Delores, this is quite interesting. Yes, some of those people back there bucked tradition and did the "right" thing and saw to it that their slaves were freed and had an inheritance. I have seen many wills that provide for them. Unfortunately society would not openly accept what they knew went on behind "closed" doors, thought it was open knowledge. We tend to set our ancestors up on a pedestal until we find all those bastardy suits and memoirs of family members. That is one thing that makes genealogy so interesting. Dorothy C. White [email protected] 804.795.4296 > -----Original Message----- > From: Deloris Williams [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 3:33 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [WILLIAMS] Re: WILLIAMS-D Digest V05 #157 > > > Dorothy, > You make a good point. That is one of the things about the Alston & > Williams families, they both used those Joseph John > combinations in their > families. I am a descendant of the Samuel Williams who died > in 1791 in > Warren Co., the son of Samuel who died in 1753-54. That Samuel never > married, but he kept a slave mistress by the name of Crese, > with whom he had > children and he freed them upon his death, asking his Alston > relatives to > help them attain that status, which they did in 1798. The > family, however, > was given the surname of "Green", by the General Assembly. > > > Deloris > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Dorothy C. White" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 9:11 AM > Subject: FW: [WILLIAMS] Re: WILLIAMS-D Digest V05 #157 > > > > In searching Warren Co., NC Williams records be careful of > the John or > > Joseph names. The references I have seen of the son of Samuel > > Williams and Elizabeth Alston has always referred to him > John Joseph > > Williams. I think > > this is to distinguish him from so many other John or > Joseph Williams > > names > > in that area at the same time. > > > > After the death of Samuel Williams, Elizabeth Alston, his widow, > > married Richard Burt and at that point gave her sons, > Samuel, Solomon, > > William and John Joseph their inheritances. > > > > Dorothy C. White > > [email protected] > > 804.795.4296 > > > > > > ==== WILLIAMS Mailing List ==== > List web page: http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/surname/w/williams.html > Genealogy Links - http://www2.netdoor.com/~cch/GEN-links.htm > > ============================== > Search the US Census Collection. Over 140 million records > added in the last 12 months. Largest online collection in the > world. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13965/rd.ashx > >

Yeah, some of them did sort of have nerve enough to do that. I don't think that Samuel actual "said" they were his children, but it was apparently known in his family because I've seen several occasions where the the Williams & Alston families were involved with my Green ancestors. Samuel actually left them lots of land and they were the first persons mentioned in his will with exact details about their care. On top of that, he had apparently been involved with Crese even when he was a young man living at home because his parents had been the original owners, and after his father died, his mother gave Crese & her son, Tom, to Samuel as a deed of gift. It was Crese, Tom & Tom's wife and 5 children who were freed in 1791, andin 1798 the Court freed them plus other children born into the family since the original will. Needless to say, I, too, have been fascinated by all of this and have enjoyed finding out as much as I can about all of those families. But this is not the only Williams line I have researched because I have at least 2 others through a different ancestor, one being from Granville which I've done extensive work on. There were a lot of Williams in North Carolina, as you know. Deloris ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dorothy C. White" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2005 2:49 PM Subject: FW: [WILLIAMS] Re: WILLIAMS-D Digest V05 #157 > Delores, this is quite interesting. Yes, some of those people back there > bucked tradition and did the "right" thing and saw to it that their slaves > were freed and had an inheritance. I have seen many wills that provide > for > them. Unfortunately society would not openly accept what they knew went > on > behind "closed" doors, thought it was open knowledge. We tend to set our > ancestors up on a pedestal until we find all those bastardy suits and > memoirs of family members. That is one thing that makes genealogy so > interesting. > > Dorothy C. White > [email protected] > 804.795.4296 >