Stone Wall
Submitted by GFS Bubba@aol.com

According to census records, Thomas WILLIAMS was born in Virginia, about 1793 or early 1794. He died 15 Nov 1871 in Franklin County, Missouri.

The family legend is that he ran away from home at age 12, to escape his stepfather. This tells us that by 1805 his father had died, and his mother had remarried. We do not know the name of his stepfather, his father's first name, or his mother's maiden name or first name.

In August of 1814, at age 21, Tom enlisted in the Army at Herculaneum, Missouri, to serve against Britain in the War of 1812. He served for 60 days, and was mustered out. Later he received bounty land and pension for his service, and his widow received a widow's pension after his death.

He married Catherine "Katie" FISHER at Richwoods, Washington County, Missouri, 20 Nov 1818. The census of 1830 shows them living in Franklin County, Missouri, with three sons and two daughters. One son was my ancestor, Jeremiah. The other two sons most probably were named Benjamin T. and Robert H. The daughters were named Eleanor and Margaret.

WILLIAMS is the fourth most common name in the U.S., after SMITH, JONES, and JOHNSON.

Thanks to General William Tecumseh SHERMAN and his ilk, marriage records which survive in Virginia and the remainder of the South are spotty at best. With the rarest exceptions, birth records were not kept by counties anywhere until after 1900. Churches were inconsistent in their recording of marriages and births (some churches did, others didn't). U.S. Census records prior to 1850 did not record the names of wives and children; only heads of households were named.

Families which were associated with the WILLIAMS family in Franklin County, Missouri were HAMILTON, FISHER, and STANDIFORD. The HAMILTON's migrated to Missouri from North Carolina. The FISHER's came from Pennsylvania by way of Green County, Kentucky.

Based upon our sketchy knowledge of Tom's parentage and the customs of the times, it is reasonable to assume that his father was a WILLIAMS man who was born in the period from 1750 to 1770, and that his mother would have been somewhat younger. Tom was most likely the eldest child or an only child of that marriage. Therefore, we are seeking a WILLIAMS couple, married about 1792, in Virginia (West Virginia was a part of Virginia at that time). As Kentucky did not become a state until June 1, 1792, and there was no telegraph or other rapid news medium, the news of statehood could have taken a year or more to reach the remotest areas. Therefore it is possible, though not likely, that Tom was born in that part of Virginia which had been known as Kentucky County.

WILLIAMS is a Welsh name; the family legend is that this WILLIAMS family originated in Wales. It is known that there was a sizable migration of Welsh families into the upper valleys of Virginia in the 1730's. Therefore, it is more likely that Tom's ancestors had settled along the Shenandoah River, than, for example, in Tidewater Virginia.

Any pregnant theories are welcome.