SECOND GENERATION

3. John WILLIAMS was born in 1731 in Caernarvoshire, Wales. He died on 27 May 1809 in Bedford County, PA. John Williams was born in Caernarvonshire, Wales, in 1731. He went ot school and worked with his father at the tailor's trade till he was about 14 years old, when, on account of disagreeable relations with his stepmother, he obtained his father's permission to live in London with his older brother, Griffith Williams, who had married and settled there after an adventurous and romantic experience as a sailor. While living with his brother, the alluring inducements held out to settlers to Nova Scotia took both of them to Halifax, where they lived together not less than four years. John Williams then went to New York city in quest of better climate and opportunities. From that time Griffith Williams disappears from the family history, though there have been handed down some unauthenticated stories about his going to sea again in the West India trade and finally losing his life in some fatal voyage to those fever-stricken islands and dangerous seas.

David B. Williams, sometime of Nicholas County, Kentucky, who died and left a family at Mexico, Missouri, used to tell his wife, a granddaughter of John Williams, that being an orphan from early boyhood, all he know about his own grandfather was that he brought with him to America a younger brother, of whom he had lost all trace after they had once separated. (Was David the grandson of Griffith? - CWP)

In New York the young immigrant, after looking about him for a while, took up the tailor's trade again, working under a first-rate tailor for two years to perfect himself in the business. When he felt himself qualified, he undertook to build up a tailoring business of his own at Goshen, the county seat of Orange County, New York, and continued it there, not only during the remainder of his bachelor days, but through 17 years of married life till the fall of 1779, when, with a daughter of 16 and seven younger sons, the family began its migrations. Very little more than a tolerably comfortable living had been earned when this family of ten people started on a journey of 400 miles through mountain wilds in quest of a promised land farther from the seat of war then raging around them. Two horses, a wagon and its contents represented all their worldly possessions and their only means of conveyance.

I infer from data at hand that the trip to London was made during the Jacobite rebellion of 1745; that the sojourn in London and Halifax deferred John Williams' arrival in New York to about 1750 or a little longer; that he began his Goshen business sometime during the war period called in Europe the "Seven Years' War"; that he was married to his wife at Goshen August 31, 1761, when he was about 30 years old and she about 26; that they lived there through all the worst commotions and disturbed conditions of the two protracted wars by which that vicinity suffered more severely than it has ever suffered since.

When John Williams lived there it was a thinly populated frontier region constantly exposed to Indian attacks in the Seven Years' War and suffering throughout the Revolutionary War from the operations of both armies as well as from the savage forays of Brandt's Indians and Tory followers. In 1778, the year before John left, Brandt entrapped a detachment of Orange County militia from Goshen and vicinity and perpetrated the "Minnesink Massacre". The names of the many who fell there are carved on a monument near the Goshen court house. Among them appears the name of Abraham Williams, but it has not been determined whether he belonged to our family.

Perhaps John used this fresh incident to induce the mother of his children to leave her native habitat, but my father never mentioned if he had heard of it, and was under the impression that exaggerated descriptions of rich lands obtainable for almost nothing at the head of Juniata Valley dazzled both of his parents. When they had traveled more than half of the toilsome journey, they were met by startling news of Indian hostilities ahead of them, and therefore turned south through Virginia on their way to Holston, or the settlements on the Holston River. At a point considerably south of Winchester, Virginia, they were turned back by more news of wartime disturbances and military obstacles ahead of them. (My father remembers his being held in his mother's lap so that he could look over the wagon bed at long lines of army wagons and long columns of soldiers encountered on the road. The news from the Holston country probably related to the campaign against Ferguson, resulting in the rebel victory at Kings Mountain, "the turning point of the Revolution", in which campaign my mother and grandfather, Col. Francis Triplett, took part with his company of mounted Virginia Riflemen, which he led from Kings Mountain on to the cowpens and other battles in the Carolinas, winning distinction in all of them.)

Returning northward through Winchester, my grandfather (John Williams) rented a place on the road from Winchester to Martinsburg (now West Virginia) and about 13 miles south of the latter, in Berkeley Co., (West) Virginia. Here they lived three or four years, doing some farming, keeping a wayside inn, and my grandfather getting all the tailoring business he could do. They saved money and did so well that he was very reluctant to move away. But the country was then at peace, the land in their vicinity was already high priced and increasing in value, and grandmother was still longing for a large but cheap tract of land on which her children could all make homes for themselves. She, therefore, went with her husband to see the lands they had started to see in 1779. There they fell in with old friends who persuaded them to give thiry pounds for 600 acres of wild, poor and rough land on Brush Creek in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. In spite of the husband's dislike of the tract and its bad situation for his tailor business, they settled on it in 1783-4 or thereabout, built a home and began clearing land for cultivation. The wildness of the region may be inferred from the fact that Capt. Richard Dunlap, father of Nancy, afterwards wife of Uncle John, was killed by Indians in the Frankstown Massacre, Jun 3, 1781, in Blair County, only a short distance from Brush Creek. Here their second child and eldest son, Isaac, overworked himself grubbing a piece of land and died Oct. 24, 1789. Here Grandfather could seldom get anything to do at his trade. One by one the children grew up on this poor land and left it to learn trades or otherwise better their condition. Yet here the old folks toiled on hopelessly till Grandfather John Williams died there May 27th, 1809, in his 79th year.

