Samuel M. Williamson: West To the Gold Fields & a Brother’s Widow

by Jean M. Hoffman, CG^SM

Moses Williamson, 1820-1856
Compton Cemetery

In learning about the Charles Williamson family, I’ve followed one son from West Virginia and Ohio to the California gold rush region. I'd welcome any comments on the research and report. Moses and Samuel M. Williamson were two of the sons of Charles and Martha (Martin) Williamson. Both were named in the 1858 will of their father in Wood County, (West) Virginia. (see earlier post) All references below to Virginia are places now in West Virginia.

Moses Williamson was born 25 February 1820, probably in Tyler County, Virginia.¹ He married Cornelia Ann Thorniley on 30 March 1850 in Washington County, Ohio, both residing in Marietta.² Later that year they still lived in Marietta, twenty-six-year-old Samuel Williamson with them.³ Moses moved back across the Ohio River to Wood County, Virginia, where he died 20 August 1856.⁴ He was buried in Compton Cemetery south of Waverly.⁵ He had one daughter, Virginia Williamson, named in her grandfather’s will as “the only daughter of my sone Moses Williamson decese.”⁶

Four years after Moses died, Cornelia A. Williamson was a farmer and head of household in Wood County, Virginia, near Bull Creek (now Waverly.) Living with her were nine-year-old Virginia Williamson, four non-Williamsons, and farm laborer George Williamson, age twenty-two, most likely the youngest of her brothers-in-law.⁷ Cornelia Williamson does not appear locally in the 1870 census.

In 1850 the Samuel Williamson living with Moses and Cornelia was twenty-six, implying birth in 1823–24. Like Moses, his Virginia birthplace would most likely be Tyler County.⁸ There were eight other men of that name born in Virginia between 1820 and 1830 enumerated in the 1850 census.⁹ They were:

Name	age	1850 census location
Samuel H.	27	Appomattox County, Virginia
Sam	22	Mecklenburg County, Virginia
Samuel	20	Hampshire County, Virginia (now W.Va.)
Saml. D.	20	Hampshire County, Virginia (now W.Va.)
Samuel	27	Berkeley County, Virginia (now W.Va.)
Sam	23	Hancock County, Virginia (now W.Va.)
Samuel T.	30	Sumter County, Alabama
Samuel	30	Campbell County, Kentucky

Some have different initials, several are at the age extremes checked, and none lived close to Wood and Washington counties. Samuel M. Williamson isn’t easily confused with them.

A likely Samuel M. Williamson has not been located in the U.S. census for either 1860 or 1870.

On to California

On 10 June 1880 a “Samuell” Williamson, born in Virginia, age fifty-five, was enumerated in San Francisco. With him were his Ohio-born wife “Cornellia,” California-born daughters Alice and Laura, and three boarders.¹⁰ September 29 of that year Samuel Martin Williamson of the same address, 1324 Howard Street, registered to vote. He was a native of Virginia, occupation miner.¹¹ Samuel M. Williamson of West Virginia, age fifty-nine, died in San Francisco on 20 January 1884.¹² Saml. M. Williamson married Mrs. Cornelia A. Williamson on 14 February 1864 in Downieville, Sierra County, California, a boom area during the gold rush.¹³ Samuel Martin Williamson also registered to vote in Sonoma County, California, on 6 June 1871. He was a hotel keeper in Mendocino, age forty-six and a native of the United States.¹⁴

The California records of Samuel, Samuel M. and Samuel Martin Williamson are for one man born in (West) Virginia about 1825. That is very close to the 1850 age of Samuel Williamson in the household of Moses and Cornelia in Ohio. Martha Martin was the maiden name of the wife of Charles Williamson, so Samuel’s middle name is a link to her.¹⁵ In the 1880 census only two other men named Samuel Williamson were enumerated with birth in Virginia or West Virginia between 1820 and 1830.¹⁶ They were Saml. H., age fifty-one, Campbell County, Va. and Sam’l. D., age fifty-four, Washington, D.C., both with middle initials other than M.  The California man is the son of Charles and Martha (Martin) Williamson.

