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Thomas Henry Williams Family Our
fore-father, Thomas Henry Williams, was born in Tennessee during the
month of February in 1848, shortly before the Civil War but at a time
when the state was being split over the slavery issues. After
painstakingly searching through and pages of Williams in the 1850
census, I discovered a 2-year-old Thomas, the son of Thomas and
Henriette Williams of Stewart County. His father was a school
teacher, and he had two older sisters, Sarah and Mary,, and an older
brother, John.
Listed in the Tennessee marriage records is a license that was issued to Thomas H. Williams and Henetha Clopton on August 29, 1942, and they were married by S.S. Mallory, M.G., on September 4, 1842 in Stewart County. It is very possible that this is our fore-father's, Thomas H. Williams, parents. Stewart County is bordered on the north by Kentucky and is on the Tennessee River. What a school teacher was like in 1850, we can only guess. Both Thomas and Henriette Williams were born in Tennessee, thus it was very unlikely that they had received any college education. We find in New York that the schoolmaster at this time in history was a ..."farmer who somehow or other had picked up a working knowledge of 'reading, writing and the rule of three' and thereby was incontestably qualified for his professions. These farmers-teachers might consider themselves farmers by vocation but were happy to assume the avocation of teaching in the winter when the schools were functioning and the farm work was not too pressing." (Kone, Barbara B.M., revised and comp. and members of the Caroline Bicentennial Committee 1994. A History of the Town of Caroline, Tomkins County, New York. c1994. Online version viewed February 15, 2019 -http://carolinehistorian.org/historyadobe.pdf) Thomas Williams, however, listed his vocation as "teacher" in the census, thus he placed a great importance on teaching even if he was a farmer. The Williams name is Welsh, but the surname is quite numerous in all the provinces of Ireland and England. There have been numerous men in history with the surname Williams, thus it is evident that many Williams families migrated to the United States and bore many sons during the first century of America's history. At present the name places 3rd in surnames in the United States. With the onset of the Civil War, Thomas was only 14 years old; since he was too young to become a soldier, he became a drummer boy. He became a man overnight as he experienced men dying all around him and the plundering of his beautiful Tennessee. A Thomas Williams was listed as a surgeon for the 6th Union Tennessee Calvary in McNairy County, which could have possibly been his father. It was in the late 1860s that Thomas H. Williams took for his wife Rebecca Britton, the daughter of William and Mary Britton from Hardin County, where the county is bordered by Mississippi and Alabama on the south. Savannah is the county seat; and the Battle of Shiloh was fought there during the Civil War. Her family name has a long, impressive history, for it is clear that the name of Breton, Britain, or Britton originated in that westernmost peninsula of France, then called "Brittany" (incorporated with France in 1532) which were of the remnant of that Roman race, or the Celtic Tribes driven out of England by the Anglos and Saxons about 418 A.D. For 600 years they multiplies and became the citizens and ranked among the highest in nobility, in governmental, as well as in military affairs, in France before coming to England. When William The Conquerer was preparing his invasion of England in the 11th century, the Bretons most naturally contributed to his cause, and they were awarded most handsomely for their part in the invasion. It is unclear about the history of the family between William "The Conquerer's" time and the 1600s. According to one source Britton is an Irish surname, and was "le Briton" in medieval times, but it did state that the name originally was derived from Brittany in France. According to the early history of America, the Britton and Stillwell families were among the first settlers in New York and were closely related by several marriages. According to the records William Britton immigrated to Staten Island, New York before 1661; and his brother was Richard of Bisley, Gloucester County, England. On December 4, 1666 William Britton's name was listed as one of the Freeholders of Newton, and in 1678 William Britton was listed as Constable of Staten Island. His wife was listed as being Maria Britton and their children included: William Britton, born 1663 Nathaniel Britton, born 1665 Richard Britton, born 1667 Joseph Britton, born 1669 Benjamin Britton, born 1671 John Britton, born 1673 Daniel Britton, born 1676-1733 Nicholas Britton, baptized October 17, 1680 We find another gap in history between William Britton of New York and William Britton, Rebecca's father, of Tennessee. After researching U.S. census we come to the conclusion that William of Tennessee was born in the bluegrass region of Kentucky near the home of Daniel Boone. We picture William's father at this time as a backwoodsman and American pioneer with a coonskin cap and a rifle over his shoulder, tramping through the forest. It is with all probability that he had to fight off Indian attacks, and Boone was his guide as he immigrated into Kentucky. According to the 1800 census in Kentucky, 4 Britton families resided in the bluegrass region in Mason, Bourbon and Jessamine counties. In 1820 William resided in Hardin County, Tennessee, according to the census; and the same year a William Britton resided in Selby County, Kentucky, thus it is with all possibility that this was his father. Even though some records show that the Brittons originated in England, we believe that William Britton was of Scotch-Irish descent, ant the Scotch-Irish feared God - but nothing else. They kept the Sabbath - and anything else they could get their hands on - and in - the land. As a young man we can speculate that he traveled down the Tennessee River from Kentucky to Hardin County, Tennessee, a backwoodsman and pioneer like his father. According to the 1860 census William was unable