Benjamin WILLIAMS Benjamin Frankln WILLIAMS Bernice Edward WILLIAMS Huldah Irene NICHOLSON Josephine VAN TASSELL Mini tree diagram
Harvey J WILLIAMS

Harvey J WILLIAMS1,2,4,5,6,3,7

Apr 18761,2,3,4,5,6,7 - UNKNOWN

Life History

Apr 1876

Born in Michigan.1,2,3,4,5,6,7

1880

Resident in Benona, Oceana, Michigan.6

5th Aug 1903

Birth of son Benjamin Frankln WILLIAMS in Arkansas County, Arkansas.1,4,5,8

12th Aug 1903

Married Huldah Irene NICHOLSON in Arkansas County, Arkansas.7

23rd Nov 1907

Birth of daughter Bernice Edward WILLIAMS.11,1,5,4,12,13,9

between 1910 and 1930

Residence2 in Prairie Township, Arkansas, Arkansas.1,4,5

16th Apr 1956

Death of son Benjamin Frankln WILLIAMS.8

8th Feb 2002

Death of daughter Bernice Edward WILLIAMS in Memphis, Shelby, Tennessee.3,9,10,11

UNKNOWN

Death of Huldah Irene NICHOLSON

UNKNOWN

Died

Notes

  • I got Harvey J Williams' name from his grandson Roger Louis McSwain, so on Louis Wirt McSwain and Bernice E Williams.  Roger reported that his mother "didn't know much about her father and his family history, since he came to Arkansas from Michigan."  By this time (November 2007) Ancestry.com had been putting databases online on a daily basis.  It was a good time to go on a family history treasure hunt. The location in Michigan was a useful clue.

    Some census entries quickly told me a good bit of information about Harvey Williams and his family background.  In 1880 he living with his mother in her parents' home in Benona, Oceana County, Michigan.

    1880 Federal Census, Oceana County, Michigan (2005), 17 June, Benona, District 209, page 26, Hse #170, Fam #173
    Van Tassell. Julian A  W M 55  Farmer  NY Germany NY
    Van Tassell. Mary A  W F 39  Daughter  Keeping House Canada Ireland Ireland
    Van Tassell. Sarah A  W F 13  Daughter  At School Mich NY Canada
    Van Tassell. Jason D  W F 7  Son  At School Mich NY Canada
    Van Tassell. Frank O  W F 4  Son  At School Mich NY Canada
    Van Tassell. James  W F 1  Son  At School Mich NY Canada
    Cumming, Josephine W F 25 Daughter Married [but no husband in the household] At Home  Mich NY Canada
    Williams, Harvey J  W M 4 Grandson  At Home  Mich Wis Mich [b abt 1876]

    First of all this tells us his mother's maiden name was Van Tassell  The birth places of individuals in this family and their parents indicates that the Van Tassell family immigrated in to the US from Germany.  It appears they settled in New York, where Julian's father married a woman born in New York.  Julian was born in New York.

    Julian's wife, Harvey's grandmother, was born in Canada.  From this we cannot tell exactly where they got married.  It is likely they moved to the Midwest and met in Michigan.  Mary's Irish parents came to Canada, where Mary was born.  At some time they moved on into US territory.  I expect they continued moving west as so many did.  But since he Julian is a farmer, Julian's family could have lived in upstate New York, near Ontario or Quebec, instead of staying somewhere in the New York City area.

    From the ages, it looks like Mary was only about 14 when Josephine is born.  This is young, but we find this age of marriage and birth fairly common in that era.  The birth place of Josephine's mother in Canada matches the birthplace of Mary herself in Canada, so it looks right.  An Irish pioneer family, moved to Canada, probably settling in Toronto somewhere for a few years, where Mary was born, then moving a bit further west, and down on Lake Michigan, where they met the Van Tassell family, who had come there from New York.

    One puzzle is Josephine's last name.  She has a different name here from her maiden name or the name of her son.  This would make it appears that she has already been widowed and remarried and widowed a second item, by the age of 25.  I've seen that in other families moving west.  That is the simplest scenario with the few details we have at this stage.

    The birthplace of Harvey's father is reported here as Wisconsin.  This is the same as in the 1930 census.  However, in between we have reports of his birth on the Ocean (Pacific, no less) and Michigan.