Cornelia, daughter Virginia and Virginia’s husband, William A. Farish, sold their interests in the late Moses Williamson’s Ohio River land in Wood County, West Virginia, to P. V. Thorniley in 1870.¹⁷ The Farishes then lived in San Francisco. Virginia affirmed her part in the deed as a minor in 1872 after she turned twenty-one when she was in Sierra County, California.¹⁸

Cornelia Ann Williamson lived on in California in San Francisco and later in Oakland where she died 15 November 1922.¹⁹ She had given birth to three children all living through 1910. Her daughters were Virginia, wife of William A. Farish; Alice, born in Sierra City, Sierra County, California, wife of Daniel W. Strong; and Laura who married later in life William D. McNicoll.²⁰ Virginia and Alice provided her with grandchildren. Enumerated with her in 1900 were two of them, Lillie Farish and Laura Strong. While Cornelia’s death certificate omitted her parents’ names, that of Alice Dana Strong lists her father as Samuel Williamson, born in West Virginia, and mother’s maiden name as Cornelia Thorniley, born in Ohio.²¹

Probably because Samuel M. Williamson was not included in a published genealogy of the Williamson family, online family trees do not record the origins of Cornelia’s second husband. In fact, he was a younger brother of her first husband who went west to the California gold fields either with her or inviting her to follow.

___________________________________

Endnotes:

1. Compton Cemetery (Wood County, W.Va.; Waverly Road about 3.8 miles south from Route 14 in Williamstown), photographed by author, 6 December 2012; gravestone includes birth and death dates. Also 1820 census, Tyler County, Virginia, population schedule, p. 896 (penned), line 25, Charles Williamson household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 March 2010); citing NARA microfilm M33, roll 140; shows family location in 1820.

2. Washington County Marriage Records 2: 357, Moses Williamson and Cornelia Ann Thornily, 1850; digital image, FamilySearch, “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994” (https://familysearch.org : accessed 21 August 2012); imaged from FHL microfilm 941,958.

3. 1850 U.S. census, Washington County, Ohio, population schedule, Marietta Township, p. 485 (penned), p. 218 (stamped), dwelling 54, family 55, Moses Williamson household; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 21 August 2012); NARA microfilm M432, roll 738, imaged from FHL microfilm 444,731.

4. Wood County, West Virginia, Register of Deaths, vol. 1, p. 11, entry no. 69 for Moses Williamson; index, “West Virginia, Deaths, 1853-1970,” FamilySearch citing FHL microfilm 579,068; digital image, West Virginia Division of Culture and History (http://www.wvculture.org/ : accessed 19 April 2010).

5. Compton Cemetery, Wood County, W.Va.

6. Charles Williamson will (1858), Wood County Will Book 5, 1856-1869: 127-28, digital images, “West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971,” FamilySearch, (https://familysearch.org : accessed 10 August 2011), imaged from FHL microfilm 577,194.

7. 1860 U.S. census, Wood County, Virginia, population schedule, post office Bull Creek, Va., p. 61 (penned), dwelling 1748, family 1744, Cornelia A. Williamson household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 August 2012); NARA microfilm M653, roll 1384, imaged from FHL microfilm 805,384.

8. “1825 Tax List” database, Tyler County West Virginia Genealogy Project (http://www.wvgenweb.org/tyler/Pages/1825tax.htm : accessed 9 December 2012), Charles Williamson entry; shows continued residence in Tyler County.

9. FamilySearch 1850 U.S. census query for Sam* Williamson, born Virginia, 1820-1830, returned nine names plus 20 more for surname Williams or McWilliams, (https://familysearch.org : accessed 9 January 2013.)

10. 1880 U.S. census, San Francisco County, California, population schedule, San Francisco, ED 155, sheet 134A, dwelling 323, family 341, Samuell Williamson household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 December 2012); from NARA microfilm T9, roll 77; imaged from FHL microfilm 1,254,077.

