Saturday, May 15, 2010

Williams lines/DNA

My brother Kenny kindly volunteered his DNA to see if we could match to any other Williams families. We did find matches to two other Williams lines, a degree away so we share a common ancestor probably 8-12 generations back. One of the Williams family was from Carmel, as far as he could trace the line, and the other was from nearby Kent, New York.
From the records I've traced our line also comes from Kent, New York. There is a lot of Williams family members that helped settle Kent, but I have not been able to tie our Williams line to the others in records. The DNA shows that we are connected in some way, so I've started to trace those lines back in hope that I can find some relationship to our line in the records.
My grandfather was Anson Levi Williams, the son of Anson S Williams and Charlotte Burdick.
Anson S Williams was born June 1, 1854 in Brewster, New York, the son of Richard Williams and Calista Bailey.
Richard Williams was born August 26, 1832 in Carmel or Kent, New York, the son of Squire Williams and Mary Ann Baxter. His first wife, Calista, was from the Bailey family who helped settle Southeast. Anson S was their oldest son, then daughter Sophia J, son Charles E, son James Henry, son William Roger, and youngest daughter Lillian M. They eventually moved to Danbury where Calista died. Richard married Sarah March and died in Bethel, Connecticut.
Squire Williams was born about 1789 in New York, the son of Abram Williams and Sarah.
Squire Williams was called this in every record, except the 1860 census which says Squire and has a small notation that looks like Eli, so it's possible that Squire was a title. But Squire Williams was also a name used by descendants of Roger Williams of Rhode Island, so it's equally possible that Squire was his name. A hint might be that his grandson Anson S Williams had a middle name of S if he was named for his grandfather and that his other grandson was named William Roger.
Squire Williams settled in Kent, New York between 1830-1840 and lived there for many years. He and Mary Ann had three children, a daughter Sarah J who never married, a daughter Nancy (this always shocks me that I have an ancestress named Nancy Williams) who married Ebenezer Barrett who died in the Civil War, and their son, Richard, our direct ancestor. They eventually all moved to Southeast, New York and died there.
I know very little of Abram and Sarah, Squire Williams' parents. They also lived in Kent and it's possible that Abram was born in Connecticut, according to one record.

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