Madness Monday - Henry King Williamson

Photo: Mary and Ewing Woolsey with children L-R Lillie Mae, Geneva, Albert (my grandfather) and Alton.

Mary was the daughter of Henry King Williamson and Helen F. Her full name was Mary Joann Williamson.

Mary is not my brick wall. My family knew her name, where and when she was born and died and of course who she married and who her children were. However, her parents are a slight mystery. I have bits and pieces of information and details that I suspect relate to them, but nothing conclusive. It's one of those cases where the census records tell me just enough to lead me on but not enough to make it fact or lead me to the facts.

With this one I am going to take you backward in time and walk you through the bits and pieces as I found of them.

The first piece of information I found was my grandfather, Albert Woolsey's, social security death record. On it lists his mother's maiden name as Williamson. Now I knew her first name was Mary. I even remember talking to my Grandma Olivia Woolsey (Albert's wife) about her as a child. I even meet her once that I can remember on a visit to Oklahoma as a child. She died in 1981 followed by the death of my grandfather.

So with this little bit of information gathered from family and a social security record I began looking for her in the census records. So I find Ewing and Mary in the 1930 census living where I expected in Brady, Garvin, Oklahoma where the family lived for generations. This gave me just a bit more to let me know that Mary was born about 1891 in KY and married Ewing about 1909. Great this means she should still be with her family in 1900. So I'll skip the rest of the Woolsey family that I know.

I jumped to looking for a Mary Williamson born about 1891 in KY living in OK in the 1900 census. Here she is as the daughter of Henry K Williamson and Helen F. But not in OK. She is still in KY at this time.

1900 United States Federal Census
about Mary Williamson

Name: Mary Williamson Home in 1900: Central City, Muhlenberg, Kentucky Age: 9 Birth Date: Sep 1890 Birthplace: Kentucky Race: White Ethnicity: American Gender: Female Relationship to head-of-house: Daughter Father's Name: Henry R Or K Father's Birthplace: Kentucky Mother's Name: Helen F Mother's Birthplace: Kentucky Marital Status: Single Residence : Central City Town, Muhlenberg, Kentucky Occupation: View on Image Neighbors: View others on page Household Members: Name Age Henry R Or K Williamson 34 Helen F Williamson 36 Browner Williamson 11 Mary Williamson 9 Lelie M Williamson 4 Burnett Williamson 2/12

View Original Record View original image

And look at that she had a sister named Lelie (probably spelled Lillie) M Williamson. I bet she named her daughter Lillie Mae after her sister. Okay now I'm on the right path. Now I know her father is Henry K Williamson born Apr 1866 in KY and mother is Helen F born Aug 1863 in KY. Now I must back up. I forgot that I did find the social security record for Mary Woolsey and her birth date is 1 Sept 1890 and death Jul 1981. This Mary is born Sept 1890. This has to be the right family. So I kept looking and I'll be, there I find Henry Williamson living next door to W.G Woolsey (another brick wall for another day and the father of Ewing) in 1910 in Bradley, Grady, OK. That's it. This has to be the right family. Here we go again with the Woolsey boys marring the girl next door. The same thing happened with my parents.

1910 United States Federal Census
about Mary Williamson

Name:	Mary Williamson
Age in 1910:	19
Estimated Birth Year:	abt 1891
Birthplace:	Kentucky
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Father's Name:	H K
Father's Birth Place:	Kentucky
Mother's Birth Place:	Kentucky
Home in 1910:	Bradley, Grady, Oklahoma
Marital Status:	Single
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age H K Williamson 45 B L Williamson 21 Mary Williamson 19 Lottie Williamson 14 Burnett Williamson 10 Henry Roy Williamson 7

Now this gives me just a few more details to Mary's family. Helen is not with them. I suspect that she has passed away by this time, though I still have no proof when she died. There is also another sibling to Mary, Henry Roy who is Seven. So this means that likely Helen is his mother as well and alive in 1903. So though I have no proof this gives me a time frame to look for the death of Helen F Williamson between 1903 and 1910 but I have no idea where she died. Henry Roy is listed in the census as being born in TX, they were in KY in 1900 and now in OK in 1910. So her death could have occured in any of these places, but most likely TX or OK. So there is my first brick wall that I still have not broken through.

But let's get back to Henry. I tried to find out when Henry died. I suspect since I can't find him in the 1920 or 1930 census that he must have died between 1910 and 1920 in OK, but again that's just a therory.

So I went further back in time to see if I can't find Henry's family, and I do find two census records that fit Henry. The first was 1880 in Clay, Logan County, KY. I find an H. R Williamson (the census was unreadable to me, so I suspect it should have been H. K. but they couldn't read it.) age 15 born in KY, father I. H. and mother Mary. He is a mail carrier. I bet that has a bit of a story to it considering it was the late 19th century. He was a farmer later in life. Then in 1870 I find the family in Davis, Lafayette County, MO. They are living in the home of Sarah Vanmetter. I don't know if she is any relation to them or not. This is 1870 where relationships where not recorded. It may be worth looking into this family as Mary Williamson is very close in age to the children of Sarah Vanmetter. But that's a search for another day. Again their oldest child is Henry K 4 years old which corrilates to the 1880 census.

This is where it all ends. I can't seem to find anything more.

Locations of the family:
Brady, Garvin, Oklahoma,
Central City, Muhlenberg, Kentucky,
Bradley, Grady, OK,
Clay, Logan County, KY,
Davis, Lafayette County, MO