Born in Queens Creek, York County, Virginia. (His birth may have been in 1712.)
Nathaniel's father is thought to be Lt. Col. John H. Williams (Judge) born January 26, 1679 Isle of Wright, Virginia and died in 1741 in Bertie County, North Carolina (son of Captain Joseph Williams (1647-1721)).
In 1736, Nathaniel, son of John Williams (1679–1741) and Mary Keeling (1684–1730), married Elizabeth Washington (BIRTH 21 JUN 1717 Middlesex Co., Virginia; DEATH 1761 Highgate, Gloucester, Virginia - daughter of John Washington III (1692–1746) and Catherine Whiting (1694–1744)). Nathaniel and Elizabeth has the following children:
1. Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (BIRTH 01 OCT 1741 Hanover County Virginia; DEATH 25 JAN 1805 in Rockingham County North Carolina). In 1764 he married Mary Ann Williamson (BIRTH 03 JAN 1745 Prince Edward, Virginia, Colonial America DEATH 15 APR 1831 Reidsville, Rockingham, North Carolina) NOTE: WILLIAM BROTHERS married WILLIAMSON SISTERS: Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (1741 – 1805) married Mary Ann Williamson (1745 – 1831) AND Elizabeth Williamson (1744 – 1834) married Col. John Williams (1745 – 1799).
2. Private Robert Williams (BIRTH 04 AUG 1744 Hanover, Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 1790 Caswell County North Carolina). On June 3, 1766 in North Carolina, he married Sarah Lanier (BIRTH 12 DEC 1748 Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Virginia; DEATH OCT 1814 Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina - Burial Locust Hill, Caswell County, North Carolina).
3. Col. John Williams (BIRTH 1745 Hanover Virginia; DEATH OCT 1799 Caswell, North Carolina). On 9 Mar 1767 in Charlotte County, Virginia, he married Elizabeth Williamson
(BIRTH 1744 Lunenburg County Virginia; DEATH 1834 Locust Hill Caswell County North Carolina - sister of his brother Nathanial's wife Mary Ann Williamson).
4. Col. Joseph Williams (BIRTH 27 MAR 1748; Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 11 AUG 1827 Surry, North Carolina). On 11 Sep 1772 in Granville, North Carolina, he married Rebekah Lanier (BIRTH 27 JAN 1757 Lunenburg County, Virginia; DEATH 20 MAR 1823 Orange County North Carolina).
Nathaniel Williams
in the North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
Name: Nathaniel Williams
State: NC
County: Granville County
Township: No Township Listed
Year: 1755
Database: NC Early Census Index
By Zella Armstrong from "Notable Southern Families" (Volume II):
One of the old and distinguished families of North Carolina and Tennessee is the Williams. The progenitor of the family was Nathaniel Williams, who was a native of Hanover County, Virginia. He had four sons and one daughter, namely: I. Robert Williams; II. Betsy or Elizabeth Williams; III. John Williams; IV Nathaniel Williams, Second; and V. Joseph Williams.
I. Robert Williams. Robert Williams, the eldest son of Nathaniel Williams, moved from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Robert Williams was Adjutant General of the State of North Carolina and collected the only copy of the Acts of the Assembly. He married Sarah Lanier. They had seven children and possibly one more. The seven were: (1) Nathaniel Williams (who was Judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee); (2) Polly Williams (who married Matthew Cay, member of Congress 1797-1813); (3) Lucy Williams (who married John Henry; (5) Sarah Williams (who married James Chalmers and lived in Halifax, Virginia, and was grandparent of General James R. Chalmers, member of Congress from Mississippi); (6) Elizabeth Williams (who married John Kerr, member of Congress and had three children, namely: John Kerr, Second, who was also a member of Congress; Mary G. Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Lanier Williams, and Martha Kerr, who married Dr. Frank Martin; and (7) Frances Williams (who married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. They had three children, namely: Rev. John Kerr Connally, who married Alice C. Thomas, daughter of James Thomas of Richmond; Mary E. Connally, who married James Turner Morehead, son of Governor J. M. Morehead of North Carolina; and Frances Connally, who married C. W. Guerrant of Rockingham, North Carolina). The other daughter of Robert Williams and his wife, Sarah Lanier Williams, who was the eighth child, is given by John H. Wheeler as also a "Frances," but it is improbable that two daughterw would have reached maturity continually called by the same name. She is given, however, as "Frances, the wife of General Barcilia Graves."
The foregoing is correct in most respects. It incorrectly states that Elizabeth Williams and Reverend John Kerr only had three children. It also errs in purportedly representing that Frances Williams married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. The wife of Thomas Dickson Connally of Tennessee was Frances Kerr (sometimes seen as Frances Lewis Kerr), daughter of Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) and Elizabeth Williams (1776-1834).
