Sunday’s Obituary: Coroner’s Inquest on the Body of William H. Bell, 1887

Coroner’s Inquest on the Body of William H. Bell, 1887

By Jean M. Hoffman, CG^SM

Ohio native, William H. Bell, died suddenly outside a Salt Lake City saloon. Details emerge from a coroner’s inquest and a related newspaper article. Conflicting reports of his marital status leave the truth uncertain.

Background

 William H. Bell, born about 1820, was the youngest of twelve children of Samuel and Mary (neé Lyons) Bell of Newport Township, Washington County, Ohio.¹ At forty-two, a farmhand, married, and father of six, he was not an obvious candidate to enlist in the Union Army.² But enlist he did on 22 August 1862 in Company F, 116th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. His time in the army was eventful ending with his discharge on 8 August 1865 in Richmond, Virginia, after a transfer to the 62nd OVI. Sometime after the war he became a stonemason though he claimed to be unable to farm by that time.³

He may have followed work opportunities as in 1880 he was recorded living in Fairmont Village, Fillmore County, Nebraska.⁴ The county's population in 1870 was only 238, but in ten years grew to over 10,000.⁵ Such rapid settlement undoubtedly supported much construction. This is where marital status begins to grow mysterious as his household includes a woman named Adelia recorded as his wife. She was fifty and born in Illinois. Meanwhile his wife Emeline (neé Phillips) Bell had moved with their children across the Ohio River to Pleasants County, West Virginia.⁶

Death in Salt Lake City

William applied for a pension based on his Civil War service on 23 March 1886. Paperwork was still in progress when he died. The coroner of Salt Lake County, Utah Territory, reported to the pension commission on the inquest into William’s death held 14 June 1887.⁷

William H. Bell was described in 1862 as 5 feet 11 inches tall with a fair complexion, gray eyes, and light hair.⁸ At the inquest he was reported to be “a large powerfully built man.” A newspaper article stated he was a stone-cutter, aged 67, and “was roughly clad in laborer’s garb...was above average height, and had a short gray-white beard.”⁹

Copy of Coroner's Inquest Verdict

Monday, 13 June 1887, Bell and his co-workers spent much of the day at Wagener’s Saloon enjoying beer, song, and fellowship. He was employed by Frank Conklin and had been working on the Karrick Building.¹⁰ About 8:00 p.m. he began to eat leftovers from his dinner pail. Suddenly he was choking. Reportedly he spoke to his friends but kept choking. They took him outside the saloon and tried to assist him, but to no avail. Dr. Ewing pronounced him dead at the scene, concluding that the cause was apoplexy. In those days apoplexy was a catchall term for otherwise unexplained sudden death.¹¹ A person with knowledge of the modern Heimlich maneuver might have been his salvation but that is only speculation.

Sexton Taylor's mortuary hearse came for the body. The coroner was not at home, requiring the inquest be put off to the following day. The inquest jurors returned a verdict that William H. Bell died from the effects of apoplexy. He was buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery.¹²

Word of his death slowly made its way to his family in West Virginia. Over a year later, on 18 September 1888, Emeline applied for a widow's pension based on the service of her late husband, William H. Bell. Her application contains her marriage record; she acknowledged no separation, divorce, or other marriage.¹³ There can be no question that Ohio and Utah records refer to just one man.

Emeline’s pension application gives no hint that William H. Bell was ever husband to another woman. Adelia was called his wife in 1880 in Nebraska and the hearsay reference in the Salt Lake City newspaper called him “a widower with grown children back in Kansas.” The only solid documentation is of his marriage to Emeline, but he was not present in her household after about 1875. It makes one wonder about his final years on the road in the construction business.

Further Reading

I was reminded of these records recently when I read an interesting article by J. Homer Thiel, “‘Well, They Didn't Live Happily Together,’ Researching Humphrey and Lola O'Sullivan Using Coroner’s Inquest Files,” American Ancestors 14 (Summer 2013): 31-34. The case and records are in Arizona. A sidebar gives suggestions on the use and finding of old coroner’s files.

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1.   H. Z. Williams Bro. Pub., 1788-1881, History of Washington County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches (1881; reprint Knightstown, Ind: Bookmark, 1976), 568. William was a brother of my 2nd great-grandfather, Joseph Bell.

2.   1860 U.S. Census, Washington County, Ohio, population schedule, William H. Bell household, Ludlow Township, post office Flintsmill, page 469, dwelling/family 93; NARA M653, roll 1049.