11. San Francisco County, Great Register (Sacramento, Calif.: California State Library, 1880), 7th Precinct, 11th Ward, Samuel Martin Williamson entry, voting no.343; citing Collection Number 4 - 2A; C SL roll 49; digital images, "Voter Registers, 1866-1898 California " Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 December 2012); imaged from FHL microfilm 977,198.

12. California, San Francisco Area Funeral Home Records, 1835-1931, Samuel M. Williamson, 1884, no. 77, Kremple & Halsted Funeral Records, Vol. 1, 1883-1897; digital image, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 8 December 2012).

13. Marriages, Vol. A: 97, Saml. M. Williamson and Mrs. Cornelia A. Williamson, 1864, Sierra County Recorder, Downieville, California.

14. Sonoma County, Great Register (Sacramento, Calif.: California State Library, 1871), Samuel Martin Williamson entry, no.7848; citing Collection Number 4 - 2A; C SL roll 132; digital images, "Voter Registers, 1866-1898 California " Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 9 December 2012); imaged from FHL microfilm 978,587.

15. Raymond Martin Bell and Edna Marian Miller, The Williamson Family of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Washington County, Pennsylvania, Ohio County, West Virginia (Washington, Pa.: R. M. Bell, 1986), 57.

16. FamilySearch 1880 U.S. census query for Sam* Williamson, born Virginia, 1820-1830, returned three names plus 33 more for surname Williams and two Williams born in W. Va., (https://familysearch.org : accessed 9 January 2013.)

17. Deeds, Book 32: 539-40, Cornelia A. Williamson to P.V. Thorniley, 1870, Wood County Clerk, Parkersburg, West Virginia.

18. Deeds, Book 32: 539, Virginia E. Farish to P. V. Thorniley, 1872, Wood County Clerk.

19. 1900 U.S. census, San Francisco County, California, population schedule, San Francisco City, Assembly District 37, ED 153, sheet 4B, dwelling 58, family 89, Cornelia Williamson household; NARA microfilm T623, roll 104; imaged from FHL microfilm 1,240,104. Also 1910 U.S. census, San Francisco County, Calif., pop. sch., San Francisco, Assembly District 37, ED 167, sheet 11A, dwelling 187, family 235, Cornelia A. Williamson household; NARA microfilm T624, roll 99; imaged from FHL microfilm 1,374,112. Also 1920 U.S. census, Alameda County, Calif., pop. sch., Oakland, precinct 147, ED 94, sheet 6A, dwelling 86, family 153, Cornelia A. Williamson household; NARA microfilm T625, roll 89. All digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 December 2012). Also Cornelia Ann Williamson, Certificate of Death local no. 211 (1922), Alameda County Recorder, Oakland, California.

20. JudyPeterson12, compiler, "Oversby/Strong Family", Ancestry.com Public Family Tree (http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/1893729/family : accessed 8 December 2012). [for Virginia:] Deaths (Farish, Virginia Williamson), The New York Times, New York, NY, 20 September 1936, p. N11, col. 4; "Historical Newspapers: The New York Times (1851-2009)," digital images, ProQuest (http://search.proquest.com : accessed 26 December 2012). [for Alice:] 1900 U.S. census, Amador County, California, population schedule, Township 4, ED 8, sheet 4A, dwelling/family 75, David W. Strong household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 December 2012) : NARA microfilm T623, roll 84; imaged from FHL microfilm 1,240,084; Alice is his wife and daughter Laura Strong is enumerated both here and with her grandmother. [for Laura:] 1930 U.S. census, Alameda County, California, population schedule, Oakland City, Block 1239, ED 1-12, sheet 10A, dwelling 113, family 204, William D. McNicoll household; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 December 2012); from NARA microfilm T626, roll 101; imaged from FHL microfilm 2,339,836; Laura his wife at the same address where she lived with her mother in 1920. Also Laura Thornley McNicoll, Certificate of Death no. 6015 - 155 (1959), Alameda County Recorder, Oakland, California.