_______________
Robert Williams, b. 4 Aug 1744, Hanover Co., Va, d. 1790. Lawyer and as Commonwealth Attorney for Pittsylvania and Henry Counties of Virginia. Married 10 Oct 1774 Orange/Granville Co., NC to Sarah Lanier Williams, b. 12 Dec 1748, Lunenburg Co., Va, d. aft 1804. Sarah Lanier Williams was d/o dau. of Thos. and Eliz. Hicks Lanier, widow of Robert's cousin, Joseph Williams, s/o Daniel Williams and Ursula Henderson. Resided near Sandy Creek of Bannister River, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. According to one source (Fran Laird), Robert and Sarah had five children (names not known at this time). Source: Williams Family Website
There are two Robert Williams that are uncle and nephew that keep getting confused. The uncle Robert Williams that married to Sarah Lanier died in 1790. He was not the Robert Williams that was the North Carolina Congressman 1797-1803 (and appointed by President Jefferson to be Governor of Mississippi Territory) -- this was his nephew, brother of John.
Robert Williams and his brother Colonel Joseph Williams settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolution, and married sisters, Sarah and Rebecca Lanier, daughters of Thomas Lanier, an early justice of Lunenburg County, who later moved to North Carolina (Wheeler's "Reminiscences of North Carolina"). Sarah Lanier and Robert Williams were married October 10, 1774, (Marriage bond at Oxford, N. C.), and moved to Pittsylvania County to live, settling near Sandy Creek of Banister River. Here he practiced his profession of law and served as commonwealth attorney for both Pittsylvania and Henry Counties. He died in 1790, and the inventory of his estate showed much silver, books, and elegance of living; he left no will but in 1799 there was a division of his estate as follows:
To Col. John Williams and wife Elizabeth, 617 acres, including Manor Plantation on Sandy Creek.
To Nathaniel W. Williams, 1,540 acres, beginning on John White's line, taking in the mill.
To Micajah Watkins and Sarah his wife, 240 acres and 1,156 acres.
To Patsy Williams, 279 acres, the balance of 2,866 acres land of the Manor Plantation, 147 acres, the mill tract 168 acres on Cascade Creek.
To Fanny Williams 200 acres, 296 acres and 790 acres.
Patsy Williams married John Henry of Woodlawn.
Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
However, if this Robert Williams was married to Sarah Lanier Williams and she outlived him, why was she not mentioned with respect to his estate?
Robert Williams was selected a member of the Pittsylvania County Committee of Safety in 1775. Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
Adding confusion to this genealogy is The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115-116, which provides:
The ancestry of Mrs. Thomas Dickson Connally, Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, is not so simple a story; and in order to understand it one must begin with the Williams family: Nathaniel Williams, born in Hanover County, Virginia, had four sons, namely: Nathaniel, Jr., who married Mary Ann Williamson; Colonel Joseph, who married Rebecca Lanier; John, who married Elizabeth Williamson, a sister of Mary Ann; and Robert Williams, who married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister to Rebecca. Robert and Mary Elizabeth had a daughter named for her mother, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and she married a Robert Williams of the eastern part of Virginia, and they had one son, Robert Williams, from whom Senator John Sharp Williams is descended. This last Robert's father died not long after, and his mother, Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams, then married the well-known evangelist, Rev. John Kerr. Among their numerous children were two daughters, Mary Graves Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Williams, a son of Colonel Joseph Williams above mentioned, and another Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, who became, as has been said, the wife of Thomas Dickson Connally.
______________
The Williams Family Website claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and Elizabeth Washington Williams) married Sarah Lanier Williams, widow of Joseph Williams and daughter of Thomas Lanier and Elizabeth Hicks Lanier.
However, in The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115 (see above), the author claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and brother of Nathaniel, Jr., Colonel Joseph, and John) married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister of the Rebecca Lanier who married Colonel Joseph Williams (brother of the Robert Williams in question).
But note that The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5) sides with the Williams Family Website.
This confusion becomes acute when attempting to understand the ancestry of the Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams who married Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) as her second husband.
It is possible that the Morehead rendition is in error with respect to Mary Elizabeth Williams and that Robert Williams did marry Sarah Lanier Williams (widow of Colonel Joseph Williams) and that couple had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Williams who married secondly Reverend John Kerr. _______________
An additional twist is the location of the broken gravestone of Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) on the Clarendon Hall estate in Yanceyville, North Carolina, almost immediately across from the Kerr Hotel. See: Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) Gravestone.
Nathaniel's father is thought to be Lt. Col. John H. Williams (Judge) born January 26, 1679 Isle of Wright, Virginia and died in 1741 in Bertie County, North Carolina (son of Captain Joseph Williams (1647-1721)).
