A. Smith. He was Born July 2, 1864 and died May 25, 1939)
C. Sarah “Fannie” Williams was born July 24, 1871 Vidette, Crenshaw, AL and died May 9, 1897 in Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She is Buried  in Block 1 Lot 16 of Hughes Springs Cemetery. She married Charlie Collins son of R.B. Collins. He was born November 1868 and died March 14, 1907. His second wife was named Emma. Next to her grave is a small grave containing a small iron marker with lamb on it. Presumable this is a baby’s grave. In the 1910 Census these two daughters are show as grandchildren of G.K. Williams and were being raised by him.
D. Edgar Lewis Williams was born July 12, 1873, Jenkins, Titus, Texas and died July 16, 1935 Afton, Dickens, Texas. He married Rosa Lee Perser January 14, 1894 Carterville, Cass Texas. She was the daughter of William John Percer  and Martha Ann Carter. He was the father of 12 children.         . 
E. George Myles Williams was born January 28, 1875 South Union Community,  Titus, Texas and died October 1, 1935. He married August 21, 1894 Nora Estelle Nelson daughter of George Washington Nelson and Martha Goodson. She was born March 3, 1978 Livelys Chapels crossroads, Cass, Texas 
F.  Hattie Kearse Williams was born November 5, 1876 South Union,  Morris, Texas and Died September 27, 1955 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She is buried in Block 3 Lot 7 of the Hughes Springs Cemetery. She married Riley Frederick Smith born July 1869 and died Nov 14, 1928.
G. Mattie Eva Rushton “Rus” Williams was born April 25, 1878 South Union Community, Morris, Texas and died January 25, 1941 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She is buried in block 5 Lot 9 in the Hughes Springs Cemetery. She married November 3, 1895 Rufus “Ruf” Lafayette Fite on her parents 70th anniversary. Rufe Fite the son of Joseph Fite and Sarah Permelia Goodson was born March 29, 1871 and died August 2, 1944. She was the mother of twelve children.
H. Mary Ellen Williams was born May 4, 1881 Jenkins, Morris, Texas and died June 30, 1916 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She married after 1910 William Bedford “Cap” Harris. Cap Harris was born November 28, 1883 and Died November 3, 1950. His 2nd wife was Vivian Hulan Surratt. The 1910 Census shows that Mary Williams was living with her parents unmarried and working as a seamstress.
I. Katy Belle Williams was born March 24, 1883 Jenkins, Morris, Texas and died March 16, 1976 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She married William L. Parker February 2, 1898
J. Lula May Williams was born September 11, 1886 South Union Community, Morris, Texas and died July 22, 1930 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. She is buried in Block 3 Lot 8 on the other side of her father G.K. Williams. She married Leonard Weldon “Bud” Neville November 3, 1902 the 77th anniversary of Rev. Green and Hattie Williams marriage. Leonard Wesley “Bud” Neville  was born in1882 and died 1954.
K. Leonard Ferman Williams was born January 10, 1889 Jenkins, Morris, Texas and died October 25, 1915 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. On 5 January 1908 he married Vera Reeder daughter of Berry Reeder and Elizabeth Ann Bearden. She was Born November 24, 1889 Lasseter, Cass, Texas and Died September 27, 1964 Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas. They are buried in Block 3 Lot 9 with G.K. Williams and Shelomith.  In 1910 Leonard was working in a lumber camp and Vera was running a boarding house.

MARTHA RILEY WILLIAMS was Born August 4, 1851 Pike County, Ala and Died May 4, 1938 Bryan Mills, Cass, Texas. She married December 3, 1868 Vidette, Crenshaw, Alabama Rev. John  Smith, a Missionary Baptist Minister. He was the son of Henry George Smith and Susan Ledlow. He was born August 1838 in Georgia and died   5 February 1916 in Cass County, Texas. He is buried in Queen City,  Cass, Texas

A. John Thomas Smith Jr. or A. James Smith was Born October 9, 1869 Vidette, Crenshaw,  and Died unknown. The 1880 census list this son as A. James Smith age 12 [1868].
B. William Lee Smith was born March 4, 1870 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died April 14, 1904 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas at the age of 34. He married Fanny Lee Humphrey the daughter of William Jesse Humphrey and Mary Eliza Elmira Alsobrook. Fanny was born 30 July 1879 in Cass County and died 29 April 1949. They had children Mattie Belle Smith 1897-1985 wife of George Homer Falkner, Annie Maddie Smith 1900-1984 wife of Willie Tidwell and Ottie Murphy, and Fred Lewis Smith 1902-1973 who married Dura Downs.
