WILLIAMS

1.John Williams (ca. 1625/30-1692) marriedAn ne, maiden name unknown. She was not Anne Whitley, the wife of John Williams who left his
will in 1687. The John Williams of this analysis signed his will in Isle of Wight on 9 March 1691/92; proved 9 August 1692. The
witnesses included Alexander Matthews (probably the stepson of Mrs. Anne Rogers Moore Baron Matthews Davis, # 7 in the Moore
Section) and the same Boaz Gwin who witnessed the will in 1687 of Thomas Parnell, the brother-in-law of John Williams, Jr. See
Chapman, Isle of Wight Wills, p. 33. The widow Anne was to have the dwelling plantation in Isle of Wight, but at her death it was to
become the property of the eldest son John. If the son John Williams preferred to remain in Surry where he “is now seated,” then the son
Theophilus was to have brother John’s 150 acres in Surry. The son William Williams was to have the 200 acres adjacent Mandue from
the Williams-Pierce transaction of 1681. The son Nicholas was to have 150 acres in Surry, as was the son Richard. Personal items were
left to the daughters Mary and Jane. The will did not mention the son-in-law John Browne by name or the daughter Bridgett Browne but
left bequests to their daughters Anne, Bridget, and Mary Browne. The widow Anne made a deed of gift to her children in April 1694,
approved by her second husband Arnold Shoemake whose will of 9 December 1697 was witnessed by the aforementioned Boaz Gwin
and probated on 9 February 1698. See Isle of Wight Deed Book # 1, p. 105; Chapman, Isle of Wight Wills, p. 38. It will be noted below
that some of the details in the deed of gift are incorrect. Researchers who have underestimated the age of John Williams and wife Anne
fail to note that Shoemake had been a resident in the vicinity of the Boddie-Mandue-Matthews-Moore group since before 1668 (Boddie,
Seventeenth Century Isle of

Wight, p. 554) and mentioned a married granddaughter in his will. Issue:

a.John Williams, Jr. (ca. 1650-1708) married (1) possibly ___?___ Pyland and (2) Mary Parnell.
See the Parnell Section, # C.
(1)Sarah Williams remains an enigma.

(2)John Williams (ca. 1670/75-1746/58) married Ann Moore (ca. 1675/80-after 1746), granddaughter of Mrs. Anne Rogers Moore Baron
Matthews Davis and daughter of Anne’s only Moore offspring, John Moore, who left his will in Isle of Wight in 1688. See the Moore
Section, # 7, a, (4). John Williams signed his will in Bertie County, North Carolina on 13 March 1746; probated January 1758. The will
was witnessed by William Byrd, Thomas Castellaw, and John Moore. The version in Grimes, Abstract of North Carolina Wills, pp. 410-
11, is seriously flawed. Jean Mayo Hirsch found the original in the files of the Secretary of State and has posted it on the internet,
although the compiler believes that she has chosen the wrong John Williams as his father. Only one of the sons, identified in the will of
his son John in 1722 (i. e., James Williams), had predeceased the father, and the children of this son James, as noted below, were
included as legatees. The will also left bequests to daughters Ann Herring and Sarah Castellaw. Issue:

(a)John Williams (ca. 1690/95-1722) died unmarried; his legatees were his brothers (Isaac, James, Arthur, and Theophilus) and “cousins [sic:
nephews]” John Williams and Anthony Herring. See Grimes, Abstract of North Carolina Wills, p. 410.

(b)Ann Williams (ca. 1690/95-before 1750) married Samuel Herring (ca. 1685/90-1750) who signed his will in Johnston County on 22 October
1750; inventory 14 June 1751. See Deed Book # 5, p. 165. A brief synopsis of Herring family history appears in the Lawrence Section,
specifically in the material about Barbara Herring Smith, # 2, a, (3),

(a), 5), a).

(c)Mary Williams (ca. 1690/95-after 1746) married probably her brother-in-law Abrah am
Herring (ca. 1685/90-after 1757). She was mentioned in her father’s will as Mary
Herring. See the aforementioned Herring synopsis in the Lawrence Section.
(d)Theophilus Williams (ca. 1695-ca. 1775) marriedCh ristian, possibly aBry an. He appeared numerous times in the deed books of Bertie and
later moved to Onslow County, North Carolina where his estate records were destroyed during a hurricane. An important record appears
in the Bertie County Court Minutes of 1742, p. 181, when, for some unknown reason, he had to prove his rights in North Carolina on
behalf of himself, his wife Christian, and children Joseph, James, Esther, Lewis, and Ferebee. One of the children has been traced by the
compiler:

1)Joseph Williams (ca. 1720/25-ca. 1790) married Mary Hicks on 8 August 1746 in Onslow County. He executed a deed of gift in Duplin County
on 10 May 1763 to his childrenDanie l,T he oph ilus,Fran ces, andEasth er [sic: Hester]. However, he probably died ca. 1790 in Onslow
where the records were destroyed. Of his children:

a)Hester Williams (1746-ca. 1790) married William Whitfield III (1743-1817) as the first of his four wives. She was born in Onslow County on 8
August 1746. See the Lawrence Section, # 2, a, (4), (a), 1).

(e)James Williams (ca. 1695/1700-1736/37) married Elizabeth Bryan. See the Bryan Section, # 1, e, (4). James Williams signed his will on 21
August 1736; probated February 1737. See Grimes, Abstract of North Carolina Wills, p. 409. A copy of his original will has been posted
on RootsWeb by Jean Mayo Hirsh who notes correctly that Elizabeth was pregnant with the fourth child Barbara who was mentioned
with the other three children in the will of the grandfather John Williams. Issue:

1)Feraby Williams remains an enigma.