In 1736, Nathaniel, son of John Williams (1679–1741) and Mary Keeling (1684–1730), married Elizabeth Washington (BIRTH 21 JUN 1717 Middlesex Co., Virginia; DEATH 1761 Highgate, Gloucester, Virginia - daughter of John Washington III (1692–1746) and Catherine Whiting (1694–1744)). Nathaniel and Elizabeth has the following children:
1. Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (BIRTH 01 OCT 1741 Hanover County Virginia; DEATH 25 JAN 1805 in Rockingham County North Carolina). In 1764 he married Mary Ann Williamson (BIRTH 03 JAN 1745 Prince Edward, Virginia, Colonial America DEATH 15 APR 1831 Reidsville, Rockingham, North Carolina) NOTE: WILLIAM BROTHERS married WILLIAMSON SISTERS: Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (1741 – 1805) married Mary Ann Williamson (1745 – 1831) AND Elizabeth Williamson (1744 – 1834) married Col. John Williams (1745 – 1799).
2. Private Robert Williams (BIRTH 04 AUG 1744 Hanover, Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 1790 Caswell County North Carolina). On June 3, 1766 in North Carolina, he married Sarah Lanier (BIRTH 12 DEC 1748 Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Virginia; DEATH OCT 1814 Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina - Burial Locust Hill, Caswell County, North Carolina).
3. Col. John Williams (BIRTH 1745 Hanover Virginia; DEATH OCT 1799 Caswell, North Carolina). On 9 Mar 1767 in Charlotte County, Virginia, he married Elizabeth Williamson
(BIRTH 1744 Lunenburg County Virginia; DEATH 1834 Locust Hill Caswell County North Carolina - sister of his brother Nathanial's wife Mary Ann Williamson).
4. Col. Joseph Williams (BIRTH 27 MAR 1748; Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 11 AUG 1827 Surry, North Carolina). On 11 Sep 1772 in Granville, North Carolina, he married Rebekah Lanier (BIRTH 27 JAN 1757 Lunenburg County, Virginia; DEATH 20 MAR 1823 Orange County North Carolina).
Nathaniel Williams
in the North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
Name: Nathaniel Williams
State: NC
County: Granville County
Township: No Township Listed
Year: 1755
Database: NC Early Census Index
By Zella Armstrong from "Notable Southern Families" (Volume II):
One of the old and distinguished families of North Carolina and Tennessee is the Williams. The progenitor of the family was Nathaniel Williams, who was a native of Hanover County, Virginia. He had four sons and one daughter, namely: I. Robert Williams; II. Betsy or Elizabeth Williams; III. John Williams; IV Nathaniel Williams, Second; and V. Joseph Williams.
I. Robert Williams. Robert Williams, the eldest son of Nathaniel Williams, moved from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Robert Williams was Adjutant General of the State of North Carolina and collected the only copy of the Acts of the Assembly. He married Sarah Lanier. They had seven children and possibly one more. The seven were: (1) Nathaniel Williams (who was Judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee); (2) Polly Williams (who married Matthew Cay, member of Congress 1797-1813); (3) Lucy Williams (who married John Henry; (5) Sarah Williams (who married James Chalmers and lived in Halifax, Virginia, and was grandparent of General James R. Chalmers, member of Congress from Mississippi); (6) Elizabeth Williams (who married John Kerr, member of Congress and had three children, namely: John Kerr, Second, who was also a member of Congress; Mary G. Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Lanier Williams, and Martha Kerr, who married Dr. Frank Martin; and (7) Frances Williams (who married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. They had three children, namely: Rev. John Kerr Connally, who married Alice C. Thomas, daughter of James Thomas of Richmond; Mary E. Connally, who married James Turner Morehead, son of Governor J. M. Morehead of North Carolina; and Frances Connally, who married C. W. Guerrant of Rockingham, North Carolina). The other daughter of Robert Williams and his wife, Sarah Lanier Williams, who was the eighth child, is given by John H. Wheeler as also a "Frances," but it is improbable that two daughterw would have reached maturity continually called by the same name. She is given, however, as "Frances, the wife of General Barcilia Graves."
The foregoing is correct in most respects. It incorrectly states that Elizabeth Williams and Reverend John Kerr only had three children. It also errs in purportedly representing that Frances Williams married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. The wife of Thomas Dickson Connally of Tennessee was Frances Kerr (sometimes seen as Frances Lewis Kerr), daughter of Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) and Elizabeth Williams (1776-1834).
