Can anyone, please, lessen my confusion about the Williams family, at least one of whose daughters married into the Colley family in Graves County in the later 1800s? First, does anyone know if Eliza Williams, first wife of Christopher Columbus Colley, was a sister of Margaret J. Williams, wife of John Calvin Colley? Eliza died in 1870 and C.C. Colley remarried to Sabra Jane Flood. Margaret J. Williams married John C. Colley in 1872 and died in 1917. I have been told that Margaret J. Williams who married John C. Colley was a daughter of Joel T. and Charity Barton Williams. However, I have recently found a deed (Graves County Deed Book 15, pages 129-130), dated 19 February 1892, in which an "Eliza" Williams sells her dower land. The deed states that this "Eliza" was the widow of J. Williams (decd) and mentions the following names as those who were also heirs: J.J. Williams and wife Susan, Z. Williams and wife Elizabeth, J.B. Williams and wife N.E., J.A. Williams and wife S.M., and John Colley and wife Margaret Jane Colley. The Graves County censuses in which I have found the family of J.T. and Charity Williams reports children Eliza (b. abt. 1848), Frances (female, b. abt. 1850), Joseph (b. abt. 1854), Margaret Jane (b. 1853), and Jesse (b. 1855). Was "Charity" Williams the same person as the "Eliza" who was selling her dower land in the 1892 deed? If not, who was she; and is my previous information that Charity Williams was the mother of Margaret J. Williams Colley incorrect? Who was Z. Williams? (According to the deed, above, Z. Williams and his wife acknowledged the 1892 deed in Pulaski Co, MO.) Who was J.J. Williams? I have found in the 1900 census for Graves County the households of a Jessie A. Williams with wife Susan M. (That family seems to match the deed's mention of a J.A. Williams and wife S.M.) and of a Joseph B. Williams with wife Nancy A. (That family might match the deed's mention of a J.B. Williams and wife N.E.) But I am completely perplexed by these "extra" Williams men mentioned in the deed, since they are not among the children of J.T. and Charity Williams reported in the 1850 or 1860 censuses and since there does not seem to have been a third son of J.T. and Charity who might have been their father. Any help will be greatly appreciated! Regards, Betty Ravenholt