Hubbard Williams

Melvy's Family

My earliest known ancestor on my father's WILLIAMS side, is Melvy, born 1804, who was a slave woman of Martha Hardy-Alston (1759-1823), widow of William Alston (1747-1795) of Warren County, North Carolina; Martha was the daughter of Benjamin Hardy [Hardee] (ca 1735-1775) and Mary Alston, who last lived in Wake County, North Carolina. Much of my first information on Melvy was discovered in the 1829 Slave Book belonging to William Kinchen Kearney (b. 1785-d. 1869) one of the largest slaveowner of Warren County, North Carolina. In 1830 he is listed as having 178 slaves, and by 1850, he had 154 slaves, and last in 1860, it was 140. Unfortunately not all are known, but his record keeping starting in 1829, gives the best listing of names born up to about 1851. William K. Kearney married Mariah Hardy Alston (1793-1883) in Warren County, North Carolina in 1810, who was the daughter of William Alston and Martha Hardy. When Martha Hardy-Alston died in 1823, she left a number of slaves to her KEARNEY grandchildren, who were listed in the 1824 Division of Slaves from her Estate. Among the slaves named were Melvy and Lucy, born 1820, whose ages were later listed in William K. Kearney's Slave book as being Mother and daughter, along with the addition of children born to Melvy since 1824, Hubbard (b. May 1827), Delia (b. 1831), and Frank (b. 1836). By 1834, the KEARNEY children were starting to come of age, so there was a further distribution of the Slaves from their grandmother, and Hubbard, Melvy and Delia were among those who went to Valeria Virginia Kearney (1822-1907). I have not found a record that indicates what happened to Lucy and Frank, but Valeria Virginia Kearney married on October 20, 1841 to Robert Edgar Williams (1817-1904) the son of Robert Webb Williams (1792-1822) and Harty Hodges Davis (1793-1868). Melvy is not mentioned anymore after the entry in the Kearney Slave Book which lists Melvy and her children, including the youngest who was born in 1836. There is record about who the father of her children were, but DNA results may have answered a suspicion I've had, and I will update that info here when I find out more. What follows are the families of Melvy's two children who I do know of, Hubbard and Delia.

Hubbard Kearney Williams (1827-1901)

My great grandfather, Hubbard Kearney Williams, was born a slave in May 1827, and he died about 1901. His last slaveowner, known by my family through the years as Dr. Ed Williams, my grandfather had told us about him being Hubbard's slaveowner, along with the fact that his family had lived on Dr. Ed's land for a long time afterwards. Researching has found that Robert E. Williams, indeed was a well-known physician of his time, and that the name of his plantation home was called Myrtle Lawn, which is also still in existence in the small community of Inez in Warren County. Through a series of sheer coincidences of life, my WILLIAMS family still reside on land they own and inherited from an original WILLIAMS ancestor only a short distance from the very same land on which they were enslaved. By the marriage of my grandparents, Robert J. Williams and Nannie R. Sneed, land that was originally owned by Samuel Williams (1725-1791), the great-grand uncle of Robert E. Williams, came down to my current-day WILLIAMS family through inheritance from our GREEN ancestors. How? Samuel Williams was my grandmother Nannie's 3rd great grandfather, a slaveowner at the time, who was also the father of Thomas Green (1760-1750), whom he had freed and left a total of 100 acres of land to. Thomas was Nannie's 2nd great grandfather who had been given the GREEN surname upon his emancipation. That story can be read here: Story of Thomas Green

When Hubbard next turns up after slavery, he was living with his 1st wife, Harriet Williams, born abt. 1825, whom he had married on January 1, 1848, as they reported in their Cohabitation Slave Marriage Record in Warren County. Unfortunately, Census takers most often didn't seem to know how to spell his name because he was called "Harry Williams" in 1870, and his childrens' names were somewhat butchered in that listing, however, the next census, where he was listed as "Herbert Williams", and marriage records helped determine their names. Their children were:

1] Melvina Mary Williams, was born in 1852, who in April 12, 1873, married David Alston, b. 1851, the son of David & Susan Alston. Melvina apparently died shortly thereafter, since David remarried on Dec. 2, 1876 to Serena Alston-Stamper.

