THE WILLIAMS
FAMILY
Assembled by Mary Adella "Dell" Barnes (1915-1997)
Information gathered
from courthouse records, census records, family Bible, newspaper
obituaries and family recollections. The names of descendants
of A. C. and Mary Rozilla Bailey Williams were furnished by A.
C. and Virginia Williams.
Williams is a
baptismal surname, "the son of William". Williams is
a very ancient Welsh family. There is a Coat of Arms that has
been used for generations by many American branches of the Williams
family. The shield is black, the lion is silver, his tongue and
claws are red.
We can only trace
our ancestor to Aaron Williams, Sr. who born about l770-80. His
wife's name is unknown. He was in Tennessee from l806 to l815
as census records show some children born there. (It is possible
that he was born in Worcestershire County, Maryland, and had
a brother, Job Williams. Job Williams was a veteran of the Revolutionary
War. His pension application shows that he was born in Worcestershire
County, Maryland. His wife was named Celia and he had a daughter,
Celia.)
Aaron Williams,
Sr., his wife and children were in Greene County, Illinois, in
l830. They came to Arkansas about l833 and lived in the Perry
County-Conway County area in the central part of the state, the
Petit Jean Mountain area. Other family members included Curtis
Williams, James Williams, Anne Williams Lackey,* Elijah and Celia
Williams Borer, James Green and his wife, Sarah Gitchell Green.**
Aaron Williams Jr., married Elizabeth J. Green in Arkansas. Aaron
Williams, Sr. and his wife and several other members of the family
including Owen Lackey, Elijah and Celia Borrer died in Arkansas.
It is recorded in history that an epidemic of influenza raged
in the nation. It was widespread and was termed "Tyler's
Grip", imputed to the unpopular United States President
John Tyler.
Aaron Williams,
Jr. came to Bastrop, Texas, in l845 while Texas was still a Republic.
Other family members came and settled in Caldwell County and
Milam County, Texas.
According to
a great grandson, Jett Connally, who lived in Lockhart, Texas,
Aaron Williams, Jr. owned 415 acres of land about 2 miles from
Lockhart. There used to be three graves in the pasture. Two of
the graves had headstones, but all headstones are gone. One of
the graves was a Daughter, Sarah, who died in childbirth.
Aaron Williams,
Jr. was on the l850 and l860 census records of Caldwell County.
He moved from Caldwell County, Texas, to Williamson County, Texas,
in 1868 and purchased land in the John Berry League which is
on the Weir Road about 2 miles from Georgetown. His obituary
states that he was a kinsman of Col. G. W. Jones of Bastrop and
of the Burleson family. He is buried in Berry's Creek Cemetery
north of Georgetown. In his later years he and his wife moved
into Georgetown and he bought a house about a block from the
square on East 7th Street. The farm on Weir Road stayed in the
family until the death of my grandmother, Frances Adella Bailey
Williams in l947. After the death of Aaron Williams, Jr., his
wife Elizabeth J. [Green] went to Luling, Texas, to live with
her son James A. Williams. She died there and is buried at Hall
Cemetery near Luling, Texas.
The family frequently
named children for relatives so there is a possible relationship
to the following families: John Wade, Albert Sidney Burleson
who was Postmaster General of Texas, G. W. "Wash" Jones,***
a politician of Bastrop County, Texas, and also the names of
Rice, Jeffrey and Crawford, Curtis, James, Arcadia. The name
Albert Burleson was given to my brother at the request of his
grandfather, Edmund Wade Williams, who said that Albert Burleson
was a kinsman of his.
When Curtis Williams
died, his brother, Aaron Williams, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth,
took two of his youngest children, Andrew J. and Martha, and
raised them.
When Aaron Calvin
Williams' wife Susan Harrell died leaving two daughters, Annie
and Rosie, his father, Aaron Williams, Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth,
took the girls and raised them...
* Ann Lackey's maiden name
is proven by estate records in Greene Co., IL, to be Robins,
daughter of William Robins. Some of her siblings married Aaron
Williams' children.
** Sarah
Kitchell, sometimes pronounced like Gitchell.
*** G. W. "Wash" Jones, short
for George Washington Jones, a Confederate officer, Texas Lieutenant
Governor, and U.S. Representative.
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