3.   Declaration for Original Invalid Pension, 1886, William H. Bell (Pvt., Co. F, 116th Ohio Inf. and Co. A, 62nd Ohio, Civil War), pension no. S.C. 432,566, Case Files of Approved Pension Applications…, 1861–1934; Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veteran Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.. Also 1870 U.S. census, population schedule, Washington County, Ohio, William Bell household, Newport Township, post office Newport, page 392, dwelling 297, family 301; NARA M593, roll 1279.

4.   1880 U.S. census, Fillmore County, Nebraska, William H. Bell household, Fairmont Village, ED 323, page 455D, dwelling 128, family 132; NARA T9, roll 748.

5.   Wikipedia contributors, "Fillmore County, Nebraska," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fillmore_County,_Nebraska (accessed 17 October 2013); citing "U.S. Decennial Census" Census.gov.

6.   1880 U.S. census, Pleasants County, West Virginia, Emiline Bell household, Jefferson District, ED 174, page 100A, dwelling 74, family 79; NARA T9, roll 1411.

7.   Summation of Coroner's Inquest on the Body of William H. Bell, 1887, Emeline Bell, widow’s pension application no. 380,677, certificate no. 255,011, service of William H. Bell (Pvt., Co. F, 116th Ohio Inf. and Co. A, 62nd Ohio, Civil War), Case Files of Approved Pension Applications.

8.   Compiled service record, William H. Bell, Pvt., Co. F, 116 Ohio Inf.; Carded Records, Volunteer Organizations, Civil War; Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1780s-1917, Record Group 94; National Archives, Washington, D.C.

9.   Dropped Dead of Apoplexy (Wm. H. Bell), The Daily Tribune, Salt Lake City, Utah, 14 June 1887, p. 4, col. 4; digital image NewspaperArchive.com (http://access.newspaperarchive.com/ : accessed 30 July 2013).

10. National Historic Register application: http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/76001828.pdf; photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bobindrums/2743108594/.

11. Wikipedia contributors, "Apoplexy," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoplexy (accessed 17 October 2013).

12. “Utah Cemetery Inventory,” William H. Bell entry, Salt Lake City Cemetery, sexton records; database, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 November 2012).

13. Widow's Claim for Pension and Transcript From Record of Marriages, Washington County, Ohio, 1888, Emeline Bell, widow’s pension no. 255,011, Civil War, RG 15, NA-Washington.

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.

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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.

Two Degrees of Separation - SNGF

Today Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun in his Genea-Musings blog has a fun feature asking us to report on our family link's to the past. The requirement is:

Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation?  That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor."  When was that second ancestor born?

My life overlapped that of one of my great grandparents on my mother's side. Effie (Irion) Bell (1860-1948) did not die until I was four. I don't clearly remember her, but my older sister knew her well. Effie grew up near all four of her grandparents and knew them well. The lives of her two maternal great grandmothers overlapped her own. They were Jemima (Hutchings/Hutchinson) Irion (1779-1868) and Mary Ann "Polly" (Cooper) Trotter (1776-1867). It is likely she knew them both at least a little. In this line my two degrees of separation link me to women born in 1776 and 1779, back to the time of the American Revolution.

Effie (Irion) Bell

I am particularly interested in this line because of a third degree of separation. I vaguely knew my great grandmother, Effie (Irion) Bell. My sister knew her well and heard the family stories from her.  Effie grew up close to her grandmother, Mary (Trotter) Irion (1811-1900). Mary was a great storyteller and along with her sister Phoebe (Trotter) Willey (1818-1906) passed on the stories they learned from their paternal grandmother. "Mad Anne" Bailey was a locally famous woman of the frontier around present day Charleston, West Virginia. Anne (Hennis) Trotter Bailey (ca. 1742-1825), an English immigrant, lived with her son's family in Gallia County, Ohio, in her later days and was close to her granddaughters passing down her stories to them. I've long felt that the connection truly goes back to her through the lives and stories of her descendants. See the sidebar for a link to my page on her.

Treasure Chest Thursday: Will of Charles Williamson

Deborah (Williamson) Bell was my great-great grandmother. I wrote about difficulties learning the identity of her father. A very strong candidate was a Charles Williamson who died in Wood County, (West) Virginia in 1858. See my earlier post: HERE. He was included in a book by Raymond Martin Bell and Edna Marian Miller with just eight children. They did not include Deborah. I hoped they had missed some esoteric document, but a very basic document reveals the truth.