_______________
Robert Williams, b. 4 Aug 1744, Hanover Co., Va, d. 1790. Lawyer and as Commonwealth Attorney for Pittsylvania and Henry Counties of Virginia. Married 10 Oct 1774 Orange/Granville Co., NC to Sarah Lanier Williams, b. 12 Dec 1748, Lunenburg Co., Va, d. aft 1804. Sarah Lanier Williams was d/o dau. of Thos. and Eliz. Hicks Lanier, widow of Robert's cousin, Joseph Williams, s/o Daniel Williams and Ursula Henderson. Resided near Sandy Creek of Bannister River, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. According to one source (Fran Laird), Robert and Sarah had five children (names not known at this time). Source: Williams Family Website
There are two Robert Williams that are uncle and nephew that keep getting confused. The uncle Robert Williams that married to Sarah Lanier died in 1790. He was not the Robert Williams that was the North Carolina Congressman 1797-1803 (and appointed by President Jefferson to be Governor of Mississippi Territory) -- this was his nephew, brother of John.
Robert Williams and his brother Colonel Joseph Williams settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolution, and married sisters, Sarah and Rebecca Lanier, daughters of Thomas Lanier, an early justice of Lunenburg County, who later moved to North Carolina (Wheeler's "Reminiscences of North Carolina"). Sarah Lanier and Robert Williams were married October 10, 1774, (Marriage bond at Oxford, N. C.), and moved to Pittsylvania County to live, settling near Sandy Creek of Banister River. Here he practiced his profession of law and served as commonwealth attorney for both Pittsylvania and Henry Counties. He died in 1790, and the inventory of his estate showed much silver, books, and elegance of living; he left no will but in 1799 there was a division of his estate as follows:
To Col. John Williams and wife Elizabeth, 617 acres, including Manor Plantation on Sandy Creek.
To Nathaniel W. Williams, 1,540 acres, beginning on John White's line, taking in the mill.
To Micajah Watkins and Sarah his wife, 240 acres and 1,156 acres.
To Patsy Williams, 279 acres, the balance of 2,866 acres land of the Manor Plantation, 147 acres, the mill tract 168 acres on Cascade Creek.
To Fanny Williams 200 acres, 296 acres and 790 acres.
Patsy Williams married John Henry of Woodlawn.
Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
However, if this Robert Williams was married to Sarah Lanier Williams and she outlived him, why was she not mentioned with respect to his estate?
Robert Williams was selected a member of the Pittsylvania County Committee of Safety in 1775. Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
Adding confusion to this genealogy is The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115-116, which provides:
The ancestry of Mrs. Thomas Dickson Connally, Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, is not so simple a story; and in order to understand it one must begin with the Williams family: Nathaniel Williams, born in Hanover County, Virginia, had four sons, namely: Nathaniel, Jr., who married Mary Ann Williamson; Colonel Joseph, who married Rebecca Lanier; John, who married Elizabeth Williamson, a sister of Mary Ann; and Robert Williams, who married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister to Rebecca. Robert and Mary Elizabeth had a daughter named for her mother, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and she married a Robert Williams of the eastern part of Virginia, and they had one son, Robert Williams, from whom Senator John Sharp Williams is descended. This last Robert's father died not long after, and his mother, Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams, then married the well-known evangelist, Rev. John Kerr. Among their numerous children were two daughters, Mary Graves Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Williams, a son of Colonel Joseph Williams above mentioned, and another Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, who became, as has been said, the wife of Thomas Dickson Connally.
______________
The Williams Family Website claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and Elizabeth Washington Williams) married Sarah Lanier Williams, widow of Joseph Williams and daughter of Thomas Lanier and Elizabeth Hicks Lanier.
However, in The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115 (see above), the author claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and brother of Nathaniel, Jr., Colonel Joseph, and John) married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister of the Rebecca Lanier who married Colonel Joseph Williams (brother of the Robert Williams in question).
But note that The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5) sides with the Williams Family Website.
This confusion becomes acute when attempting to understand the ancestry of the Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams who married Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) as her second husband.
It is possible that the Morehead rendition is in error with respect to Mary Elizabeth Williams and that Robert Williams did marry Sarah Lanier Williams (widow of Colonel Joseph Williams) and that couple had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Williams who married secondly Reverend John Kerr. _______________
An additional twist is the location of the broken gravestone of Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) on the Clarendon Hall estate in Yanceyville, North Carolina, almost immediately across from the Kerr Hotel. See: Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) Gravestone.
Born in Queens Creek, York County, Virginia. (His birth may have been in 1712.)
Nathaniel's father is thought to be Lt. Col. John H. Williams (Judge) born January 26, 1679 Isle of Wright, Virginia and died in 1741 in Bertie County, North Carolina (son of Captain Joseph Williams (1647-1721)).
