Nathaniel Williams (1826 - 1907)

Born 6 Jan 1826 in Alabama, USA

Ancestors

Husband of Sarah Catherine (Cross) Williams — married 10 Apr 1851 in Mississippi, USA

Descendants

Died 3 May 1907 at age 81 in Kilmichael, Montgomery, Mississippi, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Edison Williams [send private message]

Biography

Nathaniel Williams was born 6 January 1826 in Alabama, and died 3 May 1907 in Kilmichael, Montgomery County, Mississippi.^[1][2]

He married Sarah Catherine Cross 10 April 1851.^[1][3] She was the daughter of Frederic Cross and Rebecca Cottingham.^[1] He and Sarah are buried in the Kilmichael Friendship Cemetery, Kilmichael, Montgomery County, Mississippi.^[2]

From Williams and Allied Families, by Katie Maud Seale Ellis, 1973, page 23:^[1]

[Nathaniel Williams] and his wife were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He enlisted for military service at Greensboro, Mississippi, July 12, 1862.^[4] He served as Lieutenant under Captain H.O. Stone. Major Peery, John Flowers, Doug Fisackerly, Jim Lane, and Billy Holmes were among his comrades. "Three Masonic degrees were conferred on Nathaniel Williams—Robert Burns Lodge #177, at Kilmichael, Post Office Winona, Montgomery County Mississippi, year of 1865. (Robert Burns Lodge lost its charter in 1890)." Their ten children: Julia Anne E., Mary Rebecca, Eliza Jane, William Henry, Newton Edward, Sam Peery, Jemima Cassandra, George Robert, Martha Saphronia, and. Maggie Lou.

The following was written by Minnie Hankins Mitchell on 12 May 1939 at the request of family members for her to offer a profile of her uncle, Nathaniel Williams. It appears as a preface on pages 5 and 6 to Katie Maud Seale Ellis's 1973 book, Williams and Allied Families:^[1]

When asked to give a sketch of the life of Nathaniel Williams, my first thought was summed up in just UNCLE NAT. Since my babyhood he has been to me just UNCLE NAT.

Nathaniel Williams was born in some place in Georgia [sic], January 6, 1826. He was old enough to remember coming to Mississippi in a covered wagon. His parents must have settled in what was then known as Carroll County, now Montgomery. He lived the normal life of the young men of his day. At the age of twenty-five he married Catherine Cross, daughter of Frderic and Rebecca Cottingham Cross near what is now Kilmichael, April 10, 1851.

When war clouds lowered over our Southland he enlisted in the Confederate Army July 12, 1862 under Captain H. O. Stone, at Greensboro, Mississippi, leaving his wife, Catherine, and five small children: Julia, Eliza, Henry, Rebecca, and Edward.

If anything could be more heroic than a young father leaving all this to lay his life on the altar of his country it would be the heroism of the mother left to fend for her babies as best she could and to play the anxious waiting game, expecting each hour to hear the dreaded message "KILLED IN ACTION".

Like thousands of our brave "boys in gray" we hear no encomiums on him during the four years of struggle; yet, like those same thousands, many and great were his acts of courage—courage to keep up the fight, to suffer cold, hunger, long hard marches in the winter's blast and the summer's heat, to wonder over the fate of wife and babies left unprotected, almost unfed and unclothed. A greater courage to take up the burden when the end came—lands laid waste, houses burned to the ground, no stock nor farm emplements, yet, Young Williams returned to the scene of desolation and with the aid of his devoted wife began all over again and was always found on the side of progress and right.

As the years went by five other children were added to the family: Sam, Jemima, Bobbie, Maggie, and Mattie making then children in all, eight of whom lived to be grown and married. Of the thirty grandchildren, twenty-six are still living.

