Trying to get the research posted correctly while figuring out HTML at the same time is proving to be a challenge, to say the least. Tonight I have been working on the Will Williams branch of my genealogy. He was my paternal grandfather’s father.
Will experienced a great deal of loss, although that was not uncommon for the time. His mother died before he was even one. Her name was Martha Jane Watridge. Her obituary reads:
“Martha J. Williams died 22 Dec 1888. Wife of G. D. Williams and daughter of James Watridge and granddaughter of Bro. Deacon W. Watridge. Married George D. Williams 17 Dec 1868. She was born 27 Aug 1852. Leaves husband and four children, one an infant babe.”
Will Williams was the “infant babe.”
From census records, it appears Will’s father, George, remarried quickly. His second wife died when Will was about 11. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Will then went to live with his mother’s sister.
Will later married Janie Williamson, the granddaughter of a fairly prosperous Methodist minister in Madison County, Tennessee. My grandfather was born 10 months after their marriage. Janie lived only four more years and died shortly after giving birth to their second child, a daughter named Ruth, who also died.
According to family history, Will did not handle the loss of his wife and daughter well at first and for a short time developed a drinking problem. Janie’s family is said to have confronted him and threatened to take Bo away.
Fortunately, Will soon married a woman named Eva. Together they had eight more children, and she raised his son Bo as her own. Will turned his life around and became respected in both his family and his community. In photographs, he appears to be a cheerful, stylish gentleman. I have have a few cufflinks and tie tacks that had belonged to my grandfather. I wonder now if some of those were his fathers.
Thinking about them reminds me of a day my wife and I visited “Daddy Bo,” as we called him, at his home. By then he was in his 90s, but still in good health, although he could not see or hear well. His glass eye was often turned in the wrong direction, giving the impression that he was looking at you and into the next room at the same time.
My wife began asking him about his childhood, something I had never really done. It was clear he was reliving those memories as he spoke. He described in detail how he remembered his mother, even though he was only four when she died. After his father remarried, he told them he would never call his stepmother “mother.” He seemed proud that he had kept that promise for nearly 85 years. He added, “I called her Ms. Eva, and she was very good to me.”
According to Daddy Bo, Will first saw Eva, who was a teacher, riding by in a carriage and told friends he intended to marry her.
My father Bob Williams remembers Will as not being very engaged with the grandchildren, but my cousin Donna recalls him as funny with a great sense of humor. My father says Eva was cheerful, kind and always happy. Donna confirmed that Eva also kept sweets on hand for the children. With so many children and later so many grandchildren, there was likely little time to spend with each one individually.
The next time I am in Brownsville, I plan to find where their house once stood and take a look. I do not even know if it is still there. I hope it is.
For more of my genealogy research, visit rscottwilliams.info.
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