My mother, a well-read and intelligent woman, used to get a bundle of very old letters received by my father from his father, and read them over again every now and then. She thought them fine models of interesting thought and expression, full of pious and satisfying admonition, and imbibed from them a great admiration and reverence for their author, though she never saw or heard of him till he had been dead over 20 years. She used to show me the handwriting, and ask me to try to write such a hand. The penmanship was certainly beautiful - as pretty and legible as any pages of engraved script I ever saw. I suppose they were in a trunk full of father's papers which, after his death in 1848, was taken by my oldest brother, John R. Williams, to his cotton plantation on Old Town Lake, Phillips County, Arkansas. Some 10 or 12 years ago, my brother's widow sent me Goddard's portrait of Father.

From the earliest record we have of our Williams ancestry. Written about 1906 by Samuel Williams (1831 - 1928), a newspaperman who was a nephew of Charles Williams. Samuel's father was Samuel Williams, a son of John Williams (1731-1809).

DAR Patriot Index - Centennial Edition, 1994 lists John as a Private, serving in PA.

Last Will and Testament of John Williams

In the name of God. Amen. I, John Williams, of Bedford County in the State of Pennsylvania, being sick and weak in body, but of sound mind, memory and understanding (Blessed be God for the same), but considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the time thereof, and being desirous to settle my worldly offices and thereby be the better prepared to leave this world when it shall please God to call me hence, do therefore make and publish this, my last will and testament, in manner and form following, to wit,

Principally and first of all I commend my immortal soul into the hands of God Who gave it and my body to the earth to be buried in a decent manner at the discretion of my executor hereinafter named, and after my debts and funeral charges are paid, I devise and bequeath my worldly estate, wherewith it hath pleased God to bless me in this life, in the following manner, to wit, I give and bequeath to my children, whose names follow, the sum of four dollars each, to be raised and levied out of my estate, viz., to HANNAH FRENCH four dollars, to WILLIAM WILLIAMS four dollars, to JOHN WILLIAMS Junr. four dollars, to CHARLES WILLIAMS four dollars, to ANTHONY WILLIAMS four dollars, to SAMUEL WILLIAMS four dollars, and the remainder of my estate real and personal I give and bequeath to HANNAH, my beloved wife, by her freely to be possessed and enjoyed during her natural life, and at her death that the said estate real and personal, all and singular, the lands, mesnages and tenements, together with all my household goods and movable effects, to descend to my son SOLOMON WILLIAMS, to be by him, his heirs and assigns freely possessed and enjoyed forever.

And lastly I do nominate, constitute and appoint my son SOLOMON WILLIAMS to be the sole executor of this, my last will and testament, revoking and annulling all the former wills by me heretofore made, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament, in testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name and seal this twentieth day of January in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and nine.

/s/ JOHN WILLIAMS /seal/
Signed, sealed, published and delcared by John Williams, the above named testator, as and for his last will and testament in the presence of us, who at his request, in his presence and in the presence of each other
have subscribed our names as witnesses:
/s/ CHRISTIAN FELTEN
/s/ ABRAHAM MARTIN
/s/ FRANCIS REYNOLDS

Probated June 13, 1809.

(From Will book 1, Page 271, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, Probate Court records.)

He was married to Hannah FINCH (daughter of Isaac FINCH and Martha) on 31 Aug 1761 in Goshen, Orange County, NY. Hannah FINCH was born in 1735 in Goshen, Orange Cty., NY. She died on 11 Oct 1827 in Liberty, Union Co., IN. Hannah Finch, wife of John Williams

Hannah Finch's father (Isaac Finch) was in easy circumstances till about the time of her birth, when he became an invalid with lung trouble, of which he eventually died, leaving his widow to bring up a large family with limited means. My grandmother, the youngest of the orphans, therefore found it incumbent on her to earn her own living as soon as possible. This she did by spinning and weaving, in which she became very expert and found plenty of employment among the neighbors, until a widow who conducted a store in Goshen took a great liking to her and induced her to make her home with her and clerk in her store. There she remained well satisfied till she was persuaded she would be happier with John Williams, and married him August 31, 1761, when she was 26.

In the following year, August 11, 1762, their only daughter (Hannah Finch Williams) was born. Then came seven lusty boys in succession, all of whom became strong, energetic and intelligent men and good citizens, and all of whom, except Isaac, who died single, left familys of children. The seven were Isaac, William, John, Charles, Solomon, Anthony and Samuel.

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and after her husban's death, Hannah Williams occasionally lived for considerable periods of time with her son Samuel, and many of the most honored matrons of Bourbon County, Kentucky, held her in high respect, often expressing it to her grandchildren long after her death. She died at the home of her son ANthony near Liberty, Union County, Indiana, on October 11, 1827, being 92 years old, surviving her husband more than 18 years. She was much attached to the wife of her son Anthony, and preferred to pass her later years with them.

From the earliest record we have of our Williams ancestry. It was written about 1906 by Samuel Williams (1831 - 1928), a newspaperman who was a nephew of Charles Williams. Samuel's father was Samuel Williams, a son of John Williams (1731 - 1809). John WILLIAMS and Hannah FINCH had the following children:

child+4 i. Hannah Finch WILLIAMS.
child5 ii. Isaac WILLIAMS was born on 2 Oct 1763. He died on 24 Oct 1789 in Bedford Co., PA. "Overworked himself grubbing a piece of land and died Oct. 24, 1789" -- Samuel Williams
child+6 iii. William WILLIAMS.
child+7 iv. John WILLIAMS Jr..
child+8 v. Charles WILLIAMS.
child+9 vi. Solomon WILLIAMS.
child+10 vii. Anthony WILLIAMS.
child+11 viii. Samuel WILLIAMS.

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