Here is my sketch of pioneers....It includes John McNeill Williams and his wife, Lucy Ann Courts Williams, Nathan Williams and his wife, Frances McNeill, Jennings Hudnall Courts and his wife, Elizabeth Williams, and Hannah Hudnall Williams and her husband, James Ridley, Jr. They were all residents of Henry County, TN during the 1840-1860's. John McNeill Williams was the son of Nathan Williams and Frances McNeill, of Caswell Co. NC. He was born 28 Aug 1799 in Caswell County and married Lucy Ann Courts, daughter of George Courts and Hannah Hudnall on 23 March 1819 in Rockingham County, NC. He moved to Henry County, TN. around 1840 and built a two story brick home on the land which is now known as 1235 Elkhorn-Nobles Rd, about 7 miles west of Paris, TN. Their home was called "Hazel Green." This home was replaced by a more modern structure in the 1970's but the original doors, mantles, brick basement, hardware and exterior brick walkways were used or kept in tact in the construction of the newer home. John was a farmer by occupation and by the letters written by he and his wife, Lucy, during this period, it shows they were educated and reasonably successful. They spoke of friends and relatives living and visiting in the neighborhood, condition of crops, visiting preachers and revivals, ailments and illnesses of family members, household chores, the mail service, the swamp like conditions which existed in their area (near Paris) and comments from letters of children who had moved to Texas, in which they stated, "we was mistaken about Texas being a third rate country." John probably moved west to Henry County with other members of his family, since his father, Nathan Williams, lived just a few miles away, at his home called "Locust Grove", This home was located just off of present day Oak Grove Road and although the home is no longer there, their family cemetery can be found at this location. Buried in the Nathan Williams Cemetery are also members of the Jennings Hudnall Courts family, which lived nearby at "El Grove". Jennings Courts married Elizabeth Williams, the sister of John McNeill Williams, and Jennings Hudnall Courts was the brother of John's wife, Lucy Ann Courts Williams. Jennings and Elizabeth ran an inn which was known as "Elgrove Inn" and the date of construction of 1838 can be seen on one of the two brick chimneys at each end of the building. The old rutted road which ran in front of the early inn can still be seen today. An article about this old structure was found in the Paris newspaper and it stated the inn was used primarily as a stopping place for freight wagons hauling goods to be loaded aboard steamers on the Tennessee River. In 1858, some twenty years later, that David Upchurch purchased the parcel of land which is known as the Upchurch farm today. John McNeill Williams was a farmer by occupation and he and Lucy eventually had 14 children, many of whom lived and died in Henry County. Their daughter, Hannah Hudnall Williams, was my great great grandmother. She married James Ridley, Jr. and is buried on the old homeplace which was once her father's land. The land owned by John Williams was bought by the Thompson family after his death in 1863 and is locally known as the Thompson/Williams Cemetery. At the time of Hannah Williams Ridley's death, in 1858, she and her husband James were living nearby with their seven children. There was a worldwide epidemic of one of the worst strains of influenza the world had seen during the 1857-1859 period. Many of John and Lucy's children died during this time, including my grandmother Hannah, who died in 1858. She is buried beside her father and many of her siblings beneath the old pecan and dogwood tree in the yard of the former "Hazel Green" home. Janie Ridley Bice jrbice1@airmail.net