In 1736, Nathaniel, son of John Williams (1679–1741) and Mary Keeling (1684–1730), married Elizabeth Washington (BIRTH 21 JUN 1717 Middlesex Co., Virginia; DEATH 1761 Highgate, Gloucester, Virginia - daughter of John Washington III (1692–1746) and Catherine Whiting (1694–1744)). Nathaniel and Elizabeth has the following children:
1. Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (BIRTH 01 OCT 1741 Hanover County Virginia; DEATH 25 JAN 1805 in Rockingham County North Carolina). In 1764 he married Mary Ann Williamson (BIRTH 03 JAN 1745 Prince Edward, Virginia, Colonial America DEATH 15 APR 1831 Reidsville, Rockingham, North Carolina) NOTE: WILLIAM BROTHERS married WILLIAMSON SISTERS: Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (1741 – 1805) married Mary Ann Williamson (1745 – 1831) AND Elizabeth Williamson (1744 – 1834) married Col. John Williams (1745 – 1799).
2. Private Robert Williams (BIRTH 04 AUG 1744 Hanover, Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 1790 Caswell County North Carolina). On June 3, 1766 in North Carolina, he married Sarah Lanier (BIRTH 12 DEC 1748 Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Virginia; DEATH OCT 1814 Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina - Burial Locust Hill, Caswell County, North Carolina).
3. Col. John Williams (BIRTH 1745 Hanover Virginia; DEATH OCT 1799 Caswell, North Carolina). On 9 Mar 1767 in Charlotte County, Virginia, he married Elizabeth Williamson
(BIRTH 1744 Lunenburg County Virginia; DEATH 1834 Locust Hill Caswell County North Carolina - sister of his brother Nathanial's wife Mary Ann Williamson).
4. Col. Joseph Williams (BIRTH 27 MAR 1748; Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 11 AUG 1827 Surry, North Carolina). On 11 Sep 1772 in Granville, North Carolina, he married Rebekah Lanier (BIRTH 27 JAN 1757 Lunenburg County, Virginia; DEATH 20 MAR 1823 Orange County North Carolina).
Nathaniel Williams
in the North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
Name: Nathaniel Williams
State: NC
County: Granville County
Township: No Township Listed
Year: 1755
Database: NC Early Census Index
By Zella Armstrong from "Notable Southern Families" (Volume II):
One of the old and distinguished families of North Carolina and Tennessee is the Williams. The progenitor of the family was Nathaniel Williams, who was a native of Hanover County, Virginia. He had four sons and one daughter, namely: I. Robert Williams; II. Betsy or Elizabeth Williams; III. John Williams; IV Nathaniel Williams, Second; and V. Joseph Williams.
I. Robert Williams. Robert Williams, the eldest son of Nathaniel Williams, moved from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Robert Williams was Adjutant General of the State of North Carolina and collected the only copy of the Acts of the Assembly. He married Sarah Lanier. They had seven children and possibly one more. The seven were: (1) Nathaniel Williams (who was Judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee); (2) Polly Williams (who married Matthew Cay, member of Congress 1797-1813); (3) Lucy Williams (who married John Henry; (5) Sarah Williams (who married James Chalmers and lived in Halifax, Virginia, and was grandparent of General James R. Chalmers, member of Congress from Mississippi); (6) Elizabeth Williams (who married John Kerr, member of Congress and had three children, namely: John Kerr, Second, who was also a member of Congress; Mary G. Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Lanier Williams, and Martha Kerr, who married Dr. Frank Martin; and (7) Frances Williams (who married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. They had three children, namely: Rev. John Kerr Connally, who married Alice C. Thomas, daughter of James Thomas of Richmond; Mary E. Connally, who married James Turner Morehead, son of Governor J. M. Morehead of North Carolina; and Frances Connally, who married C. W. Guerrant of Rockingham, North Carolina). The other daughter of Robert Williams and his wife, Sarah Lanier Williams, who was the eighth child, is given by John H. Wheeler as also a "Frances," but it is improbable that two daughterw would have reached maturity continually called by the same name. She is given, however, as "Frances, the wife of General Barcilia Graves."
The foregoing is correct in most respects. It incorrectly states that Elizabeth Williams and Reverend John Kerr only had three children. It also errs in purportedly representing that Frances Williams married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. The wife of Thomas Dickson Connally of Tennessee was Frances Kerr (sometimes seen as Frances Lewis Kerr), daughter of Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) and Elizabeth Williams (1776-1834).
