Laurens Co., SC – BOOKS

I found the following information in the Laurens Co., SC mailing list archives. It gives good book suggestions for finding information on the county.

“The Scrapbook, A Compilation of Historical Facts About Laurens County, South Carolina.” It was published by the Laurens County HistoricalSociety and the Laurens County Arts Council in 1982. It is a fairly large,hardback book with history, maps and families. Very interesting. I don’tremember what I paid for it; I believe in around $25.00. It might possiblystill can be purchased from the Historical Society. This can be found at Duke Library in Durham, NC.

A very useful book on Laurens County history and places  is ” Laurens County Sketchbook” by Julian S. Bolick and Edna Riddle Foy, written about 1973.

“Stoddard-Sudduth Papers” by Mary Sudduth Stoddard (privately printed, date unknown, prob. about 1960). This book has a lot of ancient gossip in it that’s simply not available anywhere else. The entire set of papers have been digitized and made available by Ancestry.com ($$$).

Another very useful book is “Abstracts of Early Records of LaurensCounty, SC, 1785-1820,” compiled by Sara M Nash, privately printed about 1982. Miss Nash, a lifelong genealogical expert, painstakingly copied all these abstracts on her battered old manual typewriter and had this 600-page book bound from photocopies of her typed sheets. Her niece is in the process of re-typing the records. Miss Nash used to charge $22.50 for her copies but I don’t know what they are now. Mrs. Nash’s niece can be contacted at the following address:

Polly Parsons Hellams
108 Nash Street
Fountain Inn, SC 29644-2121

(864) 862-2793

James WILLIAMS, 96th District, SC (con't)

Another To Do:

1. Read Williams Graves’ “James Williams, An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry”; 2002.

2. Copy the following article which can be found at the NC Genealogy Library (or the Olivia Raney History Library – closed stacks): Madge C. Frink. “Colonel James Williams: A Sketch of a Patriot and the Events Leading to the Battle of King’s Mountain.” Daughter’s of the American Revolution Magazine 118 (1984): 644-6.

Update: I could not find this article by Madge C. Frink in volume 118. This source has been cited for other family pages, so this is kind of strange. I did find another volume with an article about James Williams, but MY LIBRARY IS MISSING THAT VOLUME.

Too bad I can’t remember where I saw this source cited. I guess I need to keep better blogs

James WILLIAMS, 96th District, SC

In my previous post, I mentioned that my ancestor, Henry Williams of Caswell Co., NC had a brother, Colonel James Williams of the 96th District, SC who died in the Revolutionary War. I received the book I ordered “James Williams: An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry” by William Graves in the mail this week to confirm this relationship. Graves’ book gives an excellent account of the life of Colonel James Williams and includes familial activities and history based on primary sources of letters, wills, estate, and court records.

The author of this book confirms that my ancestor, Henry Williams, was in deed the brother of Colonel James Williams and says that Colonel James Williams transferred much of his assets, including his slaves, to his brother’s house for safe keeping from the Tories shortly before he died (p. 25-27).

Details of his whole estate were recorded in both Caswell Co., NC and in the 96th District, SC. This was a great find. As a side, my ancestor, Henry Williams, was also a Colonel in the Revolutionary War; Henry Williams’ great-grandson, Iverson Lea Brooks later became a General in the War between the States.

To Do:

1. Copy the Will of James Williams from the Caswell Co., NC Will folders at the State Archives [If not located, look for will recorded in Caswell Co Will Book A, p. 113, December Court 1780]
2. Copy the estate files of James Williams from the loose papers in the estate of James in Caswell Co., NC at the State Archives
3. Go through and index the Land Grants issued the Williams family in Granville Co., NC before 1800. - Updated: A summary of Land Grants was posted here.

James Williams of the 96th District, South Carolina, con’t

WILLIAMS family (Caswell Co., NC)

Last week I combed through some more WILLIAMS family entries in Katherine Kerr Kendall’s Abstract of Caswell County, NC Will Books, 1777-1843 that is posted online at ancestry.com. I found some correlations between my Henry Williams and his brother James Williams. Henry Williams administered the estate of James Williams who wrote his will in 1780 in Caswell Co., NC, having sought refuge from his home town of 96th District, SC.
Evidently this James Williams was a pretty famous Colonel in the Revolutionary War. Colonel James Williams died at the battle of King’s Mountain, Oct 1780 and is buried in Gaffney, SC.
I ordered the book “James Williams: An American Patriot in the Carolina Backcountry” by William Graves hoping to learn more about his family to see if he really was a brother to my Henry Williams.