2] Matthew Milton Williams, born 1861, was first listed as Matthew Williams, but as Milton Williams in the 1880 Census.

3] Luke Williams was born 1866, died after 1880 but before 1900.

4] Martha Williams, was born in 1869, but I suspect she died right after 1870, since she was only in the 1870 Census.

Milton & Luke both died before 1900, probably of the same illness that was sweeping through the family at the time that caused so many deaths. Harriet also died shortly after 1870, since she was listed as dead in the April 1873 Marriage record of her daughter Melvina. Hubbard remarried in 1876 to Judy Davis, sometimes called Julia, who was born Feb. 14, 1856, the daughter of Louis Davis (1827-bef 1900) and Mary Ann Pitchford (1838-aft 1901). Judy's family was a fascinating one because I was able to trace them for several generations through the Thomas J. Pitchford Family Bible and the will & estate records of the various slaveowning PITCHFORD families, particularly those of Sterling Pitchford, dated 1832. Mary Ann's birth date of Dec. 22, 1838, is found in the Pitchford Family Bible, the daughter of Amy, born 1814, died February 17, 1844. It is also gives the names of other children of Amy: George, Charles, Peter, and Jack. I will write more about the PITCHFORD family at a later date.

According to a family story, Judy, whose family were enslaved, lived next to the free Green family while growing up, and among the members was Pilate Green a grandson of Thomas & Priscilla Green. The couple fell in love, however, since the Greens were a very light-skinned family, having part European ancestry, Judy's mother forbade them from seeing one another. Judy and Pilate went on to marry others within a couple of days of one another, with Judy determined to marry the darkest men she could find. Pilate married on Dec. 27, 1871 to Ann Faulcon (1854-1900, a former slave, the daughter of William Faulcon & Emeline Alston). Pilate and Ann had 6 children, 5 daughters- Laura Ann, Joanna, Ethy, Willie & Mary- and 1 son, Elisha Green, who died in 1913.
Judy was married first on Dec. 25, 1871 to George Cheek, son of Plummer and Luvenia Cheek, however that was a short marriage since by 1876 she was married to Hubbard. George wasn't living with his parents in 1870, and since he doesn't appear anywhere else after his marriage, I believe that George Cheek probably died shortly after 1871. And while I haven't found a marriage record for Hubbard & Judy, it wasn't unheard of for marriage records to have gotten lost or possibly a minister could have neglected to turn in the paperwork for one reason or another. According to their 1900 Census, they had been married for 24 years, which is what I am going by for their date of marriage. That Census also says that Judy had given birth to 9 children, but at that time, only 4 of them were still alive. Grandpa always told us that all of his brothers and sisters had died of tuberculosis when he was little, except for one brother, Eddie. I know of 6 of the children of Hubbard and Judy:

1] Hubbard Williams Jr. was born in 1877, and died in February 1880 due to croup, an upper respiratory disease.

2] Minnie Williams, born 1879, probably died shortly after 1880, and most assuredly before 1900 since she wasn't alive by then.