2)Ezekiel Williams (ca. 1730/35-1800) married Zilphia Bush. See the discussion in
the Bryan Section, # 1, e, (4), (b).
3)Jerusha Williams (ca. 1735-1795) married Jesse Jernigan.

4)Barbara Williams (1737-ca. 1796) married Constantine Whitfield. See the Lawrence Section, # 2, a (4), (d). Constantine’s progeny were much
intermarried with the compiler’s Croom, Hare, Haywood, and Moore families; especially note the marriage of his granddaughter Keziah
Arabella Whitfield to (1) Henry Moore, son of John Moore the Hatter, and (2) Jesse Hare Croom whose sister Harriet Croom Hogan
married John Moore the Hatter’s grandson James Albert Hendon, the compiler’s great-great-grandfather.

(f)Sarah Williams (ca. 1695/1700-after 1749) married James Castellaw (ca. 1685/90- 1749). He served as a justice with Needham Bryan and
Thomas Whitmel. He died intestate before August 1749 when his son Thomas Castellaw petitioned for administration of the estate. See
Hathaway, North Carolina Historical and Genealogical

Register, Vol. 2, p. 632. The son William Castellaw, who left his will in Bertie in 1749,
witnessed by Hardy Moore (?), left his plantation to his mother Sarah.
(g)Isaac Williams (ca. 1700-ca. 1752) married Martha Hodges, daughter of Robert
Hodges, Jr. and Ann Branch.
The abstract of the will of Robert Hodges (1740/42) in Grimes, p. 168, is inadequate.
It does note that the son-in-law Isaac Williams was an executor but misspelled her name

as “daughter . . . Mathew Williams.” Moreover, the complete text, posted by Dr. George
Cassady on the internet, notes the daughter Sarah Hodges who married John Cain (ca.

1690-1757) of Edgecombe. See the Cain Section, # 3. John Cain’s nephew, James Cain (ca. 1720-1761), son of William Cain (ca. 1685-
1732), married Rebecca Moore, daughter of Epaphroditus Moore and probably a granddaughter of James Moore of Nansemond [# 3, b,
(4) in the Moore Section]. Rebecca Moore Cain’s cousin Edward Moore [# 3, b, (2), (a)] married a sister of Rebecca’s husband. John
 Cain’s purported sister Elizabeth Cain married Richard Pace, Jr. whose sister-in-law Tabitha Pace married John Moore, son of Richard
Moore [# 3, d, (b)].Also for the Hodges genealogy, see the Moore Section, as

Benjamin Hodges (ca. 1680-1753), brother of Robert Hodges, married Constance Goodrich, # 1, a, (3), (e). Moreover, Ann Hodges,
another daughter of Robert Hodges, Jr. married Joseph Moore (ca. 1690-1755); see the Moore Section, # 3, b, (3).

Court records of Johnston County indicate that Isaac Williams died intestate ca. 1752. However, the will of his son Isaac
Williams, Jr. (ca. 1725-1768) provides the names of two other siblings:

1)Isaac Williams, Jr. (ca. 1725-1768) died without issue. His will of 25 January 1768 (probated February 1769), as posted on the internet by
Rosalee Haas, left his estate to his brother Nathan and the four children of his brother Joel.

2)Nathan Williams (ca. 1725/30-after 1768) remains an enigma.

3)Joel Williams (ca. 1725/30-1761) married Jane Smith, daughter of Colonel Samuel Smith (1709-1783) and his first cousin Edith Whitfield.
See the Lawrence Section, # 2, a, (3), (a), 3); for Edith, see also # 2, a, (4), (c). Colonel Smith was a great- grandson of the compiler’s
ancestor John Lawrence, Sr. of Isle of Wight and grand nephew of Sarah Lawrence Moore, purported grandmother of John Moore the
Hatter. See the Moore Section, # 7, a, (2), (c), 4). Mrs. Jane Smith Williams married (2) Colonel Theophilus Hunter whose close
association with John Moore the Hatter and allied families is discussed in the material about her in the Lawrence Section. Joel Williams
left one of the few early wills of Johnston County to have survived. He signed it on 30 December 1760; probated January 1761. The
executors were his wife Jane and her father. See Will Book # 1, p. 754. Issue:

a)Ferabee Williams (ca. 1757/58-1828) died a spinster in Cumberland County, as

reported by the local press.

b)Isaac Williams (1756-1814/15) married his first cousin Rachel Smith (1763- 1824), daughter of Alexander Smith (ca. 1730/35-ca. 1780/81)
and wife Elizabeth Whitfield, a cousin of both Isaac Williams and Alexander Smith. See the Lawrence Section, # 2, a, (3), (d) for
Alexander Smith and # 2, a, (4), (a), 2) for Elizabeth Whitfield. Isaac Williams died intestate ca. 1814/15, according to the Harnett
CountyHeri t age, Vol. 1, p. 615. Isaac Williams had many children, including:

(1Alexander Williams (1789-1871) married (1) his cousin Charity Whitfield

Smith (1789-1848) and (2) another cousin Jemima Haywood Whitfield.

Named for his maternal grandfather, Alexander Williams was born 31 January 1789 in Cumberland County, North Carolina. He signed
his will in Arkadelphia, Clarke County, Arkansas on 26 May 1870; probated 6 July 1871. The will has been posted on the internet, along
with the identity of his heirs, by Carole Ring. Concerning Charity and Jemima, see the Lawrence Section, # 2, a, (3), (a), 5), b); and # 2,
a, (4), (d), 1), b).

(2Theophilus Hunter Williams (1799-1877) married Elizabeth Jane Lane.

He was named in honor of his stepfather Colonel Theophilus Hunter. He