Williams' of White County, TN- Sparta
My grandfather was Marland Williams. He had a twin brother named Marvin. They were born to Joseph and Leann (Prater) Williams on March 22, 1889. Joe and Leann had 4 sons: Oscar,(never married) Conn,( never married and was retarded because of lack of oxygen at birth) the twins, Marland (married Cora Esther Fletcher)and Marvin (married an Indian from Missouri named Lizzie Carr). They were parents of one daughter, Mamie (married a New). Joseph was known as a mean old man and for a period of time lived in Missouri with the Carr family. He had a brother named Jeff(Dad believes him to be Joe's brother.) We know nothing about his parents. Joe wandered in and out of his childrens' lifes and we don't know when or where he died. We know Jeff's family stayed in the Sparta,Tn. area. My grandfather was a coal miner and lived in the Whitley City, Stearns KY area as did his twin. There is a family story that somewhere in the Williams line, a female got pregnant by a man with last name of "Breeding" and no marriage occurred and the son she birthed went by his mother's maiden name of Williams. Don't know if it was Joe's mother or his grandmother? If Joe had other siblings we don't know about them. Any help would be welcome!
Comments
hi im jean ann,your story hits home my ggreatgrandfather was born in white co.tn he was a williams he took his mothers maiden name,her nmae was clemetine carr at the time of his birth i as well am searching and could use lots of help.his name was james e. williams born in feb.1876,it says on his birth cert. his father was bill williams ,but i cant find anything to legitmize this ,also cant find clementine carr after 1880,ty jean ann
Do either of you have brothers, nephews, uncles with the name of Williams. You could have one of them give a DNA Sample and find what group of Williams' you descend from. It won't give you your direct line but it will put you in touch with living cousins. Try the website
1860 Census, White County, TN, District 12, #1445 (his newly widowed mother #1418)
Jonathan R. 26 TN Wagon Maker
Jane (Brown) 33
Williams, Clementine 11
Clementine Williams of 1860 & Ann Williams of 1870, in the household of Jonathan & Jane (Brown) Carr have the same birthyear & would seem to be the same person. She is not listed as black which had been an earlier question to me. In both census, the census taker only listed race if different than white with a B or a M. In the 1870 census you can see that Mary Williams, 9 households from Jonathan, is most wealthy in the neighborhood (the Simpson family coming in second as far as wealth). Mary Williams, 51 has some white family with her named Williams of course, and many other blacks in the household, several with skilled occupations. She was so wealthy that she employeed a school teacher who lived between her & Thomas Lollar named James H Smith.
This Clementine or Ann that is with Jonathan & his wife is probably lent over or given over from the wealthy white Williams family (which included males who could have fathered a child) to safely occupy her away from the large number of others at the William's place. Jonathan & Jane Brown, by 1860 had already been married 7 years & appear to have no children. It would have been a practical placement for a young white girl or black girl but she was not noted as being of color in the regular census of 1860 or 1870. Hope this helps, Beverly Carr Bradway beve7358@yahoo.com