John Williams is the “root” of the Williams Family.  John was most probably born August 1844, in Jefferson County, Florida.  However, Aunt Alice Hardy of Cleveland, Ohio, tells us that John was stolen from Africa while gathering firewood and brought to America in 1844 at the age of six.  Regardless of his origin, John was a great man and father a line of descendants destined to do extraordinary things!

 

Oral history has it that John was approximately 21 when the Civil War ended in 1865.  When the Union soldiers came to his plantation in Jefferson County to deliver the news, he took the commanding officer’s name “Williams” because he refused to keep his slave name of “Brocket”.   The Brocket plantation was located in the Lake Miccosukee area, near the Leon County, Florida line.

 

John married Patty (also known as Patricia, Patsie, Patsy, and Pat) Murray March 14, 1875, in Monticello, Florida.  Patty was most probably born in 1855 in Jefferson County, Florida.  Oral history tells us that Patty was the daughter of Peter Robinson and Comfort Robinson.  Peter was a free black man from Tennessee, and Comfort was a Cherokee Indian.  However, there is no marriage record or other documentation indicating how Patty came to have the last name Murray.  Therefore, it is probable that Patty was the birth-daughter of one of the Murray slaveholders in the Jefferson County area, and Peter Robinson raised her as his own child.    

 

John and Patty had nine children from 1871 to 1891:  Mr. Colonel Williams, Mrs. Chestina Williams Robinson Hayes, Mrs. Mary Jane Williams Hunter Livingston, Mr. Judge Williams, Master Arthur Williams, Mr. General Williams, Mr. King Williams, Rev. Samuel “Lovelace” Williams, and Little Miss Callie Williams (who died when she was five or six).  In naming his sons, John chose names that would command respect:  Colonel, Judge, General, King, and Samuel.  It is likely that he was determined that white men in the post-Civil War South would recognize and respect his sons as men, not “boys”. 

 

Patty died in 1894, but we are not certain as to the cause.  Her early death was likely due to the harsh conditions of slavery, farming, childbearing, and sub-standard health care.  Patty’s brother, Alex Farmer, died not too long after she.  Alex and Patty were most likely half-brother and sister, as he bears the Farmer surname, which is the same as his slaveholders. 

 

Alex married Jennie Patton March 5, 1880.  Jennie was the daughter of Silva Patton of Tennessee, and was born December 1856, in Nashville (Davison County) Tennessee.  We are not sure of her fraternal line. 

 

Alex and Jennie had seven children between 1872 and 1892, before his death:  Mr. Eddie Farmer, Mr. Cicero Farmer, Mr. Homer Farmer, Mr. Ellis Farmer, Ms. Victoria Farmer Hadley, Ms. Idella Farmer Wiggins, and Dr. Alexander Alphonso Farmer. 

 

In 1895, John and Jennie, as brother and sister-in-law, brought their families together when they married December 18, in Thomas County, Georgia.   This was probably necessary to keep the family together and ensure basic survival during the post-Reconstruction era in the Deep South.  It is said that John showed no distinction between his children and his nieces and nephews, now his stepchildren.  John and Jennie’s union brought forth three more children between 1896 and 1902:  Mrs. Lula Williams Hardy, Mrs. Beatrice “Tiny” Williams Dunaway, and Deacon John “Bud” Wesley Williams.

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John and Eliza “Liza” Baker had two daughters, Pinkey Williams Peterman about 1880 and Queen Ann Belle Williams March 27, 1886.  John and Liza later married January 4, 1898, in Jefferson County, Florida.  There is no record of a divorce between John and Jennie.  However, the 1890 census records show that John and Jennie were living together again two years later.

 

John was a successful farmer and horse breeder.  He did not sharecrop, but leased his land from the Neel brothers in Thomasville, Georgia.  Toward the end of his life, John became a praying man, and his children and grandchildren remembered his lengthy prayers fondly.  Upon examination of John’s picture, one may see a walking stick under his arm.  John lost his leg from gangrene poisoning when he stepped on a rusty nail. 

 

Jennie was a midwife for 20 years.  She was also a member of the Mt. Herman Lodge No. 3517 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows (GUO of OF) in Bartow, Florida.  Jennie served as secretary during her time with the Order.  She is remembered as a strict disciplinarian.  Jennie moved to Polk County with her daughter, Victoria Farmer Hadley, at some point after John Williams’ death in 1929.  Jennie died October 11, 1938, in Palmetto (Manatee County) Florida. 

John Williams died in 1929, in his birthplace of Jefferson County, Florida.  He left a legacy of hard work, determination, perfection, faith, and love to his descendents.  It is this legacy that we celebrate each year during our Reunion.

 

Notes: 

1.      These pictures were taken from “Descendents of John Williams” 2002 Edition by John B. Williams.  

2.      This history is the product of the efforts of John Bennett Williams, Alonzo Hardy, and Alice Hardy as presented in the “Descendents of John Williams”.

3.      We do not have pictures of Patty Murray or Liza Baker.

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