Married: 1815 Margaret "Peggy" Thomas Phillips 9/30/1799
- 4/14/1844
Martha Williams
Born: After
1786
Died: ?
(Died young)
For a number of years, this family tree stopped at Elisha Williams. Based on the letters written
by Henry Philips Williams, his grandson, it was believed that his father was named William Williams. However, we have
now uncovered strong evidence that his father was Joshua Williams, son of Richard Williams. The Word document entitled
"The Family of Richard and Sarah Williams" provides much of this information. The Word document entitled "Sorting the Two Elishas" provides the rationale for our Elisha being the son of Joshua Williams of Scotland Neck NC.
The following was written by John Maxey Williams,
son of Josiah Frederick Williams and Margaret "Peggy" Thomas Williams. He died in 1913 and the following was typed on
23 October 1935 by his daughter-in-law, Mary Elizabeth Philips Williams, who was the widow of his son, Robert Percy Williams.
Concerning the family of ELISHA WILLIAMS, Nashville, Tenn.
In 1806 my grandfather Williams came from Halifax County North Carolina bringing his wife and three
sons -- Williams about 23, Josiah about 20 and Elisha about 18.
Grandfather settled on the hill above the large spring in the rear of the house built by uncle William.
One daughter who had married remained in North Carolina, near Warrenton. She first married Mr. Williams (not related
to our family) and afterwards married Mr. Alston.
Mrs. Lucy Polk was a child by the latter marriage. Grandfather bought land and gave uncle
William the homeplace and gave uncle Josiah the "Maplewood" farm and gave uncle Elisha a farm in Rutherford County near Murfreesboro.
I think uncle William married about 1812. Josiah married about 1815 and soon afterwords commenced
getting ready to build the Maplewood brick house, as it was finished in 1819. Building in those days was a slow work
as all limber had to be sawed by hand "two men, one above and one below" and then seasoned for about two years. The
brick were made by hand near the building.
Josiah also bought a farm on the opposite side of the river in Pennington's Bend and sold it about
1837 and afterword bought a place in Arkansas at Pecan Point and it proved to be a very bad investment as it caved in very
badly and depreciated in value on that account.
All of our family were born and educated at Maplewood. Our mother died there in 1844 and father
died in 1852 and the farm was sold to Dr. Yandell and he sold it to Mr. C. W. O. Payno. Mr. Peyno sold it to a
man named Elam and it was mortgaged to Mr. Morrill and Mr. Morrill sold it to Col. Blood. Colonol Elood added 80 acres
to it and sold to Jerry Baxter, who added about 900 acres making the place about 1350 or 1400 acres and transferred it to
the present owneres, who live in Minnesotto and Boston, so I have heard. The original Maplewood contained 376 acres.
When the farm was bought it was covered with fine timber and much of it with cane. The pike was built about 1840.
The first sale was to Dr. Yandell, about $23,000 375 acres
The second sale was to Mr. Payno, about $36,000 375 acres
The third sale was to Mr. Morill, about $18,000 375 acres
The fourth sale was to Col Blood about $30,000 375 acres
The fourth sale was to Jere Baxter about $40,000 435 acres
The 1880 book "History of Davidson County" relates: "In 1804 he (William Williams) came to Nashville with the
view of settling, and purchased the Evans grant of six hundred and forty acres, four miles from Nashville, on the Gallatin
road. The following year he moved to the farm, bringing with him his father and mother and brothers. His father, then
in bad health, died soon after."
I don't know how many acres the Williams owned along Gallatin Pike, but when Elisha
arrived in Nashville he purchased the Evans grant of 640 acres, shown in aqua below. According to Robert Ewing, Josiah
Frederick Williams grandson, Maplewood was 1,000 acres. John Maxey Williams above, who was Josiah's son, says that Maplewood
was about 375 acres when his dad owned it. He says Elisha gave Maplewood to his dad and a farm nearby to his son William
Williams. I have read that Maplewood extended from the Cumberland river to Dickerson Road, which would encompass the
areas shown in blue in the map below.
Below is a map made in 1871 byWilber F. Foster showing the
location of Dr. William Williams home.