21. Alice Dana Strong, Certificate of Death, District no. 190, Registrar's no. 282 (1944), Alameda County Recorder, Oakland, California.

David Wright may be Mary’s Mr. “Right”

I’ve just returned from an exciting, demanding, and stimulating week in the Tom Jones “Advanced Research Methods” course at GRIP (Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh.) With fresh ideas, I looked again for the father of Mary, second wife of Moses Nichols of New Windsor, New York. I wrote about narrowing my search to a very likely David Wright, also of New Windsor and failing to find clues in deeds or probate.

Names other than Wright are associated with Moses and Mary Nichols. Most prominent is Daniel Moores, an administrator, executor and guardian.[1] Samuel B. Moores is a co-executor.[2] Online family trees show Daniel and Samuel B. as sons of James and Sarah (Brewster) Moores. No one matching Mary appears. Also, Mary’s youngest son, Moses Higby Nichols, married one of Daniel’s daughters, Susannah Moores.[3] No 1790 head of household has the name Moores when Mary might be about ten.[4] That is not likely Mary’s maiden name.

Robert Fulton is another co-executor.[5] He is not mentioned in other documents. Two Fulton families lived in New Windsor in 1790, however, so it is still a possibility.

Reviewing the Orange County, New York, estate index for the surname Wright shows the earliest date in 1819. A local volunteer sent digital images of two index pages but I don’t know if there are entries on the previous page. New Windsor was part of Ulster County before it was included in Orange County. The FamilySearch Wiki was strongly recommended last week, so I went to it for information. The date wasn’t in the Orange County entry, so I tried New Windsor. In New York the town is sometimes of primary importance. Even there I didn’t find the date. I did find a link to a database at Ancestry.com.

Digging for Nichols data I searched a book at the WRHS library under the title New Windsor Presbyterian Church Record of Marriages, Orange County, New York. The catalog notes it contains marriages, 1774-1827 and baptisms, 1774-1796. Actually there is one marriage in 1827, but all other records are through 1796, before the Nichols families arrived. I hadn’t checked it since I began searching for Mary’s birth family. Ancestry.com now has digital images of its thirty-three pages with an index. The only background is the database title: “New Windsor Presbyterian Church record.” The Family History Library catalog reveals that it is a typescript at the New York State Library in Albany. The book itself says nothing about the origin of the records.

Mary and Moses Nichols married about 1812 and she was born in New York. It is likely she was a resident of New Windsor. The only woman in the household of Moses Nichols in the 1820 census was age twenty-six and under forty-five, meaning she was born 1794 or earlier.[6] These church records could record her baptism. A search for surname Wright had one match, the Feb. 1779 baptism of Benjamin, son of Benjamin Wright. The preceding record was for a Jan. 1779 baptism of a child of John Right. Another spelling might be what I need, but the 1780 records on the next page were easy to access. That is the year an online family tree claims Mary was born.[7] Following a record for 28 May 1780 is a record for the same day for Mary, daughter of David Right.[8] The family tree claims she was born in January, but this could still be a baptism four months later. At least it is now clear that the David Wright of New Windsor did have a daughter Mary of an age to be the wife of Moses Nichols. That is a big step forward!

The index to this typescript might be the output of OCR. A search for the name “Right” only returns the one in 1779, not the one in 1780. A search for given name “Mary” also does NOT find the 1780 record. A page-by-page review is clearly needed.

---

[1] Orange County, New York, Letters of Administration E: 212, Moses Nichols entry, (1822), Surrogate Court Clerk's Office, Goshen (Daniel Moores a co-administrator). Also, Orange County, New York, Wills H: 302-04, Mary Nichols will, (1827), Surrogate Court Clerk's Office, Goshen (Daniel a co-executor). And, Orange County, New York, Letters of Guardianship B: 99, Aaron W. Nichols entry, (1829), Surrogate Court Clerk's Office, Goshen (Daniel guardian of the oldest son of Moses and Mary Nichols.)

