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Sarah (Williams) Biggs (abt. 1775)

Sarah (Sally) Biggs formerly Williams aka Watson
Born about in North Carolinamap
Daughter of and [mother unknown]
[sibling(s) unknown]
Wife of — married 1 Jan 1795 (to 1809) in North Carolina, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Died [date unknown] [location unknown]
Profile last modified | Created 10 Sep 2016
This page has been accessed 440 times.

Biography

Sarah "Sally" Williams (aka Watson) was born about 1775 in North Carolina [citation needed] to James Williams[1].

She married Reuben Biggs in 1795. [2]


Sources

  1. Unsourced will of James Williams
  2. U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900; Yates Publishing; Ancestry.com Operations Inc; 2004; Provo, UT, USA

Research Notes

There were two death dates following the merge of Watson-23025 and Williams-43671. Neither are sourced. They are:

1 Sep 1809 and after 1820.

Location: Johnston, North Carolina, United States


Notes from James Biggs:

James Williams of Beaufort Co NC left a will dated 4 Nov 1792, naming wife Elizabeth, son Thomas Williams, and daughters Nancy Jolley and Sarah Williams. Witnesses were Nathaniel Daniel, Thomas Williams and Jordan Shepherd. Executor named was wife Elizabeth, but it was requested that after his final expenses were paid that both his real and personal estate would remain in the possession of wife Elizabeth and father for the maintenance of the family until the youngest child arrived at legal age. It is implied in the 1792 will that Sarah Williams was born out of wedlock, due to the verbiage “It is my will and desire that my Daughter Sarah Williams be considered as a Legatee equally with the rest of my Children who were born in Wedlock & that she draw an equal share of my Estate. . . “.

Reuben Biggs and wife “Salley” are mentioned in the 1796 will of her grandfather, Thomas Williams of Beaufort Co., NC. “I give to my Grandson James Williams . . . upon his letting of Reuben Biggs have so much of the plantation to tend as he shall need, and paying legacies as one half of said legacies mentioned to the other grandchildren hereafter named, and in case said James Williams dies without lawful heirs of his body, I desire all I have given him be equally divided between Salley Biggs, Luke Williams, Cansady Williams, Bertimeus Williams, Lenice Williams, Elisabeth Williams, to him and his heirs forever. Salley and Reuben Biggs were willed one half of three hundred acres of land, being the land and plantation where Thomas Williams lived and executors were James Williams, Reuben Biggs and Kedar Biggs. Note: James Williams is named a grandson, Reuben Biggs the spouse of his granddaughter “Salley” and Kedar Biggs is father of Reuben and also a Revolutionary War patriot.

The "History of Tennessee and Tennesseans” by Hale & Merritt, Chicago, 1913, erred in stating that “Watson” was the maiden name of Reuben's wife "who was the mother of all his children". The idea that Sally's maiden name was Watson may have come from the faulty recollection of the family member who provided the information for the "Tennesseans" book cited, or from confusion on the part of the writer of the article. The informant was likely Sally's grandson Dr. Zach Biggs (1833-1925), a son of Luke Biggs. Zach's biography appears in the book along with information on Luke and Reuben. In a questionnaire he filled out regarding his Civil War service, Zach stated that his mother was Marina Bennett, that Marina's father was Bryant Bennett and that Bryant's wife's maiden name was Watson. This statement shows Zach's maternal grandmother (Mrs. Bryant Bennett) was a Watson - not Sally (Mrs. Reuben Biggs), who was his paternal grandmother.

The Hale & Merritt A History of Tennessee and Tennesseans is the source of the genealogical error found in the vast majority of the online trees related to the wife of Reuben Biggs. Based on Williams family wills and correctly attributing the Watson surname to informant Zach Biggs’ maternal grandmother, it is reasonably conclusive that Sally's maiden name was Williams and not Watson.





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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Sally by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Sally:

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Comments: 4

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Hey Chuck, I do agree with the merge of Watson-18225 with Williams-43671. We do need to keep the profile open For Matilda Fletcher-6141. She shows as Reuben's wife on the 1850 TN. Census. Thanks, Alene Biggs Corbitt
posted by Alene (Biggs) Corbitt
So if the Matilda in the 1850 Census is a later wife -- then it is likely *not* the middle name of Sally (Williams) Biggs aka Watson. I'll remove it.
posted by Chuck Biggs Jr
edited by Chuck Biggs Jr
Watson-20374 and Williams-43671 appear to represent the same person because: Same name,

Same birth date, Same birth location Same husband

posted by Chuck Biggs Jr
Watson-18225 and Williams-43671 appear to represent the same person because: According to the U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, Reuben Biggs' wife's name was spelled Sally Watson not Sallie Watson.

I created Sally Watson (Watson-18225) and did not realize that Watson was not her maiden name. It appears that her name was Sally (Watson) Williams according to the existing profile Williams-43671. Merging will preserve the link to her son Zachariah Biggs, my great great grandfather.

posted by Chuck Biggs Jr

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