_______________
Robert Williams, b. 4 Aug 1744, Hanover Co., Va, d. 1790. Lawyer and as Commonwealth Attorney for Pittsylvania and Henry Counties of Virginia. Married 10 Oct 1774 Orange/Granville Co., NC to Sarah Lanier Williams, b. 12 Dec 1748, Lunenburg Co., Va, d. aft 1804. Sarah Lanier Williams was d/o dau. of Thos. and Eliz. Hicks Lanier, widow of Robert's cousin, Joseph Williams, s/o Daniel Williams and Ursula Henderson. Resided near Sandy Creek of Bannister River, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. According to one source (Fran Laird), Robert and Sarah had five children (names not known at this time). Source: Williams Family Website
There are two Robert Williams that are uncle and nephew that keep getting confused. The uncle Robert Williams that married to Sarah Lanier died in 1790. He was not the Robert Williams that was the North Carolina Congressman 1797-1803 (and appointed by President Jefferson to be Governor of Mississippi Territory) -- this was his nephew, brother of John.
Robert Williams and his brother Colonel Joseph Williams settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolution, and married sisters, Sarah and Rebecca Lanier, daughters of Thomas Lanier, an early justice of Lunenburg County, who later moved to North Carolina (Wheeler's "Reminiscences of North Carolina"). Sarah Lanier and Robert Williams were married October 10, 1774, (Marriage bond at Oxford, N. C.), and moved to Pittsylvania County to live, settling near Sandy Creek of Banister River. Here he practiced his profession of law and served as commonwealth attorney for both Pittsylvania and Henry Counties. He died in 1790, and the inventory of his estate showed much silver, books, and elegance of living; he left no will but in 1799 there was a division of his estate as follows:
To Col. John Williams and wife Elizabeth, 617 acres, including Manor Plantation on Sandy Creek.
To Nathaniel W. Williams, 1,540 acres, beginning on John White's line, taking in the mill.
To Micajah Watkins and Sarah his wife, 240 acres and 1,156 acres.
To Patsy Williams, 279 acres, the balance of 2,866 acres land of the Manor Plantation, 147 acres, the mill tract 168 acres on Cascade Creek.
To Fanny Williams 200 acres, 296 acres and 790 acres.
Patsy Williams married John Henry of Woodlawn.
Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
However, if this Robert Williams was married to Sarah Lanier Williams and she outlived him, why was she not mentioned with respect to his estate?
Robert Williams was selected a member of the Pittsylvania County Committee of Safety in 1775. Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
Adding confusion to this genealogy is The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115-116, which provides:
The ancestry of Mrs. Thomas Dickson Connally, Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, is not so simple a story; and in order to understand it one must begin with the Williams family: Nathaniel Williams, born in Hanover County, Virginia, had four sons, namely: Nathaniel, Jr., who married Mary Ann Williamson; Colonel Joseph, who married Rebecca Lanier; John, who married Elizabeth Williamson, a sister of Mary Ann; and Robert Williams, who married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister to Rebecca. Robert and Mary Elizabeth had a daughter named for her mother, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and she married a Robert Williams of the eastern part of Virginia, and they had one son, Robert Williams, from whom Senator John Sharp Williams is descended. This last Robert's father died not long after, and his mother, Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams, then married the well-known evangelist, Rev. John Kerr. Among their numerous children were two daughters, Mary Graves Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Williams, a son of Colonel Joseph Williams above mentioned, and another Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, who became, as has been said, the wife of Thomas Dickson Connally.
______________
The Williams Family Website claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and Elizabeth Washington Williams) married Sarah Lanier Williams, widow of Joseph Williams and daughter of Thomas Lanier and Elizabeth Hicks Lanier.
However, in The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115 (see above), the author claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and brother of Nathaniel, Jr., Colonel Joseph, and John) married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister of the Rebecca Lanier who married Colonel Joseph Williams (brother of the Robert Williams in question).
But note that The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5) sides with the Williams Family Website.
This confusion becomes acute when attempting to understand the ancestry of the Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams who married Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) as her second husband.
It is possible that the Morehead rendition is in error with respect to Mary Elizabeth Williams and that Robert Williams did marry Sarah Lanier Williams (widow of Colonel Joseph Williams) and that couple had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Williams who married secondly Reverend John Kerr. _______________
An additional twist is the location of the broken gravestone of Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) on the Clarendon Hall estate in Yanceyville, North Carolina, almost immediately across from the Kerr Hotel. See: Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) Gravestone.
Nathaniel's father is thought to be Lt. Col. John H. Williams (Judge) born January 26, 1679 Isle of Wright, Virginia and died in 1741 in Bertie County, North Carolina (son of Captain Joseph Williams (1647-1721)).