[2] Orange Co., N.Y., Wills, H: 302-04 (Samuel B. Moores another co-executor of will of Mary Nichols.)

[3] Linda Moores, “MOORES and more . . .” Ancestry World Tree Project, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 28 July 29, 2012).

[4] 1790 U.S. census, search at Ancestry.com in New York, town of New Windsor for all names.

[5] Orange Co., N.Y., Wills H: 302-04.

[6] 1820 U.S. census, Orange County, New York, population schedule, Town of New Windsor, p. 479 (penned), p. 194 (stamped), line 18, Moses Nichols; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 17 August 2009); citing NARA microfilm M33, roll 64.
[7] “Soher Iversen Gammon Beal Carson Spalding Bevan,” WorldConnect Project, RootsWeb (http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com : accessed 25 August 2009).

[8] “New Windsor Presbyterian Church record,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 July 2012), 24.

Burials in Battle Grove Cemetery

Battle Grove Cemetery is a large cemetery in the outskirts of Cynthiana, county seat of Harrison County, Kentucky. On 28 August 2008 we visited the cemetery and photographed some of the gravestones. Shown here are those of my great-grandparents and their mothers. Click on the photos to see larger versions.

Samuel McClintock died young in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky (previous post). His widow, Elizabeth (Waits) McClintock returned to Harrison County with her young son John James. She married again in 1833 to Edmund Martin. Elizabeth lived a long life not dying until 19 June 1887. She was buried in Battle Grove Cemetery. Her son John James McClintock (1826-1892) and his wife Nancy Isabelle (Scott) McClintock (1843-1921) are buried nearby and all three share a monument with Elizabeth's information on one side and the name McClintock on the other. Headstones are also present for John and Nancy.

Elizabeth (Waits) McClintock Martin (1802-1887)

 

McClintock side of monument and headstone row

 Nancy Scott's father Thomas also died young leaving a widow with two small children. She remarried, but had no other children. Elizabeth (McShane) Scott Whaley was also widowed by her husband Caleb Whaley. She was remembered by her great-grandchildren as "Granny" Whaley who made each of them a quilt. She died 16 October 1907 and was also buried in Battle Grove Cemetery, sharing a marker with Caleb Whaley. Both Thomas Scott (1810-1844) and Samuel McClintock (ca. 1794-1827) were buried in older cemeteries.

Elizabeth (McShane) Scott Whaley (1823-1907)

Who Was Miss Tarr? (SNGF)

Randy Seaver (blog Genea-Musings) suggests we look into our most recent unknown ancestor (MRUA) for tonight’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun (SNGF).

For a long time the most recent missing identities were the parents of Deborah (Williamson) Bell (1818 – 1865). The will of father-candidate Charles Williamson providing for his daughter Deborah Bell was welcome documentation of that strongly suspected relationship.

Ancestor Samuel McClintock (Ahnentafel #16, my 2nd great-grandfather) was born around 1794, possibly in Virginia. He was a gunsmith in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, where he died 14 July 1827. The actual date is from family lore, but the time period is established in his probate and an order book entry. The name of his father is more family lore supported in a county history. Both his father and a brother are said to have been named James McClintock, a name in the list of buyers at the estate sale. The father was from (Northern) Ireland, settling in Bourbon County in the 1790s. A Pennsylvania McClintock family settled in the same place and time, but appears to be unrelated, at least not closely related. While I do not have much information on this #32, his name appears in county records and is claimed by a daughter’s family as well. Mary McClintock was married to George M. Davis, another gunsmith and partner of Samuel McClintock. George also died young in 1833 during the cholera epidemic. Mary Davis lived in Paris to 1885.