The book "History of Davidson County
Tennessee" contains the following about this son of William Williams: "His
son, William Williams, graduated at the Nashville University in 1839; taught a male academy three years; graduated at the
Louisville Medical College in 1845; settled in Hendersonville, Sumner Co., and married Lizzie B., eldest daughter of Daniel
S. Donelson and Margaret Branch, May, 1849. Moving to the old homestead in 1865, he discontinued the practice of medicine,
and has since devoted his time to the improvement of his farm, to the rearing and educating of his children, to the cause
of public schools, and to the Church."
Dr.
Williams and his family are all buried in the Spring Hll Cemetery located a few miles north on Gallatin Pike.
The
X marks the location of the Maplewood home. I have attempted to show the same three land grants in this map as shown
in the above map.
Coeur de Leon (sic) - Bred by Mr. Turner and imported
into Virginia
by Colonel John Hoomes in 1800. His stud was Highflyer and he was out of Dido by O'Kelly's Eclipse. He was fouled in
1789. Owned by Elisha Williams, and then by his son Judge William Williams. He stood in Virginia
and North Carolina in 1801 and 1802, then was sent to Tennesse, where in 1807 and 1808 he
stood at Joseph Phillips' farm near Nashville. He died in
Tennessee in 1809, aged 20 years.
William
Williams, of Davidson County, was, in his own words, "an occasional breeder on a small scale," and always kept a few brood
mares of the richest blood. As late as 1830 Williams and other members of the family had descendants of a horse and mare owned
by their father, Elisha Williams, of Scotland Neck, Halifax County, North Carolina, between 1786 and 1791. The horse was the
famous Harris' Eclipse by imp Fearnought; the mare by imp Janus. A noted brood mare of her time owned by
Williams was Fanny Foster, by Symmes' Wildair, dam by old Partner.
Advertisement of stud service leads to discovery of Elisha Williams'
North Carolina home prior to moving to the Nashville area.
I found the following article in the TN State Archives electronic
files on 7 Dec 2010. It is an advertisement placed in the Raliegh Register by Elisha Williams in 1803 offering
stud service for his stallion Coeur de Lion. His place of residence and the location of the stallion is listed as being
two and one half miles east of Louisburg NC. This is the only reference I have been able to find regarding the residence
of Elisha Williams prior to his move to the Nashville TN area in 1804.
You can read the advertisement if you click on the "full screen" menu item at the top left of the
window below and then click on the "+" menu item at the bottom left of the full page window that is then open. To close
the window simply press the "Esc" key on your keyboard and you will return to this page.
The interactive Google map below shows the approximate location of Elisha Williams' home in 1803
as described in the ad he ran in the Raliegh Register advertising stud service for his stallion Coeur de Lion.
Click on the blue teardrop for more information on Elisha's home. Click on any of the green
teardrops to read about property he pruchased in 1804. Click on any of the red pins to read the name of the location
noted on the deed.
"Note: From information compiled by Christine (Paradise)
Sumner, wife of William Parks Sumner Jr. and mother of Ann Elizabeth (Sumner) Shook and John William Sumner.
..........."Sylvan
Hall" the home of Captain Joseph Philips, Revolutionary soldier. The farm is located on Dickerson Pike, 6 miles north of Nashville,
Tennessee............Other inscriptions found in this old cemetery are:
Elisha Williams died August 17, 1811, age 72
years, married March 25, 17?5 and had 6 children, William, Betsey, Joshua, Elisha, Josiah, Martha
OLD CITY CEMETERY Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Elisha Williams, Jr., born October 20, 1822, died October 31, 1848
In Memory of Henry J. Williams, youngest
son of Elisha and Mary Williams, born June 30, 1825, died April 18, 1855 (James Exum Sumner Sr. was his administrator)."
Sarah
H. Williams, consort of Elisha Williams, born November _____1735, departed this life September 1, 1857 (no doubt, this birth
was typed wrong-I got it from a book-It probably should be 1785.
Following is an excerpt from a letter
written to Will Williams in Osceola, AR by Henry Philips Williams, February 17, 1892 or 1893, at ‘Greenleaf,’
his farm at Guthrie, Ky., about 15 miles north of the Tennessee border. Henry Williams was in his 64th year when he wrote
this account, and he lived for another 10 years. He died at Greenleaf on Feb. 22, 1902.
Sometime about the
year 1700 there came from Wales a man who was the father of your great-great-Grandfather. I don't know his name but he settled
in Pennsylvania and his son William Williams, in course of time moved to Caldwell County, North Carolina where he married
a Miss Thomas. This was in or about 1742. Several children were born of this marriage, his son Elisha being the second child.
