Rezin Williams (1832)

Born 11 Mar 1832 in Prince George's, Maryland, United States

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Biography

Parson Williams is a part of US Black heritage.

Rezin "Parson" Williams, was the oldest living Negro Civil War veteran and registered voter in Sep 1937. At the time of the interview with the Federal Writers' Project, he was about 116 years old.

Rezin "Parson" Williams was born 11 Mar 1832 to Rezin Williams at Fairview Plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland. (See research notes)

Rezin was interviewed for the Maryland Slave Narratives on 27 Sep 1937.^[1]

In the 1850 census Rezin (age 18), Laborer, was in Vansville, Prince George's, Maryland, United States.^[2]

In the 1930 census Rezin (age 108) was the widowed head of household in Baltimore (Districts 251-500), Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, United States.^[3]

Research Notes

• 1850 Census records his birth as 1832.
• The 1850 household shows his parents as Rezin Williams and Amelia (Prout) Williams (abt.1800-). ^[4]The narrative says Rezin's son, Rezin Parson Williams, also married an Amelia, Amelia Addison.
• The 1930 Census records his birth as 1828, his age as 108.
• A tree on Ancestry suggests his birth as March 1837: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/86396183/person/36540096453/facts

Excerpts from the Interview

Said to be oldest member of Negro family in America with sister and brother still living, more than a century old.

He was born March 11, 1822, at "Fairview", near Bowie, Prince Georges County, Maryland—a plantation of 1000 acres, then belonging to Governor Oden Bowie's father. (William Duckett Bowie)

"Parson" Williams' father, Rezin Williams, a freeman, was born at "Mattaponi", near Nottingham, Prince Georges County, the estate of Robert Bowie of Revolutionary War fame, friend of Washington and twice Governor of Maryland. The elder Rezin Williams served the father of our country as a hostler at Mount Vernon, where he worked on Washington's plantation during the stormy days of the Revolution.

There is perhaps nowhere to be found a more picturesque and interesting character of the colored race than "Parson" Williams, who, besides serving as a colored bishop of the Union American Methodist Church (colored) for more than a half century, is the composer of Negro spirituals which were popular during their day. He attended President Lincoln's inauguration and subsequently every Republican and Democratic presidential inauguration, although he himself is a Republican. Lincoln, according to Williams, shook hands with him in Washington.

One of Williams' sons, of a family of fourteen children, was named after George Washington, and another after Abraham Lincoln. The son, George Washington Williams, died in 1912 at the age of seventy-three years.

"Parson" Williams, serving the Union forces as a teamster, hauled munitions and supplies for General Grant's army, at Gettysburg. On trips to the rear, he conveyed wounded soldiers from the line of fire. He also served under General McClellan and General Hooker.

Although now confined to his home with infirmities of age, he possesses all his faculties and has a good memory of events since his boyhood days. Due to the fact that his grandmother was an Indian the daughter of an Indian chieftain, alleged to be buried in a vault in Baltimore County, Williams was a freeman like his father and hired himself out.

Familiar old spirituals were composed by "Parson" Williams, including Roll De Stones Away, You'll Rise in De Skies, and Ezekiel, He's Comin Home.

"Parson" Williams' wife, Amelia Addison Williams died August 9, 1928, at the age of 94 years. The aged negro is the father of 14 children, one still living,—Mrs. Amelia Besley, 67 years old, 2010 Pierpont Street, Mount Winans, Baltimore, Maryland. His brother, Marcellus Williams, and a single sister, Amelia Williams, both living, reside on Rubio street, Philidelphia, Pa. According to "Parson" Williams, they are both more than a century old and are in fairly good health. Besides his children and a brother and a sister, Williams has several grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren living.

President Lincoln, Williams says, was looked upon by many slaves as a messenger from heaven. Of course, many slave masters were kind and considerate, but to most slaves they were just a driver and the slaves were work horses for them. Only once during his lifetime does Williams recall tasting whisky, when his cousin bought a pint. It cost three cents in those days. He said his mother used to make beer out of persimmons and cornhusks, but they don't make it any more, so he doesn't even drink beer now. He would much rather have a good cigar. He has since a boy, smoked a pipe.

By special permission of plantation owners in Prince Georges, St. Marys, Baltimore and other counties in Maryland, he was often permitted to visit the darkeys and conduct a religious meeting in their cabins. He usually wore a long-tailed black "Kentucky" suit with baggy trousers and sported a cane.

"Once before de wah, I was ridin Lazy, my donkey, a few miles from de boss' place at Fairview, when along came a dozen or more patrollers. Dey questioned me and decided I was a runaway slave and dey wuz gwine to give me a coat of tar and feathers when de boss rode up and ordered my release. He told dem dreaded white patrollers dat I was a freeman and a 'parson'."

When the slaves were made free, some of the overseers tooted horns, calling the blacks from their toil in the fields. They were told they need no longer work for their masters unless they so desired. Most of the darkeys quit "den and dar" and made a quick departure to other parts, but some remained and to this day their descendants are still to be found working on the original plantations, but of course for pay.

Williams, though himself not a slave by virtue of the fact that his grandmother was an Indian, was considered a good judge of healthy slaves, those who would prove profitable to their owners, so he often accompanied slave purchasers to the Baltimore slave markets.

The increasing numbers of free negroes also had much to do with causing the civil war. The South was finding black slavery a sort of white elephant. Everywhere the question was what to do with the freeman. Nobody wanted them. Some states declared they were a public nuisance.

Sources

1. ↑ The Slave Narratives Volume VIII Maryland, Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/11552/11552-h/11552-h.htm#WilliamsRezin
2. ↑ 1850 Census:"1850 United States Federal Census"
   The National Archives in Washington D.C.; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Residence Date: 1850; Home in 1850: Vansville, Prince George's, Maryland; Roll: 295; Page: 44b; Line Number: 8
   Ancestry Sharing Link - Ancestry Record 8054 #17864641 (accessed 9 June 2023)
   Rezin Williams (18), Laborer, in Vansville, Prince George's, Maryland, USA. Born in Maryland.
3. ↑ 1930 Census: "United States Census, 1930"
   citing enumeration district (ED) ED 387, sheet 13A, line 37, family 202, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 866; FHL microfilm 2,340,601.
   FamilySearch Record: X343-TCT (accessed 9 June 2023)
   FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GRH9-WZ5 Image number 00122
   Rezin L Williams (108), widowed head of household in Baltimore (Districts 251-500), Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, United States. Born in Maryland.
4. ↑ Marriage:"Maryland, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1667-1899"
   Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp.. Maryland Marriages, 1667-1899. See the description for original data sources listed by county
   Ancestry Record 4729 #67965 (accessed 9 June 2023)
   Rezin Williams marriage to Amelia Prout on 18 Dec 1832 in Prince Georges, Maryland, USA.

• 1930 Census: "United States Census, 1930"
  citing enumeration district (ED) ED 387, sheet 13A, line 37, family 202, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 866; FHL microfilm 2,340,601.
  FamilySearch Record: X343-TCT (accessed 9 June 2023)
  FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GRH9-WZ5 Image number 00122
  Rezin L Williams (108), widowed head of household in Baltimore (Districts 251-500), Baltimore (Independent City), Maryland, United States. Born in Maryland.

• Personal interviews with "Parson" Rezin Williams on Thursday afternoon, September 18 and 24, 1937, at his home, 2610 Pierpont Street, Mount Winans, Baltimore, Md. - Maryland Historical Magazine, Vol 1 (1906), p. 56.
• Buchholz: Governors of Maryland—pp. 57-63, 192-167.

(P.L.G. 28 B 92.)