Names in the estate sale of Samuel McClintock include George Davis, James McClintock and the widow Elizabeth 

My aunt researched this family many years ago but I have little documentation from her notes. She wrote that the wife of James McClintock, who would be Ahnentafel #33, was a Miss Tarr. I have done little research on James McClintock and none on his wife. This is clearly an area ready for some work. One note of interest is a Bourbon County road, Tarr Road. We saw it a few years ago while looking for a different location. It could be a clue on the surname. I’d like to find it is connected to this family.

More Problems with Nancy

I've written about Nancy (Boyd) Eckles who was named in the will of her father as Egnis (Agnes) but was otherwise known as Nancy, a potential nickname for Agnes. She was the first wife of Charles Eckles (ca. 1788-1867), the wagon maker of Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky.

Evidence of his second wife is a funeral invitation transcribed as “Mrs. Ann Eckles; Dec. 16, 1843; Georgetown, Ky. From the residence of husband on Main-Cross street” and annotated that she was the second wife of Charles Eckles.[i] As his first wife appears to have died by January of 1830, it is likely he remarried prior to 1838. The Scott County marriage records prior to that time were destroyed in a courthouse fire.

Confusing is a death notice in the Kentucky Presbyterian newspaper The Protestant and Herald of 22 February 1844. It reads: “DIED, In Georgetown, on the – ult., Mrs. Nancy Eccles, wife of Mr. Charles Eccles…”[ii] With only one Charles Eckles/Eccles resident in Georgetown, this must refer to the wife whose funeral was two months earlier. That time lag in such a regional paper is understandable. The confusion is her given name. Can it have been a confusion with the name of his first wife (or even his mother)? Or could this be another case of nicknames? Nancy and Ann are well-recognized variants on the same name, so it is entirely possible.

With so many women potentially named Nancy Eckles in Charles’s life, it will be interesting to see what more research reveals.

---

[i] Marie Dickore, compiler, Copies of Names on Invitations to Funerals and Burials In Scott County and Fayette County, Kentucky, 1821 - 1898 (Cincinnati, Ohio: n.pub., 1942), 8.

[ii] DIED (Mrs. Nancy Eccles), The Protestant and Herald, Kentucky, 22 February 1844; TheOldenTimes.com - Historic Newspapers Online, digital images (http://theoldentimes.com/nancyeccles44ky.html : accessed 28 March 2011)

1940 Photos of a First House

With the 1940 U.S. census now only 13 days away, I'm thinking more about that time. It was an important year in my family as the first time my parents owned their own home. I believe these pictures of my parents and sister were most likely just before the census was taken on April 1st. I know when I see them in that census I can envision them as they were here. This is where we lived when I was born some years later and until I was three. Be sure to click on the image to see it larger.

_________________________
Designer Credits:
52 Inspirations {2012} by Sue Cummings Week 3
plus dotted paper and butterfly from Week 1
fonts: Blue Highway D Type, Minya Nouvelle

1940 Census: Just Two Weeks

Family photo showing 1940s styles

In just two weeks the 1940 U.S. census will be released on Monday, April 2, 2012. It seems the excitement is building and the general news media are starting to take note of the big event.

Celebration! The library (Research Center) at WRHS (Western Reserve Historical Society) will be open for the launch of the 1940 U.S. census on Monday, April 2. We'll celebrate and start our research together that day. If you're in the Cleveland area, please come on in.

Societies and groups are gearing up to get volunteers to sign up for indexing under their sponsorship. In Ohio's Cuyahoga County the sponsoring group is NEOCAG which stands for the Northeast Ohio Computer-Aided Genealogy Society. My husband will be indexing the census with them. I've registered under APG, the Association of Professional Genealogists. We've tried out the simulated 1940 census indexing test run. It looks pretty easy. You only need to work on one page of the census at a time. The more of us indexing the faster we'll have a fully searchable 1940 census.

Learn more about indexing at the Getting Started page of the 1940 U.S. Census Community Project. The indexing project is sponsored by Archives.com (who will host the digital images for NARA), FamilySearch.org and Findmypast.com. Society sponsors are NGS, FGS and APG.