to read or write, thus we come to the conclusion that the immediate demands of the wilderness and the arrival of more abject, wretched contingents along the frontier caused him to value physical prowess above intellectual achievement. Surrounded by forest to be cleared, red tribes to be ameliorated or exterminated, wild animals to be destroyed, and everything for human survival, contentment and enlightenment yet to be built, muscle ruled over mind. His son, James, was born in 1823 and a daughter, Nancy according to the 1850 census, but it is possible there were other older children and from all indications his wife parted from this world at the time of Nancy's birth or soon after. He then married Mary, Rebecca's mother, who was born in Alabama and 18 years younger than himself. She bore him 10 children including Rebecca; their names were John, Green, Charlotte, America, William E., Nathaniel, Emily, Ann and Archiles D. Rebecca was born in February 1849 in Hardin County which is on the Tennessee River, bordered by Mississippi and Alabama on the south. A grandson of Rebecca's, Hill Crocker, believes Rebecca to be of Dutch descent and remembers her to be a large woman that was 5' 10". The psychological effect on the Williams family of the Civil War commenced many years before the actual battles. As early as 1844 the Methodist Church split over the slavery issue and about 1853 the Southern Methodists built the original "Shiloh Meeting House" - a one-room log structure with crude handmade furnishings. When the Union Army moved upon the field, General Sherman encamped his division along the ridge on either side of the church during the Battle of Shiloh. In McNairy County. the adjoining county to Hardin, a large per cent of the people of the county adhered to the Union. It was reported that it became impossible to live in the county without taking sides. Thus we feel the same situation existed in Hardin County when our ancestors were thought to have become Union sympathizers. From all indications the Britton plantation was located near the Pittsburg landing for Rebecca related to her granddaughter, Kathleen, how she could hear the steamboats coming down the Tennessee River as a child. Even before the Battle of Shiloh, this was an important landing. Merchants of Corinth. Purday and the adjacent county received most of their merchandise from boats which tied up at this point. When the boats went back downstream, they were laden with passengers, cotton and produce which had been transported to the Landing over the roads which converged there. According to stories related by Rebecca to Kathleen, William Britton was a wealthy plantation owner and had many slaves. Rebecca had her own slave to dress her and care for her every need. She knew very little about chores or how to do the simplest household task. In the 1860 census William Britton's value of real estate was $1.000, which was at least 1,000 acres, and his value of personal estate was $1,500 which was probably the value of his slaves. By April 5, 1862 there were 39,830 officers and men at Pittsburg Landing near Rebecca's plantation home, and it is possible that her brothers were part of the Union army. During the night of April 5, 1862 the 2 hostile armies were camped withing a short distance of the Britton home, and we are sure the family was asking that night for the Lord to help them endure this anguish that wrenched their lives. Unaware to the family, the Confederates poised, ready to attack, while the unsuspecting Union Army went about its normal camp routine, making no preparations for the defense of its position. About 4:55 a.m., Sunday, April 6, 1862, the family heard suddenly, in the distance, a dull, heavy "pun", then another, and still another. William, who was no longer a young man at the age of 67, probably sprung from his bed as if struck by an electric shock and looked inquiringly into the face of his 44 year old wife. We can picture Rebecca at the age of 13 racing to her parents' bedroom experiencing terror and shook at the sound of the raging battle. The ominous growl of a low, sullen roar; "it was the continuous roll of thousands of muskets, and it indicated to the group that a battle was on." The little family group and their slaves very likely clung together trying to protect themselves behind the furniture, while every available gun was pointed through the windows, as the sounds of battle continued through this long, confused, terrible day. As darkness covered the Tennessee woodlands and fields, a messenger probably brought them word that the Confederates were in control - but Grant was still there. Through the night, it is most likely that they praised God for His protection, the foresight to hide their silver and other valuables, plus some nuts and a little other food, and the strength to endure another day. They discovered that a cannon shell, much to their distress, had hit a barrel of molasses in the kitchen during the worst of the battle that day. With the coming of a new day, Buell had pushed down from Nashville with re-enforcements to help the demoralized federal troops. General Pierre Beauregard replaced the fallen Johnston in Confederate command; at the Hornet's Nest, Albert Sidney Johnston suffered a severed artery in the thigh and died while Tennessee's Governor Isham Harris tried to staunch the gushing blood. Probably they took in a wounded soldier who told them the most horrible and sickening tale that they had ever heard; how the rainy night before the dead, the dying, the wounded, thousands of them lay in drenched blue and gray uniforms with equal misery. By mid afternoon on Monday, Beauregard was withdrawing and taking his battered army south to Corinth, Mississippi. But Grant and his battered army remained on the field, probably burning fence rails and plundering the farm animals, food, and other valuables from the local residents. by Jamie Kay Taylor The Williams Family Van Alstyne, Grayson Co., Texas 1909  Back row, left to right: Rebecca Britton Williams, Thomas Williams, George Williams (middle) Front row, left to right: Mary Lee Williams Crocker, holding her baby, Otis, unknown man, unknown man  Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |