Time Line                                                                                                       ALW3 6/08

 

A Short History of Timothy C. Williams 1858-1943          by Hubert H. Williams

 

1772    Spencer Davis is born in Virginia. Spencer is Timothy's maternal adoptive grandfather.

 

1774    Obediah Williams is born. He is Timothy Williams's paternal great grandfather.

 

1790    Nancy ? is born in Virginia. She later marries Spencer Davis. They take in many orphans. Nancy "Grandma" Davis is known for weaving & spinning of cloth. She is Timothy's maternal adoptive grandmother.

 

1793    Anna Wilson is born. She is Timothy's paternal grandmother.

 

1795    Eliphalet Williams is born. He is Timothy's grandfather.

 

1817    Eliphalet Williams marries Anna Wilson.

 

1818    Cane Creek Baptist Church is established

 

1823    John C. Harris is born. He is Timothy's father in law by Cora.

 

1825    Benjamin J. Harris is born. He is Timothy's father in law by Nan. The town of Harrisburg (now Malesus) was probably named after his family.

 

1828    William J. Haire is born. He is Timothy's mother's 3rd husband & Timothy's second stepfather.

 

1830    William Andrew Jackson Williams is born in Scott Hill, Tennessee. 'Bill Jack' is the youngest of 8 children of Eliphalet & Anna Williams. Bill Jack was a farmer & carpenter. He is Timothy's father.

 

1833    Betty Elizabeth Nowell is born. Betty is Timothy's mother in law by Nan.

 

1837    Mary Ann Temple is born. She is an orphan raised by Spencer & Nancy Davis. Mary is Timothy's mother.

 

1837    Obediah Williams dies. He is Timothy's paternal great grandfather.

 

1843    Rebecca Catherine Day is born. She is Timothy's mother in law by Cora, his first wife.

 

1846    Eliphalet Williams dies. He is Timothy's paternal grandfather.

 

1848    Bill Jack Williams marries Mary Ann Temple. She becomes an excellent seamstress. Bill Jack & Mary are Timothy's parents.

 

1849    James T. Scott is born. He is Timothy's brother in law by Sadie.

 

1853    Anna L. S. Williams is born. "Sadie" is Timothy's oldest sister and later wife of James T. Scott.

 

1856    Nancy R. Williams is born. She is Timothy's sister.

 

5/8/58  Timothy Cornelius Williams is born in Henderson County, Tenneessee. He is the son of Bill Jack & Mary Williams

 

1859    Losada Williams (Bill Jack's twin sister) dies

 

?          Benjamin Harris marries his second wife, Betty Elizabeth Nowell. They are Timothy's in laws by Nan, his second wife.

 

1860    Bill Jack Williams family lives in the home of Grandma Davis

 

1860    Nancy Jane Harris is born. She is the oldest girl of 8 children of Benjamin & Betty Harris. She finishes the sixth grade in school. Nan is Timothy's second wife.

 

1861    Civil War

 

1862    While preparing to enlist in the Confederate Army of Tennessee, Bill Jack was ordered by Union soldiers to build coffins for slain officers

 

1863    Bill Jack Williams dies of pneumonia at 33 years old. Timothy is 4 year old and moves with his mother and sisters into Grandma Davis' home for the next 10 years.

 

?          John Harris marries his second wife, Rebecca Day.

 

1864    Mary T Williams marries John Williams (no relation to Bill Jack?) after her husband & Timothy's father Bill Jack dies in 1863.

 

1864    Cora Bell Harris is born. She is the daughter of John & Rebecca Harris. Cora is very beautiful and is Timothy's first wife.

 

1866    William J. Williams is born. He is the son of Mary & John Williams. He is Timothy's step brother.

 

1867    John Williams dies. He is timothy's first stepfather.

 

1869    Anna Williams dies. She is Timothy's paternal grandmother.

 

1870    Mary Williams family still living w/ Grandma Davis. James L. Scott is operating her farm. Timothy is 12 & the largest boy in the Rocky Hill community of Henderson County. He is paid 5 cents a day to drive a team of oxen to plow fields.

 

1873    Timothy, age 15, moves in with his sister Sadie & her husband James T. Scott in the Oak Grove community near Milan, Tennessee in Gibson County

 

1874    Timothy goes to work with the railroad building train track bed in west Tennessee and southern Mississippi. Later he found out that Jesse & Frank James were on the crew hiding out from the law.

 

1876    Rebecca Harris dies. Cora is 12 years old & the oldest of Rebecca's 6 children. Rebecca is Timothy's mother in law.

 

1882    Benjamin Harris dies. He is the father of Nan who is later Timothy's second wife.

 

1885    Timothy cuts wood in Harrisburg (now called Malesus) for the  wood burning engines in trains.

 

1885    Timothy Williams marries Cora Bell Harris. Cora is very beautiful. They moved to the Smith sisters farm on Clovesport Jackson Rd (now called Steam Mill Ferry Rd) which had a cotton gin. The average price of cotton is 7.6 cents per pound.

 

1885    Betty Harris dies. She is the mother of Nan who is later Timothy's second wife.

 

1887    John Harris dies. He is Timothy's father-in-law by Cora.

 

1887    Anna G Williams is born. She is the daughter of Timothy & Cora Williams.

 

1888    Anna Williams dies @ 1 year old.

 

1888    Sadie Williams Scott dies @ 35. She is Timothy's sister.

 

1889    Etna Bell Williams is born. She is the daughter of Timothy & Cora Williams.

 

1890    Nan and her youngest brother Hardy move in with her sister Maggie & Asa Powell for 4 years .

 

1891    Florence Lee Williams is born. She is the daughter of Timothy & Cora Williams.

 

?          Cora sister, Alice Etta Harris, her husband Jacob David Hill & their 2 daughters Vestha & Gladys come to visit with Timothy, Cora and Nan every year.

 

1893    Timothy works in the Jackson Steam Dyeing & Cleaning Works with his mother and step father William Haire until he became sick. Timothy is told by the doctor to return to the farm.

 

1893    William Haire, Nan's third husband dies & she sells the business.

 

1894    Cora Williams dies during complications @ child birth @ 30 years old. She is Timothy's first wife. (assume child dies also). The average cotton price is 4.6 cents per pound.

 

1894?  Timothy's sister Nancy R (Nanny) Williams Scott, her husband Winfield Scott & their 4 children, Emma, John, Charlie & Roma Lee Sr. come to live w/ Timothy for several months.

 

1894    Timothy Williams marries Nancy Harris. Miss Nan is Cora's first cousin. She is 6 feet tall and strong. She helped organize the WMU @ Cane Creek Baptist Church. She taught Timothy to read & write using the Bible.

 

1894    Timothy is a sharecropper on the Smith sisters' farm for 14 years. He operates a one mule cotton gin. The average cotton price is 9.2 cents per pound. Hubert now owns a part of this farm.

 

1894    Timothy helps build the Anderson Presbyterian Church.

 

1895    Claribel Robinson is born. She is Timothy's daughter in law by Roy.

 

?          On 2 occasions Nan's youngest brother Hardy Harris comes to live w/ Timothy & Nan for 4 or 5 years.

 

1896    Eva Odell Williams is born. She is daughter to Timothy & Nan Williams.

 

1898    Andrew Leroy Williams is born. Roy is the son of Timothy & Nan Williams.

 

1900    Timothy purchases 163 acres from W. L. Black. It had 2 log houses each having 2 rooms. It had a spring of flowing water. He pays off his land in 6 years by raising and selling mules.

 

1900    The Jackson Fibre Company builds a factory (Bemis Bag Company) model town 3 miles from Timothy's farm

 

1901    Timothy builds a 2 story 3 room house on his property on Old Bolivar Highway (now riverside Drive extended).

 

1901    Mary Lou Williams is born. Mildred is the daughter of Timothy & Nan Williams.

 

1905    Nan's uncle Tom Nowell comes to live w/ Timothy & Nan for 3 years.

 

1905    Nan's brother Hardy Harris helps Timothy build an addition to their 2 room plank house & a large barn.

 

1907?  After her younger sister Mary Lou Shelton dies, Nan cares for her 3 children, Thomas Earl 14, Hugh 11 & Clyde 8. Timothy & Nan support Thomas Earl in his school work to become a Methodist minister.

 

1908    Florence Williams marries Arthur Gradie Bowman. He dies 2 years later of the mumps at age 19.

 

1909    Cotton prices are 10-12 cents per pound.

 

1914    The Cane Creek Baptist Church floods.

 

1914    Timothy age 56 has a hernia trying to lift a hog into a wagon.

 

1915    Timothy enters the hospital & told not to farm for 15 months. His daughter Eva, age 18, drops out of school and takes over his milking chores and milk route in Bemis.

 

1916    Mary Ann Temple Williams Williams Haire dies. She is Timothy's mother.

 

1917    World War I. The cotton prices are 27 cents per pound.

 

1920    Roy Williams marries Claribel Robinson.

 

1921    Timothy builds a 3 room house with a porch on his property for his daughter Eva and husband Ben Hundley.

 

1922    Madison Baptist Church is built. Charter members: Timothy, Nan, Mildred & Roy Williams and Eva & Ben Hundley. The debt is paid off in the same year.

 

1927    Nan's sister Maggie Powell is widowed & comes to live w/ Timothy & Nan w/ her children Gertrude & Bess. Bess later was a Baptist missionary & counseled Timothy's granddaughter Clara Lynn Williams.

 

1928    James Scott dies. He is Timothy's brother-in-law by Sadie.

 

1929?  Timothy's grandson, Grady Bowman (Florence's son) comes to live with Timothy for 6 months.

 

1930    Modern fertilizer of phosphate, potash and ammonia are available to the average dirt farmer. Average cotton prices are 5.7 cents per pound.

 

1932?  Timothy's grandson Herman Fleming Jr. (Florence's son) comes to live w/ Timothy.

 

1933    Federal program puts planting controls to stabilize cotton prices.

 

1933    Timothy's daughter Mildred & her husband George Harlan Hughes & their children Betty Jane & Peggy June come to live with Timothy for 3 years.

 

1935    Nan Williams dies of a stroke. She is Timothy's second wife.

 

1936    Roy Williams' family (Claribel, Leroy, Hubert and David) moves in with Timothy and Roy runs a milk route in Jackson.

 

1938    Timothy's 80th birthday and family reunion and barbeque. 110 people attended.

 

1940    Timothy's son Roy gets a job in Jackson at a produce company. The average laborer makes $10-12 per week and only a few jobs are available. Timothy sells 15 acres of his red oak timber to a sawmill for $800.

 

1940    Timothy's daughter in law Claribel Williams (by Roy) inherits the 90 acre Charlie Hoggett farm on Boone lane from her father Orrin Eaton Robinson. Her sister Rebecca Robinson comes to live with Timothy for several months.

 

1941    This a cold winter with temperatures 16 degrees below zero. There is a 3 inch snow on Easter. Timothy is house bound for more than 6 weeks.    

 

1942    Timothy's grandson Leroy is drafted into World War II.

 

1942    Timothy and his grandsons Hubert & David plant 50 fruit trees and 2000 strawberry plants on Roy's farm. Claribel purchases a model C Allis Chambers tractor with a plow and disc harrow and metal wheels. A farm laborer is paid $2 per day for plowing 7-8 hours.

 

1943    Hubert is drafted and is wounded in action at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. He recuperates in a Memphis hospital from 10/43-3/46,

 

1943    Timothy Williams is confined to his bed in his daughter Mildred Hughes' house and dies after a 6 months illness.

 

1943    Nanny Scott dies. She is Timothy's sister

 

1944    David volunteers to serve in the Air Force in World War II. He is an airplane mechanic and photographer of North Africa and the Middle East.

 

1979    Mildred Hughes dies. She is Timothy's daughter.

 

1980    Etna Bentley dies. She is Timothy's daughter.

 

1981    Roy Williams dies. He is Timothy's son.       

 

1983    Eva Hundley dies. She is Timothy's daughter.

 

1984    Florence Bowman dies. She is Timothy's daughter.

 

END