In 1736, Nathaniel, son of John Williams (1679–1741) and Mary Keeling (1684–1730), married Elizabeth Washington (BIRTH 21 JUN 1717 Middlesex Co., Virginia; DEATH 1761 Highgate, Gloucester, Virginia - daughter of John Washington III (1692–1746) and Catherine Whiting (1694–1744)). Nathaniel and Elizabeth has the following children:
1. Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (BIRTH 01 OCT 1741 Hanover County Virginia; DEATH 25 JAN 1805 in Rockingham County North Carolina). In 1764 he married Mary Ann Williamson (BIRTH 03 JAN 1745 Prince Edward, Virginia, Colonial America DEATH 15 APR 1831 Reidsville, Rockingham, North Carolina) NOTE: WILLIAM BROTHERS married WILLIAMSON SISTERS: Nathaniel B Williams Jr. (1741 – 1805) married Mary Ann Williamson (1745 – 1831) AND Elizabeth Williamson (1744 – 1834) married Col. John Williams (1745 – 1799).
2. Private Robert Williams (BIRTH 04 AUG 1744 Hanover, Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 1790 Caswell County North Carolina). On June 3, 1766 in North Carolina, he married Sarah Lanier (BIRTH 12 DEC 1748 Lunenburg, Lunenburg, Virginia; DEATH OCT 1814 Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina - Burial Locust Hill, Caswell County, North Carolina).
3. Col. John Williams (BIRTH 1745 Hanover Virginia; DEATH OCT 1799 Caswell, North Carolina). On 9 Mar 1767 in Charlotte County, Virginia, he married Elizabeth Williamson
(BIRTH 1744 Lunenburg County Virginia; DEATH 1834 Locust Hill Caswell County North Carolina - sister of his brother Nathanial's wife Mary Ann Williamson).
4. Col. Joseph Williams (BIRTH 27 MAR 1748; Hanover, Virginia; DEATH 11 AUG 1827 Surry, North Carolina). On 11 Sep 1772 in Granville, North Carolina, he married Rebekah Lanier (BIRTH 27 JAN 1757 Lunenburg County, Virginia; DEATH 20 MAR 1823 Orange County North Carolina).
Nathaniel Williams
in the North Carolina, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1890
Name: Nathaniel Williams
State: NC
County: Granville County
Township: No Township Listed
Year: 1755
Database: NC Early Census Index
By Zella Armstrong from "Notable Southern Families" (Volume II):
One of the old and distinguished families of North Carolina and Tennessee is the Williams. The progenitor of the family was Nathaniel Williams, who was a native of Hanover County, Virginia. He had four sons and one daughter, namely: I. Robert Williams; II. Betsy or Elizabeth Williams; III. John Williams; IV Nathaniel Williams, Second; and V. Joseph Williams.
I. Robert Williams. Robert Williams, the eldest son of Nathaniel Williams, moved from Pittsylvania County, Virginia. Robert Williams was Adjutant General of the State of North Carolina and collected the only copy of the Acts of the Assembly. He married Sarah Lanier. They had seven children and possibly one more. The seven were: (1) Nathaniel Williams (who was Judge of the Superior Court of Tennessee); (2) Polly Williams (who married Matthew Cay, member of Congress 1797-1813); (3) Lucy Williams (who married John Henry; (5) Sarah Williams (who married James Chalmers and lived in Halifax, Virginia, and was grandparent of General James R. Chalmers, member of Congress from Mississippi); (6) Elizabeth Williams (who married John Kerr, member of Congress and had three children, namely: John Kerr, Second, who was also a member of Congress; Mary G. Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Lanier Williams, and Martha Kerr, who married Dr. Frank Martin; and (7) Frances Williams (who married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. They had three children, namely: Rev. John Kerr Connally, who married Alice C. Thomas, daughter of James Thomas of Richmond; Mary E. Connally, who married James Turner Morehead, son of Governor J. M. Morehead of North Carolina; and Frances Connally, who married C. W. Guerrant of Rockingham, North Carolina). The other daughter of Robert Williams and his wife, Sarah Lanier Williams, who was the eighth child, is given by John H. Wheeler as also a "Frances," but it is improbable that two daughterw would have reached maturity continually called by the same name. She is given, however, as "Frances, the wife of General Barcilia Graves."
The foregoing is correct in most respects. It incorrectly states that Elizabeth Williams and Reverend John Kerr only had three children. It also errs in purportedly representing that Frances Williams married Thomas D. Connally of Tennessee. The wife of Thomas Dickson Connally of Tennessee was Frances Kerr (sometimes seen as Frances Lewis Kerr), daughter of Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) and Elizabeth Williams (1776-1834).
