I love the way social networks allow those interested in gathering accurate records and stories of the past to share information and photographs. A distant relative I did not know previously, Joe Reid, emailed me last week, and we have been exchanging stories and information ever since. His grandmother, Jo Stella Williamson Reid (1896-1993) and my great-grandmother, Janie Williamson Williams (1887-1914) were sisters. In the photo, Jo is the youngest girl on the front row at left, and Janie is standing behind her.
Their father and my second great-grandfather, Joe Williamson (1858-1909), was a widower in the photo above. He would live to see many members of his family die during his lifetime. Joe was born in 1858 in Madison County, Tennessee, in the Providence community. His parents were Beverly M. Williamson (1813-1877) and Eleanora “Ellen” Harriet Dougan Williamson (1818-1860). I have not yet been able to establish his paternal grandparents, but his maternal grandparents were Rev. Robert Linn Dougan (1765-1837) and Elizabeth Scoby Dougan (1785-1860). Both the Dougan and Scoby families were early American settlers, and members of those families are known for Revolutionary War service.
Photo: Joe Reid
William Thomas Reid and Jo Stella Williamson Reid in front of their home place
on Poplar Corner Rd. in Haywood County.
Joe married Mary Elizabeth Joyner (1862-1898) on Jan. 17, 1882. She was a daughter of Alfred Bunn Joyner (1810-1899) and a granddaughter of Littleton Bunn Joyner (1782-1852), both of whom were instrumental in the settlement and development of the Haywood County area. Mary Elizabeth died on Jan. 16, 1898, at the age of 36, leaving Joe with five daughters who were 15, 13, 10, 7 and 2. Joe and his family were members of Providence Methodist Church, and his father, Beverly, had donated the land for the church and adjoining cemetery. In 1901, Joe deeded an acre of land for a school to be built near the church. In 1944, that same land was sold to Providence Methodist Church for $100, probably after the school had closed.
In 1905, daughter Jessie Williamson (about 1885-1905) died at age 20. That same year, according to “A Journey Into Yesteryears” by Martha Herbert Jones, Joe donated three more acres of land to the church. Part of the land was between the church and the cemetery, while another portion was on the south side of the cemetery. Two years later, on Sept. 6, 1907, daughter Nannie Williamson (1883-1907) died at age 24. Then, on Jan. 22, 1909, at age 51, Joe died and was buried in Providence Methodist Church Cemetery along with the other members of his family. Sadly, during his lifetime Joe experienced the early deaths of his mother, father, stepmother, wife and two of his daughters.
Photo: Joe Reid
Jo Stella Williamson Reid (left) and Viola Iris Shelton (right) who was a daughter of Jo’s sister, Mai.
On Dec. 21, 1909, his daughter Mai Edith Williamson Shelton (1895-1944) married Arthur Shelton (1888-1970). On Feb. 6, 1910, Janie Williamson Williams (1887-1914), my great-grandmother and one of Joe’s three surviving daughters, married William Lafayette “Will” Williams (1888-1962), and a little more than nine months later they had my grandfather, Jesse Lloyd “Bo” Williams (1910-2008).
On Sept. 22, 1912, Joe’s youngest daughter, Jo Stella Williamson Reid (1896-1993), married William Thomas Reid (1898-1982). My great-grandmother Janie died soon after childbirth on Aug. 19, 1914. According to family stories, Will had a difficult time caring for a four-year-old boy, and members of the Williamson family threatened to take him away if the situation did not improve.
That threat may have come from the two surviving sisters, Jo and Mai. Will did eventually pull himself together. He remarried and had many more children with his second wife.
Photo: Joe Reid
Mai and Arthur Shelton had five children, and Mai died on Dec. 21, 1944, at the age of 49, leaving Jo as the only surviving member of Joe Williamson’s immediate family. Eventually, Aunt Jo, as we called her, and her husband moved across the street from my grandfather, Bo, who was her nephew.
When I was a boy, she and my grandmother took me fishing in ponds around the area. At the time, she looked very much like the photo below. In that picture, she is seated on the left on the front porch with her niece, Viola Iris Shelton. It is a wonderful photograph because of all the elements of rural southern architecture it contains. You can almost smell the magnolia trees.
Photo: Joe Reid
The great photo below was taken about two years before Aunt Jo’s death at age 96 in 1993. She is seated on the steps of Providence United Methodist Church, where her father and grandfather had both played important roles in the church’s history. I am truly grateful to Joe Reid for sharing these photographs. If you have any photos of my Haywood County ancestors, please send them, and I will be happy to post them.
Leave a Reply