C. George Kearse Smith was born January 21, 1873 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died June 22, 1906 Avinger, Cass, Texas age 33 of Tuberculosis. He married Cora L Watson the daughter of Thomas J Watson and Lucinda Sarilda "Rilla" Alsobrook, granddaughter to George M.  Alsobrook and Mary Ann Mitchell. Cora L Watson was born 19 Dec. 1878 in Cass County, Texas and died 25 Oct. 1902 in Cass County. He was the father of three daughters, Lillie Mae Smith 1896-1900, Ollie M Smith 1899-1920 wife of Cletis Floy Ray, and Eunie Belle Smith 1901-1979 wife of Mr. Echols
D. Lou “Ella” Smith was born 26 March 1875 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died after 4 March 1958 in Hunt County, Texas. She was married twice. Her first husband was Robert E Lee Humphrey the son of William Johnson Humphrey and Sarah English Wheeler.  He was born 26 July 1871 but it is uncertain when he died. Lou Ella was married to William Haskell Kelley by the 1910 Census of Cass County. He named five children living within his household with the surname Humphreys but some of these children he listed as stepchildren and some as children. William H. Kelley was born 29 October 1866 and died 25 November 1965 at the age of 99 years. He was the son of William P Kelley and Elizabeth Ann Rebecca Thompson.  Lou Ella’s children by her two husbands are as follows; John W Humphrey 1893-1910, Dora Humphrey 1895-1962 wife of Samuel Nathaniel Jackson, Guy H. Humphrey 1897-1980 married Lula G Emerson, Harry P Humphrey 1901-1918, Mancel Pinckney Humphrey-Kelley 1903-1996 married Thelma V Randle, Millard Singleton Humphrey-Kelley 1905-1982 married Ila Mae Sartain, Annie Carrie Humphrey-Kelley 1907-2004 wife of Ira Bryan Joyce, Charlie Lloyd Kelley 1911-1986 married Helen Payne, Jesse Peeples Kelley 1913-2012 married Lilly Leona Gibson, and Emma Kate Kelley wife of Willie Cast
E. Pinkney “Pink” Bandy Smith was born 14 July 1875 and died June 19, 1933 of Tuberculosis age 58. He was buried Union Hill Cemetery. He married 14 February 1904 Lee Julia  Gibson the daughter of George Buchanan Gibson and Amanda Susan Smith. Lee was born 8 January 1889 and died 2 August 1968.  Their children were Rosa Lee Smith 1905-2000 wife of John Burns, Liddie Mae Smith 1908-1911, Ola Belle Smith 1910-1990 wife of Hardy A. Dooley, William Pink Smith 1914-1963 married Hazel Corine Lee, Herman Vigil Smith 1916-1986 married Norma Juanita Maxwell, Loy Vallis Smith 1918-1982 married Agnes Irene Dooley, Mattie Sue Smith 1923-2009 wife of Theodore Roosevelt Pritchett, and Lois Fay Smith wife of James Wilborn Dooley.
F. Charley Homer Smith was born 4 May 1877 at Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died and died 2  February 1951 in Morris County, Texas. He married Mary Francis Byrd the daughter of John Wesley Byrd and Ruth Jane Paulette. She was born 13 July 1882 and died 7 February 1941. They were the parents of Hardy Lee Smith 1904-1958 married Ellie Opal Gilmore, Minnie Ola Smith 1907-1986 wife of Hubert Daniel Buchanan, Osa Morris Smith 1910-1980 married Leona Marie Buchanan, Mary Francis Smith 1913-2003 wife of F.M. Elliott and Frederick Whitmeyer, and Lena Ruth Smith 1918-2001 wife of Robert Jake Lee
G. Sally Smith was born 4 May 1878 at Bear Creek, Cass, Texas died July 1879 at Jefferson, Texas of Tuberculosis
H. Alice Smith was born August 1881 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died 25 October 1914 in Cass County. She married circa 1902 Colonel Levi Spivey Biddy son of Calvin Biddy and Elizabeth Hawker. He was born  4 July 1875 in Dangerfield, Morris, Texas, and died 28 April 1955 at Avinger, Cass, Texas, United States. Their children were Aubra Cal Biddy 1903-1927, Artie Mattie Ola Biddy 1905–1994 wife of Lonnie Shepherd Rankin, Willa Merle Biddy 1907–1997 wife of Esco Glen Bolton and John Harold Breon, and Osie May Biddy 1910–1993 wife of Lanceford Spain Davis.
I. Hardy Lee Smith was born 1883 and died before June 1900 at the age 16 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas
J.  John Arnold “Johnie” Smith was born January 1886 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and died 13 June 1930. He married Dessa Green in 1925. 
K. Josephine “Josie” Smith was born April 9, 1888 Bear Creek, Cass, Texas and Died July 2, 1895 Avinger, Cass, Texas at the age of 7
L. Matthew Smith was born 12 December 1894 in Avinger, Cass Co, Texas, and died unknown probably  in Dallas, Texas. He married on 5 July 1920 Johnie Foster the daughter of Samuel Buckner Foster and Laura Elizabeth Cates. She was born 12 June 1900 in Hughes Springs, Cass, Texas and died September 1984 in Dallas, Texas. They were the parents of two daughters Carrie Mathine 1927-1992 wife of Mr. Nicholson and Freida Morhea Smith 1935.