I wrote about Henry Clay in February. His will, written in 1749, named his children and heirs, one of them being his daughter, Amey Williamson. Researching her, I learned that her first marriage was to William Green Sr. and her second marriage was to Benjamin Williamson. Interestingly, William and Amey Clay Green’s grandson, John Green, is buried at the David Alexander Yarboro home place in Montgomery County, North Carolina.
The Green family came to Montgomery County, North Carolina from Amelia County, Virginia. In Virginia, they intermarried with surnames Cowels, Cheatham, Marshall, and of course Clay.
Quite the Genealogical Mélange of families!
Most of this Green family look to have remained in Virginia, at least the earlier generations did. Some moved into Granville (Bute) County, North Carolina like Martha Green, the daughter of William Green Sr. and Amey Clay.
Martha is the Aunt of John Green who is buried at the David Alexander Yarboro Homeplace in Montgomery County, North Carolina. Her brother is believed to be William Green Jr. who died in Richmond County, North Carolina in 1818.
Martha Green married William Williamson in Amelia, Virginia in 1750. I do not know who William Williamson is, but most trees think he probably descends from George Williamson (m. Hester Bridger) who was the Uncle of Benjamin who had married Amey Clay Green.
Martha and husband William Williamson migrated to North Carolina where William died in 1769 in Bute County, North Carolina (formed from Granville in 1764 and split into Warren and Franklin in 1779). Martha remarried to Peter Cox Moore who died in 1790 in Warren County, North Carolina leaving three of the Williamson children, Green, William, and Patience, his entire estate. No children were born to Martha and Peter that I could find. It looks like the Williamson children, after Mother Martha died about 1809, all headed to either Georgia or Tennessee after their brothers and other Green relatives.
As I continued to build out the family tree for Amey Clay and her two husbands, William Green Sr. and Benjamin Williamson, whom it looks like she had no children with, I ran right into Benjamin’s brother, Francis Williamson Jr., who had married Martha Harris, the sister of West Harris Sr. of Montgomery County, North Carolina. Martha was listed as Martha Williamson in the 1733 will of her father, Edward Harris, and received a linen spinning wheel from his estate.
Benjamin Williamson, who was the second husband of Amey Clay Green, is the son of Francis Williamson Sr. who died in Isle of Wight County, Virginia in 1743 and the brother of Francis Williamson Jr. who had married Martha Harris, daughter of Edward Harris and sister of West Harris Sr.
Francis Sr’s will list all his children, except for Francis Williamson Jr. as he died in 1736, a few years before his father. His will also lists several grandchildren, most of them being the children of Francis Williamson Jr. and Martha Harris.
Executors named: sons, Arthur and Benjamin
Witness: James Simmons and Thomas Williamson
Named in the will of Francis Williamson Sr.:
Wife, Ann (note: daughter of William Exum Jr.)
Son, Arthur
Son, Joseph
Son, Benjamin
Granddaughter, Mourning Williamson
Daughter, Martha Atkinson
Grandson, Francis Williamson
Granddaughter, Elizabeth
Grandson, Jesse Williamson
Grandson, Arthur Williamson
Granddaughter, Martha Williamson
Grandson, Burwell Williamson
Grandson, Joseph Williamson
Grandson, Hardy Williamson
Grandson, Absalom Williamson
Grandson, Benjamin Williamson
Grandson, James Williamson
Thomas Williamson, who witnessed the will, is most likely the nephew of Francis Williamson Sr. Thomas’s father was George Williamson, brother of Francis Sr. and his mother was Hester Bridger. Thomas married Susannah Carter, daughter of Giles Carter.
Francis Williamson Sr’s parents were Doctor Robert Williamson and Joan Allen, the daughter of Arthur Allen who owned what became known as “Bacon’s Castle,” the oldest brick dwelling in North America. The house was built for Arthur Allen and his family in 1665 and was originally known as Allen’s Brick House but years later earned the moniker “Bacon’s Castle” because in 1676 several of Nathaniel Bacon’s men occupied the home for four months during the uprising that became known as Bacon’s Rebellion. The site is owned and operated as a historic house museum by Preservation Virginia and can be visited by the public.
Littleton Harris, who is probably the son of Etheldred Harris and the grandson of West Harris Sr., married Temperance Williamson in the early 1800s. Littleton and Temperance made their home in Montgomery County, North Carolina. There is no documented proof that Temperance’s maiden name was Williamson, but rather, her maiden name was handed down by the older generations of family members.
Temperance was born around 1785 in North Carolina according to the 1850 and 1870 Census records. She married Littleton Harris probably in Montgomery County around 1803. Littleton died in 1845 making Temperance a widow. The 1840 Census (page 252) shows Littleton and Temperance living in Montgomery County, North Carolina and their neighbors are shown as Eli Harris and Jesse Smitherman who lived in the northwestern end of the county near the Randolph and Moore County lines. The 1830 Census has Littleton Harris on page 42 with neighbors named as Solomon Ballard and William Callais (Kellis). There is no 1820 Census for Montgomery County. In 1810, Littleton and Temperance are living next door to Etheldred Harris and Jarrot (Jared/Jarrett) Harris which makes more sense based on land records showing that Littleton lived in present-day Eldorado, North Carolina on McLeans Creek and Uwharrie River.
Land grants show that Littleton had two grants. One dated 1806 for 125 acres on both sides of McLeans Creek joining Etheldred Harris and another in 1820 for 75 acres on McLeans Creek and joining Etheldred and Jarrot Harris and William Hearne.
Looking at early Montgomery County, North Carolina Census records, I wanted to know if any Williamson’s lived in the county and while I did find a Thomas H. Williamson on the 1800 Census record old enough to be Temperance’s father, there was no daughter listed as living in his household. His neighbors were Edward McCallum and William Kelly.
Allen Williamson Sr. between ages 50 - 60 (born about 1785) is listed on the 1840 Census (page 246). His neighbors (if the Census was done in order of house) were William Green Jr. and John Richardson Jr. An estate file in Montgomery County shows Allen Williamson died about 1846. Edmond Hearne administered the estate. Mary Williamson was shown as purchasing several items from the estate sale.
Allen Williamson Jr. between ages 20 – 30 (born about 1815) is listed in 1840 as well (page 235). His neighbors were Thomas Shaw and Wilson Cupples.
Mary Williamson between ages 50 – 60 (born about 1785) is also listed in 1840 (page 234). Her neighbors were James Lucas and James Poe.
DNA matches from two descendants of Littleton and Temperance Harris show many matches who descend from the Williamson family of Isle of Wight County, Virginia. Most of those matches are descending through George Williamson and Hester Bridger. George is the Uncle of Francis Williamson Jr. who married Martha Harris, the sister of West Harris Sr. A few matches show descent through Arthur and Joseph Williamson, the brothers of Francis. These matches to collateral lines are important because the DNA can be easily separated from the Harris DNA because these lines (George, Arthur, and Joseph) did not marry Harris descendants nor did their descendants (as far as I can tell). More digging into DNA match trees is required before I can be confident of the Williamson connection, but on the surface, it does appear that Temperance may have carried and passed down Williamson DNA to her descendants.
If you are a female-to-female descendant of Temperance Williamson Harris, please consider mtDNA testing or if you have already mtDNA tested, please reach out through the blog and let me know.