    We are missing some years to fill in the story of the move to Arkansas.  Perhaps Harvey moved to Arkansas by himself.  In January 2008, I found the 1900 census reporting him as a 24-year-old single man boarding in the home of Elizabeth Nicholson Price.  He later married a Nicholson girl, Huldah, a daughter of Elizabeth's brother Frank.

    1900 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 5 June, District 7, page 11A, Hse #173, Fam #183
    Williams, Harvey  Boarder W M Apr 1876  24 Single  Mich Mich  Mich

    Arkansas, County Marriages Index, 1837-1957
    Huldah I Nicholson, Age 25 (b abt 1878), Residence Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas
    Harvey J Williams, Age 28 (b abt 1875), Residence Ethel, Arkansas, Arkansas
    Marriage 12 Aug 1903 Arkansas County
    Marriage License Date 11 Aug 1903

    By the 1910 census, Harvey and Huldah Irene have two children, living in Prairie Township of Arkansas County, Arkansas.

    1910 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 26 April, Prairie Township, District 13, page 5B, Hse/Fam #87
    Williams, Harvey  Head  M W 35  Married 6 years Mich Ocean (Pacific) Mich  Farmer
    Williams, Hulda  Wife  F W 32 Married 6 years AR AL AL
    Williams, Ben F  Son  M W 6 AR Mich AR
    Williams, Bernice  Dau F W 2 AR Mich AR

    Note that here Harvey's father is reported as being born at sea.  The 1880 census gave Wisconsin as the place of birth.  This makes it appear that Harvey's father was born on immigration trip to the US.  But the odd thing is that the enumerator clearly wrote Pacific after the word Ocean.  Perhaps he was resident in a British eastern territory  (assuming the name Williams to be English or Irish), or they were on the seas, but associated with British western American territories, like Columbia (which later became Washington.

    Why would a British family, who landed in New York and settled there, be coming across the Pacific Ocean?  If they were coming from the Far East, why didn't they disembark on the west coast, somewhere in California?  Perhaps Harvey's grandfather was engaged in some Pacific Rim business ventures for British interests.  But still why the settlement in New York?

    Did Harvey inadvertently get the wrong Ocean name, or maybe the enumerator distractedly wrote the wrong ocean name?  The name Pacific is added in smaller letters, carrying across to the next field of the census, as though it was an after-thought.

    The 1920 report changes again, when Harvey's father is reported as born in Michigan.  The birthplaces of Huldah's parents is wrong, too, showing them both born in Arkansas, when we know from other censuses and Nicholson family sources that they were both born in Alabama.

    1920 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 26 April, Prairie Township, District 13, page 4A, Hse/Fam #62
    Williams, Harvey  Head  M W 45  Mich Mich Mich  Rice Farmer
    Williams, Hulda  Wife  F W 42  AR AR AR
    Williams, Benjamin  Son  M W 16 AR Mich AR
    Williams, Bernice  Dau F W 12 AR Mich AR

    This census confirms that Ben's full name is Benjamin.  Note that Huldah's name is spelled without the H in both these censuses, while family sources spell it Huldah.  In the 1930 census it is spelled Huldah.

    1930 Federal Census, Arkansas County, Arkansas, 16 April, Prairie Township, District 7, page 5B, Hse #93, Fam #94
    Williams, Harvey J  Head  M W 55  First married at age 28  Mich Wis Mich  Farmer, General Farming
    Williams, Huldah  Wife  F W 52  First married at age 25  AR AL AL
    Williams, Benjamin F  Son  M W 26 Single AR Mich AR Farm Laborer
    Williams, Bernice E  Dau F W 22 Single  AR Mich AR Public School Teacher

    We saw that in 1920, Harvey's occupation was reported as Rice Farmer.  Now I note that in 1930, he is again reported as engaged in General Farming.  The birthplaces of Huldah's parents is correct again, reporting Alabama for both.

    This is the first census that has had Bernice's middle initial, E, which her son Roger McSwain tells us stands for Edward.  Bernice is teaching in a public school. The school or system is not mentioned, and the information on their residential location does not clarify what settlement they lived near.

    In 1920, they were in the northern portion of Prairie Township, which includes St Charles town, as far back as the 1870 census.  But they are enumerated on names listed as living on Ethel and Point Road.  This normally sounds like it is closer to Ethel than St Charles, but I am not certain.  Ethel is in the southern half of Prairie Township,  The boundary is a little south of St Charles.

Sources

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