FamilySearch has browsable images of "West Virginia Will Books, 1756-1971" for all 55 counties of West Virginia. In Wood County's Will Book 5 I found three entries for Charles Williamson in the index: his will on p. 127-8 and two settlements on pp. 180-81 and 266-68. The image below is a little too small to read and not in the best of shape to begin with, but it is a treasure!

The will names eleven children. Based on the census records for Charles Williamson, I believe there were twelve, the additional one a daughter, Judith, who died in 1847 and is buried in Compton Cemetery in Wood County as are Charles, his wife Martha and other of their children. I created a table based on his census returns of who was represented assuming all the children were his children. The will now gives names to "my daughter Deborah Bell" but also daughter Sarah Williamson and son Samuel M. Williamson. The will named executors but Charles added a codicil naming his wife and Joseph Bell as executors. The settlements are done by executor Joseph Bell. He was Deborah's husband.

The Williamson book gives the maiden name of Charles's wife as Martha Martin. Learning her family will be added to my queries now. I will also have to verify the Williamson descent from Moses Sr. and his son John, both having served in the American Revolution, down to Charles.

I just found the will last night and when I saw those magic words "my daughter Deborah Bell" there was cheering in my house!
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• 1820 U.S. census, Tyler County, Virginia, p. 86; NARA M33, roll 140, digital images, Ancestry.com.
• 1830 U.S. Census, Tyler County, Virginia, p. 187; NARA M19, roll 200, Ancestry.com imaged from FHL microfilm 0,029,679.
• 1840 U.S. census, Washington County, Ohio, Marietta Township, p. 299; NARA M704, roll 433, Ancestry.com imaged from FHL microfilm 0,020,179.
• 1850 U.S. census, Wood County, Virginia, District 65, p. 110A; NARA M432, roll 981, digital images, Ancestry.com.

(all Virginia locations now in West Virginia)

Surname Saturday: Williamson

Williamson is a common surname in the United States, usually of English, Scottish or Northern Irish origin. It began as a patronymic for the son of William.

My great grandfather, Will Bell, died in 1913 when my mother was only three. Not a lot of information was passed down in the family about him. His Ohio death certificate revealed that his full name was William Williamson Bell and his mother's maiden name was Deborah Williamson. He was born in Washington County, Ohio, the family moving to Clay Township, Gallia County, Ohio, in the 1860s.

Will's parents Deborah Williamson and Joseph Bell were married in Marietta on 1 September 1839. She was a resident of Marietta Township and he of Newport Township. The marriage was reported in the newspaper but is not recorded in the civil records. Deborah died in Gallia County on 28 April 1865. She was buried in the Clay Chapel Cemetery which was associated with a Methodist Espiscopal church. The age on her gravestone places her birth about 15 July 1818. Census records show her birthplace as Virginia, specifically in that part now West Virginia.

Finding Deborah's father requires looking for a man with a common surname. In the 1840 census, less than a year after her marriage there are a few Williamson households in Washington County, one of them in Marietta Township. The head of that household was a Charles Williamson.

Raymond Martin Bell, a well-known genealogist in southwest Pennsylvania, wrote a book on The Williamson Family of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Washington County, Pennsylvania, Ohio County, West Virginia. It was published in 1986, co-authored by Edna Marian Miller. Among the members of this family were two who served in the American Revolution, Moses and his son John. John and wife Judith Dodd were the parents of Charles Williamson who was born 3 July 1792 and died 5 October 1858 in Wood County, (West) Virginia. He would be the Charles in Marietta in 1840.

The book lists a set of children for Charles and wife Martha Martin. No daughters are listed as born prior to 1820 but the 1820 census for Charles in Tyler County, Virginia, shows two females under the age of ten. It is possible that the list of children is incomplete and that Deborah should be there.

Another daughter of Charles Williamson was Mary Jane who was born 25 March 1833. She married Walter S. Thorniley 21 October 1853. He was from Washington County, Ohio, but they lived in Clay Township, Gallia County, Ohio. When Joseph and Deborah Bell moved there, they lived on a neighboring piece of land. The couples are buried in adjacent plots in the Clay Chapel Cemetery. It seems likely that the two Williamson women were related, possibly both daughters of Charles and Martha (Martin) Williamson. Hopefully Raymond Bell simply did not locate documents that will show the relationship.