Uncle Nat was deeply and intensely religious, very determined in his views. He adhered to the day of his death to the tenets of the Cumblerland Presbyterian faith. Wherever Uncle Nat lived there was established a Cumblerland Presbyterian Church and Sunday School. The first of these was at what was then known as Stonewall Schoolhouse where Uncle Nat was, so far as I know, Elder, Deacon, and Sunday School Superintendent, all in one. Later, he sold his farm and bought one on Mulberry Creek. Again, he established his beloved Church doing much of the labor himself. The building was, I suppose, 40 x 60 feet, if I remember right; it was ceiled throughout, had two front doors and one back door and, and I think, eight glass windows, and better still, it had a chandelier and a swinging lamp over the pulpit and curiouser they bought an organ and put it in the Church. Now, Uncle Nat had stalwart sons and lovely daughters who largely composed the choir of "New Bethel". Those of you who have been privileged to hear the golden voice of Ed Williams can never forget its silvery ring and golden tones. Tho' for some years it has been muted here on earth it surely is chanting praises on the "other side". I wish you might have heard that choir sing. This is where I had my first remembered experience of Sunday School and Church. AND when they sang "Bringing in The Sheaves", "Jesus Loves Little Children", "Labor On", "Jesus, Lover of My Soul". "A Charge to Keep, I Have", "All Hail The Power of Jesus Name, Let Angels prostrate fall; bring forth the Royal Diadem, and crown Him Lord of All", my childish soul felt as if it were soaring on the wings of Angels. No such ecstasy has ever been called forth in my adult days by choirs with trained voices.

The scene shifts again. He's growing old now, his children married and gone, some of them to their eternal home. He and his faithful wife are placed in another setting, so he needs must establish another Church, this time in the hamlet of Kilmichael and here is where his heart broke. The two Presbyteries united into one and the Cumblerland Presbyterian Church was swallowed up into the Presbyterian Church. A bitter dose for one whose sun of life is sinking low, yet faithfully he labored on till one day the Heavens opened and his brave soul took its flight and was laid in the bosom of his Lord. Tenderly we laid his body by the side of his Catherine in the sacred soil of Friendship Cemetery there to await Judgment Day.

To his children, the few who are left, to his grandchildren, and their children, I say: "Uncle Nat left you a heritage pure and undefiled. Can you keep it such? Have you? Will you?"

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Ellis, Katie Maud Seale; NADAR, NSCDA. Williams and Allied Families. Clarksdale, MS, 1973; limited library availability. A digital copy can be made available to researchers of this family. Requests can be made to Edison Williams.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVVK-JXD4 : 27 July 2019), Nathanael [sic] Williams, 1907; Burial, Kilmichael, Montgomery, Mississippi, United States of America, Kilmichael Friendship Cemetery; citing record ID 22209862, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com. See also Find A Grave: Memorial #22209862; Ancestry Record 60525 #99243254. Accessed 15 Jan 2020. Birth 6 Jan 1826; Death 3 May 1907; Burial at Kilmichael Friendship Cemetery, Kilmichael, Montgomery County, Mississippi, USA. Also listed on record with links are Spouse Sarah Katherine Cross; and children Julia A. Williams Kent (1852–1876), Rebecca Hart (1854–1923), Eliza Jane Williams Witty (1855–1878), W. H. Williams (1858–1928), Samuel Peery Williams (1863–1939), Jemima Cassandra Williams Seale McLaughlin (1865–1957), George R. Williams (1868–1874), Mattie Sophronia Hart (1870–1955), and Maggie L. Williams (1872–1874).
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M9XJ-YTJ : accessed 15 January 2020), Nat [Nathaniel] Williams in household of Sam [Sam Peery] Williams, Beat 4 Mayfield Stewart town, Montgomery, Mississippi, United States, enumerated 8 June 1900; citing enumeration district (ED) 81, supervisor's district 4, sheet 6B, dwelling 97, family 98, lines 67-75; NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1972.); FHL microfilm 1,240,820. See also Ancestry Record 7602 #28199295. Household members:
   • Sam Williams, Head, Male, 37, born Mississippi
   • Lois Williams, Wife, Female, 25, born Mississippi
   • Martin Williams, Son, Male, 3, born Mississippi
   • Vivian Williams, Son, Male, 2, born Mississippi
   • Sam B Williams, Son, Male, 0, born Mississippi
   • Nat [Nathaniel] Williams, Father, Male, 72, born Mississippi [sic]
   • Kate Williams, Mother, Female, 71, born Mississippi
   • Iva Gumer, Sister-in-law, Female, 19, born Mississippi
   • Kate Forrest, Servant, Female, 12, born Mississippi
4. ↑ Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Mississippi, database online; image available at Fold3.com. Nathaniel Williams, 3rd Lieutenant under Captain H.O. Stone, Company J, 3rd Mississippi Infantry, 1863; enlistment date 12 July 1862. National Archives micropublication series M269.

