Williams Family History, 1st Generation
I am not personally related to the greater Williams family by blood, but my two of my great-grandmothers remarried to Ira T. Williams3 and Al Williams4, respectively in 1910 and 1915, the latter of whom fathered four half-great-great aunts and uncles. It is in remembrance of them and for their descendants that I put this page together.
Joseph Williams1 (1786-1837)
1. Joseph Williams1 was born on November 5, 1786, probably in Ohio*. He married Rachel (Hannaman) about 1818. He was about 31 years old and she about 18. They had at least 9 children, including one set of fraternal twins:
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11. | G. W. Williams | 24 Feb 1819 | -- | -- |
| 12. | Euphamia Williams | 19 Feb 1821 | -- | -- |
| 13. | Naomi Williams | 30 Mar 1822 | -- | -- |
| 14. | Joseph M. Williams2 | 18 Dec 1823 | Jul 1883 | (59) |
| 15. | Amos Strange Williams | 13 Nov 1826 | -- | -- |
| 16. | Prescilla Williams | 13 Nov 1826 | -- | -- |
| 17. | Rachel Williams | 25 Jan 1830 | (1873-1880) | (40s) |
| 18. | Milton H. Williams | 7 Jul 1832 | (>1910) | (>77) |
| 19. | Greenley Mac Williams | 19 Feb 1837 | -- | -- |
| 1x. | Robert Williams | (1827) | -- | -- |
| 1y. | Henry Williams | (1833) | -- | -- |
The 1830 census records Joseph, age 40 to 50 (1780-1790) and his family in Hamilton County, Indiana, northeast of Indianapolis. He is listed with a wife, age 30 to 40 (1790-1800), three boys, up to 15 years old, and two girls, up to the age of 10.[Cen 1830]
In 1832, Joseph is said to have served during the “Indian Wars,” presumably the Black Hawk War of 1832, which was fought in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin against Sauk, Fox, and Kickapoo who unsuccessfully resisted the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and its aim to remove all Indians to the west of the Mississippi River. He would have been 45 years old at the time.
Joseph Williams died in 1837 in Hamilton County, Indiana, at about the age of 50. He left Rachel with children between the ages of a few months to 18 years.
Rachel and her children moved nearer to Indianapolis and settled in Oaklandon, Lawrence Township, Marion County, by 1845. They later resettled in Indiana Creek Township, Pulaski County, in northwestern Indiana, by 1851.
Rachel (Hannaman) Williams is reported to have died of cholera in Indian Creek Township in either 1853 or 1856, according to her son Milton's biography. She would have been in her mid-50s. Other reports say she died in Glen Elder, Mitchell County, Kansas, indicating she likely died after 1871, putting her at least in her 70s.