This could be your William, listed as William # 3 in the letter written by Obidiah W. Akers. Obidiah and William could have been brothers. Letter is dated 10-4-1907 and was sent to Charles N. Akers of St. Paul, Minn. All the information I have, I got from my parents. First in the settling of the colonies at Jamestown, Va., a man and his wife by the name of Akers: they had two young boys, left England on a ship for the colonies in Va. The parents of the boys died at sea of ship fever. The children were given away to two separate parties. The oldest boy could remember his parents and his little brother and when he grew up he tried to find his little brother but never did. He died and never learned. I have no other knowledge of my ancestors, only of my grandfather. He was born in Franklin Co., Va., in the first of the 17th century and died in 1834. He was 105 yrs. Old when he died. His name was William: he lived on James River. He had several sons. I do not remember all of their names -- first -- Samuel, Daniel Wesley. He had a blind sister, then my father William and the youngest Nat. My mother and father had seven sons and four girls. The oldest son’s name was Blackburn. I was the next one -- Obediah, third -- William, fourth -- Austin, fifth -- Middleton, sixth -- John Calvin, seventh -- Elkanah, the fourth oldest was born Barren Co., Key., the others were born in Jackson Co., Tenn. On the Cumberland River. In 1840 my father and family moved to Van Buren Co., Iowa. My father died in 1858. As for myself, I was born the first day of August, 1814. At 17 years of age I went on the river. I ran on the river fifteen years as a pilot. I left the river in 1845. I ran on the Cumberland , Ohio, Mississippi Rivers. I married in 1840 and in 1845 moved to Iowa and across the plains in 1849 with an ox-team to California, and worked in the mines two years, and went home and bought 200 acres of land in Iowa and cleared up a farm. I worked hard for my wife and children. My health gave out. I sold out and crossed the plains with my family in 1856 and settled in Samona, Calif. In 1866 I moved to Oregon. My oldest son lives in Checto, Calif. Next William lives in Calhoun, Calif., third lives in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, his name is Albert. In my travels I met a number of Akers. They all claim common stock and that they came from Virginia. I think the youngest son of the parents who came across the ocean survived and had a family for the name is scattered over the United States. O. W. Akers