William Hale married Elizabeth Francis on March 2, 1823 in Roane Co., Tennessee. They had the following children: Joseph, Francis, Fountain, Frances "Franky" (Line), Matilda Jane (Bottom), John Woodson, Elizabeth "Bettie" (Gaut)(Biggs) and William M.

William Hale was "thrown from a boat" and drowned in the Mississippi River when he went to sell produce at New Orleans, according to an account by his youngest son, William M. Hale. Another record says he died "before August 1839." After his death, his wife Elizabeth married Sanford Richey and was the mother of several more children. Its unknown where William is buried.

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Update 03 Aug 2016: Robert Galloway, descendant of John Woodson Hale, received the following information from Paula Brentnall, descendant of Matilda Jane (Hale) Bottom:

Knoxville Register, Vol. 38, July 1838 Newspaper Abstracts, Vol. II, 1830-1939, Knoxville Press, p. 155. "The New Orleans Picayune reports the death of William Hales of East Tennessee, a flatboatman, on the 27th ult.” The original announcement was in the following Louisiana newspaper. The article in the Saturday, June 30, 1838 issue of the New Orleans Picayune read: “Accident.- A flatboatman named William Hales, fell overboard from his boat on the night of the 27th inst. and was drowned. His body was recovered last evening and decently interred. We learn that he has left a wife and nine children, who reside in East Tennessee, near Kingston.” This would indicate that he died in Louisiana on June 27th and was buried before June 30, 1838. Hope you can use this info. --Paula Brentnall

THANK YOU PAULA AND ROBERT!

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ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!