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Robert Williams, b. 4 Aug 1744, Hanover Co., Va, d. 1790. Lawyer and as Commonwealth Attorney for Pittsylvania and Henry Counties of Virginia. Married 10 Oct 1774 Orange/Granville Co., NC to Sarah Lanier Williams, b. 12 Dec 1748, Lunenburg Co., Va, d. aft 1804. Sarah Lanier Williams was d/o dau. of Thos. and Eliz. Hicks Lanier, widow of Robert's cousin, Joseph Williams, s/o Daniel Williams and Ursula Henderson. Resided near Sandy Creek of Bannister River, Pittsylvania County, Virginia. According to one source (Fran Laird), Robert and Sarah had five children (names not known at this time). Source: Williams Family Website
There are two Robert Williams that are uncle and nephew that keep getting confused. The uncle Robert Williams that married to Sarah Lanier died in 1790. He was not the Robert Williams that was the North Carolina Congressman 1797-1803 (and appointed by President Jefferson to be Governor of Mississippi Territory) -- this was his nephew, brother of John.
Robert Williams and his brother Colonel Joseph Williams settled in North Carolina prior to the Revolution, and married sisters, Sarah and Rebecca Lanier, daughters of Thomas Lanier, an early justice of Lunenburg County, who later moved to North Carolina (Wheeler's "Reminiscences of North Carolina"). Sarah Lanier and Robert Williams were married October 10, 1774, (Marriage bond at Oxford, N. C.), and moved to Pittsylvania County to live, settling near Sandy Creek of Banister River. Here he practiced his profession of law and served as commonwealth attorney for both Pittsylvania and Henry Counties. He died in 1790, and the inventory of his estate showed much silver, books, and elegance of living; he left no will but in 1799 there was a division of his estate as follows:
To Col. John Williams and wife Elizabeth, 617 acres, including Manor Plantation on Sandy Creek.
To Nathaniel W. Williams, 1,540 acres, beginning on John White's line, taking in the mill.
To Micajah Watkins and Sarah his wife, 240 acres and 1,156 acres.
To Patsy Williams, 279 acres, the balance of 2,866 acres land of the Manor Plantation, 147 acres, the mill tract 168 acres on Cascade Creek.
To Fanny Williams 200 acres, 296 acres and 790 acres.
Patsy Williams married John Henry of Woodlawn.
Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
However, if this Robert Williams was married to Sarah Lanier Williams and she outlived him, why was she not mentioned with respect to his estate?
Robert Williams was selected a member of the Pittsylvania County Committee of Safety in 1775. Source: The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5).
Adding confusion to this genealogy is The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115-116, which provides:
The ancestry of Mrs. Thomas Dickson Connally, Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, is not so simple a story; and in order to understand it one must begin with the Williams family: Nathaniel Williams, born in Hanover County, Virginia, had four sons, namely: Nathaniel, Jr., who married Mary Ann Williamson; Colonel Joseph, who married Rebecca Lanier; John, who married Elizabeth Williamson, a sister of Mary Ann; and Robert Williams, who married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister to Rebecca. Robert and Mary Elizabeth had a daughter named for her mother, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and she married a Robert Williams of the eastern part of Virginia, and they had one son, Robert Williams, from whom Senator John Sharp Williams is descended. This last Robert's father died not long after, and his mother, Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams, then married the well-known evangelist, Rev. John Kerr. Among their numerous children were two daughters, Mary Graves Kerr, who married her cousin, Nicholas Williams, a son of Colonel Joseph Williams above mentioned, and another Frances (or Fanny) Kerr, who became, as has been said, the wife of Thomas Dickson Connally.
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The Williams Family Website claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and Elizabeth Washington Williams) married Sarah Lanier Williams, widow of Joseph Williams and daughter of Thomas Lanier and Elizabeth Hicks Lanier.
However, in The Morehead Family of North Carolina and Virginia, John Motley Morehead III (1921) at 115 (see above), the author claims that Robert Williams (son of Nathaniel Williams and brother of Nathaniel, Jr., Colonel Joseph, and John) married Mary Elizabeth Lanier, sister of the Rebecca Lanier who married Colonel Joseph Williams (brother of the Robert Williams in question).
But note that The History of Pittsylvania County Virginia, Maud Carter Clement (1929) at 139 (footnote 5) sides with the Williams Family Website.
This confusion becomes acute when attempting to understand the ancestry of the Mary Elizabeth (Williams) Williams who married Reverend John Kerr (1782-1842) as her second husband.
It is possible that the Morehead rendition is in error with respect to Mary Elizabeth Williams and that Robert Williams did marry Sarah Lanier Williams (widow of Colonel Joseph Williams) and that couple had a daughter named Mary Elizabeth Williams who married secondly Reverend John Kerr. _______________
An additional twist is the location of the broken gravestone of Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) on the Clarendon Hall estate in Yanceyville, North Carolina, almost immediately across from the Kerr Hotel. See: Sarah Lanier Williams (1748-1814) Gravestone.
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