See also:

• Mississippi State and Territorial Censuses, 1792-1866, database online. Choctaw County, 1837; Ezekiel Williams household, line 41; white males 21-45, 2; white males under 18, 3; white females over 16, 2; total of free white inhabitants in the county, 11; number of acres of land cultivated in 1836, 12. Heritage Quest; Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2007; Provo, Utah, USA; Microfilm V229_1.

• U.S. Census, 1840, database online. Ezekiel Williams household, Mississippi, Choctaw County; 1 male 5 thru 9; 1 male 10 thru 14; 1 male 15 thru 19; 1 male 20 thru 29; 1 male 40 thru 49; 2 females under 5; 1 female 5 thru 9; 1 female 10 thru 14; 1 female 40 thru 49; persons employed in agriculture, 4; total free white persons and total persons, 10. Page 91, physical document page 20, line 11; enumerated 1840; Family History Library film 0014841; National Archives micropublication series M704 roll 215.

• Mississippi, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1805-1890, database on-line. Ezekiel Williams household, Choctaw County, Mississippi, USA; 1841. Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, UT, USA; 1999.

• Mississippi, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1805-1890, database on-line. Ezekiel Williams household, Choctaw County, Mississippi, USA; 1845; from the 1845 Mississippi State Census. Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp. Ancestry.com Operations Inc., Provo, UT, USA; 1999.

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4LH-3MQ : 29 October 2019), Ezekiel Williams household, subdivision 23, Choctaw County, Mississippi, United States; citing family 741, page 94A, physical document page 187, image 194, and page 94B, physical document page 188, image 195; enumerated 18 November 1850; NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). See also Ancestry Record 8054 #3374303. Household members:
  • Ezekiel Williams, Male, 54, born North Carolina
  • Mary Williams, Female, 52, born Georgia
  • Nathaniel Williams, Male, 25, born Georgia
  • Edward Williams, Male, 20, born Georgia
  • Juleyan [Julia Anne] Williams, Female, 17, born Georgia
  • Mary Williams, Female, 15, born Mississippi

• U.S. Census, 1860, database online. Nathaniel Williams household, Mississippi, Choctaw County, Township 17, Snowsville Post Office; page 243, physical document page 53, dwelling 354, family 342, lines 4-9; 18 July 1860; Family History Library Film 803579, National Archives micropublication roll M653_579.

• Mississippi State and Territorial Censuses, 1792-1866 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Ancestry Record 1125 #11607. Accessed 15 Jan 2020. Choctaw County, 1860; Microfilm V229_1; Nat [Nathaniel] Williams household, page 28, line 25; 2 white males; 5 white females. Original data: Mississippi State and Territorial Censuses, 1792-1866. Microfilm V229. 3 rolls. Heritage Quest.

• U.S. Census, 1870, database online. Nathaniel Williams household, Mississippi, Choctaw County, Township 19 Range 7; page 291A, physical document page 19, image 321035, dwelling 105, family 105, lines 6-16; 20 September 1870; Family History Library Film 552224, National Archives micropublication roll M593_725.

• U.S. Census, 1880, database online. Nathaniel Williams household, Mississippi, Montgomery County, Township 20, Supervisor's District 1, Enumeration District 142; page 376B, physical document page 26, image 321035, dwelling 223, family 225, lines 30-38; 19 June 1880; Family History Library Film 1254658, National Archives micropublication roll 658.