3] Robert Julius Williams, my grandfather, was born Sept. 18, 1885. He married on Apr. 18, 1909 to Nannie R. Sneed, born May 19, 1892 in Enfield, Halifax County, NC. They raised their large family of 14 children, 10 of whom lived to adulthood, in Fork Township, near the town of Inez, in Warren County. Nannie's parents were Walter Van Sneed (1852-1941) and Mary Frances Green (1871-1899, daughter of James Thomas Green & Penina "Penny" Copeland). Walter, who was from Granville County, NC, was a former slave, the son of his slaveowner, William Morgan Sneed (Oct. 1819-Dec. 1891) and Nancy Sneed (Dec. 10, 1822-bef. 1910 Henderson, Kentucky), an enslaved woman who had belonged to William's father, Richard R. Sneed (1790-1861) on the Sneed Plantation in Williamsboro, Granville County. Nancy and several generations of her family, including her mother, Matilda, and seven brothers & sisters - Alexander, John, Polly, Ellen, Thomas, and 2 names which are not clearly transcribed, M. H. Freedr? and Car Pleconer - are among the slaves who were listed in the Richard Sneed family bible, which had been passed down from his mother, Mary Williams-Sneed (1761-1826), who had received it from her father's estate in 1776. Read more about the SNEEDS. Robert and Nannie's children were Clarence Edgar Williams (1912-1979), Robert Leslie Williams (1913-1982; mar: Vera Eva Harris, daughter of Charles Buck Harris & Tempie Caudle Jr.), Gertrude Williams (1915-1916), Willie Royster Williams (1917-1987; 1st mar: Mollie Esther Fogg, daughter of William Fogg & Elizabeth Henderson; 2nd: Litishia Cussandra Lee, daughter of William Adolphus Lee & Mary Frances Cunningham; 3rd: Elizabeth Francis), Walter Hubbard Williams (1918-1919), Charlie Williams (1919-1919), Samuel Williams (1919-1919), Julia Myre Williams (1923-2007; 1st mar: Walter L. Williams; 2nd: Odell Boone), John Thomas Williams (1925-1988; mar: Cora Lee Harris, daughter of James Oscar Harris & Ida Williams), Francis Marion Williams (1927-2005; 1st mar: Betty M. Davis, daughter of Walter S. Davis & Mary Ellen Rodgers; 2nd mar: Hazel Lee Davis, daughter of Ezekiel Davis & Mary Fleming), Alonzo Eugene Williams (1929-2008, mar: Vernice McKoy, daughter of Nathaniel McKoy & Lillie R. Barney), Nathaniel Cleopha Williams (1931-2003, 1st mar: Florence Hodges; 2nd mar: Juanita Perry; 3rd mar: Jennie Vie Hughey), Samuel Snead Williams (1932-2016, mar: Levonia Ruth Streeter). One Living child remains.

4] Eddie Hubbard Williams, was born Feb. 21, 1890, he married on Dec. 30, 1913 in Warren County to Lucy Williams, b. June 17, 1892, the daughter of Allen Williams & Winnie B. Kearney. Thanks to DNA, I found a great grandson of Eddie & Lucy, whose info helped me fill in some of the holes about them since they had left North Carolina a few years after their marriage, and the family had lost touch with them many years ago. Eddie moved his family to Philadelphia around 1919, with their daughter, Anna, who was 2 years old at the time; she died of tuberculosis in 1938 at the age of 21. Their son, Ellis Edward Williams, was born on March 8, 1919 in Philadelphia, where he married Christine Bridges, who died in 2018. Ellis served in the military during World War II, and died May 24, 1961; he is buried in Glendale Cemetery in Bloomfield, NJ. He and Christine had one child together; he also had another two children born later to a different woman after separating from Christine.

5] Lula Bell Williams, was born Sept. 21, 1894, but died at age 18, on July 4, 1913. No record of her cause of death.

6] Frank Williams, was born Oct. 3, 1897, and died of tuberculosis at the age of 18, on June 10, 1916. Both Lula Bell and Frank, are buried in Shocco Chapel Cemetery in Inez, Warren County, as are many members of our WILLIAMS family and remains our family church to this day.

In 1901, Hubbard Williams died, and on December 1, 1901, his widow, Judy, married her former childhood sweetheart, Pilate Green (1846-1925), who was also now widowed. Pilate and Judy got to live together for 23 years, until Judy died on July 17, 1924, and he died a little over a year later on September 28, 1925, and both are buried in Shocco Chapel Cemetery.

A note: There was another Hubbard Williams, b. 1820, died January 6, 1904, who lived in Warren County at the the same time as my Hubbard, and were sometimes confused with one another by researchers. Hubbard, b. 1820, was married to Jane Hawkins, b.1822, and was always listed with his name spelled correctly, although his age was listed as 1823 or 1829 in the census. Hubbard & Jane had 8 children, 1 of which used the Hawkins surname, but Jane was her mother. The children were Leathy Hawkins, the rest were surnamed WILLIAMS: Laura, Mariah, Douglas, Charlotte, Hubbard, Martha & William Williams. This Hubbard, B.1820, however, had a short obituary written about him, which gave his birth and death dates, where he was buried in Coley Springs Baptist Church Cemetery, as did many in his family were. So, please try not to confuse these HUBBARD WILLIAMS families.

Next, start reading about Hubbard's sister, Delia Williams, from the Next tab below.