Now this Elisha Williams was the father of your Grandpa Josiah Williams. He was married in 1772 to Miss Josey and had three
sons and one daughter.
Will Williams, born 1776 (father of cousin Jack); Aunt Betsey born in 1778, Elisha
born in 1782 and your Grandpa born 1786.
The family moved to Tennessee in 1804 I think, and your Grandpa Josiah
Williams married Margaretta Phillips in 1815 and had twelve children; James Williams, your father was one of the twelve.
Following is an excerpt
from a "A Williams Family History/The First Generations" written by Henry Philips Williams above. I believe it was the enclosure
he referred in the above letter.
"Your
Great Grandfather, Elisha Williams, was highly educated himself, and insisted that his children should have every advantage
extended to them in getting a collegiate education, which was something unusual at an early day.
He employed a private
tutor for his boys, and when they were sufficiently advanced in their studies, he sent the oldest (Uncle William) to Harvard
University, Mass., and your Grand Uncle Elisha and your Grand Pa to Chapel Hill, N.C. All three got their diplomas, and I
know myself that your Grand Pa Williams could read Latin fluently and wrote a beautiful fluent hand.
Afterwards the
head of the house, William Williams (my father’s grandfather) moved up to a place called Shoco or Shoeco, in Caldwell
or Halifax, County, N.C., where he bought a large and fine property and lived the life of a country gentleman, having his
farm on the river, his Negro quarters and his overseers. He had, I think, three sons and several daughters.
One of
these sons was my grandfather, Elisha Williams, born in 1746, and afterwards owning the homestead, besides several farms in
Franklin County, where I am told they kept Negro quarters managed by overseers.
He married a Miss Josey in 1774 and
his children were
William, born 1776, Elizabeth, 1778, Elisha, 1782, and your grandpa, Josiah F. Williams,
born 1786.
In 1808 or thereabouts the family moved to Tennessee, leaving their married daughter, Elizabeth Alston,
in North Carolina, where her descendants are now living, her only daughter having married a man by the name of Williams."
LFB note:According to the 1850 census Sarah was 92 and 18 years older than her son Williams
Williams who is 74.So, Sarah would be born in 1758 and quite a bit younger than
her husband Elisha who the evidence below suggests was born in 1749. However, her son's
bilble record lists her death as 36 Feb 1851 at age 95, making her born about 1755.
By the different census number than William’s it would appear that she was living alone near him and his brother
Josiah.
#1207 William Williams 74
North Carolina
LFB note:According to the 1850 census William was 74 and thus born in 1776 which agrees with
his Sylvan Hall cemetery monument which says he was born 15 March 1776. Sally Williams 67 Tennessee
LFB note:Sally is the wife of William and born in 1783 as confirmed by her tombstone in the
Sylvan Hall Cemetery which shows she was born 1 August 1783. Char P. Williams (female) 21 Tennessee (Charlotte Phillips Williams, born in 1829 per the
1850 census) Maria G. Williams23(Maria Graham Williams, born in 1827 per the 1850 census) Evander Williams 21
(Evander McIver Williams 1829 – 1855, born in 1829 per the 1850 census.Evander is mentioned
several times in the old Sumner letters) #1208 Josiah F. Williams 66 North Carolina LFB
note:(born 2 February 1786 according to his tombstone in Sylvan Hall Cemetery,
born in 1784 per the 1850 census ) Henry C. Williams 22 Tennessee (Henry Philips Williams born 25 August 1828 according to my records, born in 1828 per the 1850 census) Sarah E. Williams 20 (Sarah Elizabeth Williams Whitaker born 29 October, 1830 according to my records, born 1830 per
the 1850 census.) Mary T. Williams 19 (Mary "Munie" Thomas Williams Warner,
born August 1831 according to my records, born in 1831 per the 1850 census.)
Other inscriptions found in the Sylvan Hall cemetery are:
Elisha Williams died August 17, 1811, age 72 years, married March 25, 17?5 and
had 6 children, William, Betsey, Joshua, Elisha, Josiah, Martha (Note age is shown as 72 rather
than 62. This is probably a typo or error in reading the old tombstone.Most
of the others reading this tombstone record the age as 62. If he was 62 when he died in 1811, he was born in the year 1749.Records in Winston, NC show he married Sarah Josey on 25 March 1775 when he would
have been 26 if born in 1749 and she would would have been 17 if born in 1758.
