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James Arwain Williams, Company B
James Arwain Williams was born October 16, 1825, in Grainger Co., Tennessee to John and Elizabeth Arwine Williams. On June 18, 1846 he married Martha Mahala ˇ§Moholyˇ¨ Dotson in Grainger County. He was twenty years of age and she was fifteen at the time of their marriage. In the 1850 Grainger County, Tennessee census, James and Martha are listed with a daughter, Narcissa, a son Samuel and a probable relative of Martha, Joel Dodson. They lived next to Alfred Wolfenbarger and Abner Dodson. In 1857, according to an Old Plat Book of Dallas County, Missouri they were neighbors to Abner Dotson as well. I think that this Abner Dotson was probably Martha's father. Martha Dotson Williams who was born on November 03, 1831 passed away on June 04, 1875 at the age of 43.
James and Martha were the parents of 11 children, 7 of whom were born before the Civil War. About 1856, James and his family moved to Missouri along with some of the Dotsons and Acuffs from Grainger Co. They were all farmers. They settled in the area between Tunas and Urbana, Missouri in Dallas County in the area where the tornado struck the timber so badly in the storm of May 2003, quite near to the present Bartlett cemetery. I think that his Post Office was at Lead Mine.
In searching the Buffalo newspapers on microfilm I found the following article in the Buffalo Reflex, January 24, 1873 issue.
On Thursday the 16th instant, James Williams house, some five miles east of Urbana, was destroyed by fire. It originated in the kitchen while the family were in an adjoining building, and before it was discovered had reached a can of lard from which it spread so rapidly that all efforts to extinguish it were without avail, and both houses were consumed.
James A. Williams is described as being 6 feet 1 inch, with a dark complexion, black hair, and gray or blue eyes. In 1880 he weighed 165 pounds and in 1882 he weighed 171 pounds, so he was obviously a tall thin man and his eyes were probably a steely grey-blue.
According to the affidavit of Dr. A. E. Conn of Louisburg, Dallas Co., Mo., he knew James for several years prior to the war. Dr. Conn states he was in a company of Home Guards in the summer and fall of 1861 with James under Col. J. W. McClung and Lt. Claybourn McPheeters.
James A. Williams enlisted in Co. B. 14th Regiment Missouri State Militia Calvary Volunteers [known at mustering in as Co B. Battalion of Mountain Rangers, Missouri Militia] on March 15, 1862 and was discharged on July 7, 1862. According to his pension application for an invalid pension on or about June 7, 1862 he was ruptured on the right side by lifting and overstraining as a teamster while lifting and ˇ§hallingˇ¨ wheat for the government while stationed at Ozark, MO. He tried for many years to obtain an invalid pension. His first application was dated 4 February 1879. There are many depositions in his pension file from neighbors, friends, old army comrades testifying to their belief that he received his injury in the service of the U. S. government and deserved a pension. His old captain F. L. Withaup sent in at least six affidavits over the course of the years. Finally in 1890 the government granted him a pension of $12 a month for a right inguinal hernia and senility.
Some of his comrades in Company B, 14th Regiment, Missouri State Militia Calvary Volunteers were
Wm. Hendrex, M. F. Bartlett, Robert Harell, Jonathan W. Morrison, and Drury M Gammon. We know this because they all submitted affidavits for James A. Williams in his quest to obtain a pension from the government.
Others were: People who lived in his neighborhood and were willing to send in affidavits for him were:
William Ethridge who knew James for 5 years prior to war and from 1860 lived about 2 miles from him.
James R. Acuff of Wood Hill, Dallas Co., MO knew James A. Williams for 30 years (in 1882) and lived within six miles of him and worked with him harvesting in 1855 and 1856.
Martin P. Bartlett knew James A. Williams from 1858 or 59 and lived within a quarter of mile of him.
Dr A. E. Conn of Louisburg, Dallas Co., MO was family physician of James A. Williams for several years prior to war
Samuel W. Dotson knew James A. Williams since he can remember and lived neighbor to him. I think that Samuel W. Dotson was Martha's brother or nephew.
William Boles knew James A. Williams since 1860 and lived near him
What I think is really interesting is that there were two affidavits from folks in Grainger County, Tennessee.
General Affidavit dated 16 February 1884: 1st Affidavit: 2nd Affidavit: The Beelers are probably cousins of James A. Williams and D. B. Williams is his brother, David Beeler Williams, I think, and Joel Dotson is probably the one who was living with James and Martha in the 1850 census. After the death of Martha, James remarried again to Elizabeth Cotter and they divorced on 13 April 1878 in the county of Dallas, MO. I have no other information about the Cotter woman other than the fact that they married between June 04, 1875 and April 13, 1878. So the marriage did not last long at all. He remarried again August 18, 1878 at his home near Tunas, Missouri to the widow of another Civil War Veteran. Her name was Mary A. Adams Ferrell. Her first husband had died in 1877. She came to James A. Williams with four young children and they had a child together, Lillie, born in 1879. James A. Williams died November 22, 1900. There is a physician's affidavit from Dr. E.P. Vaughn of Urbana, MO, dated 16 April 1901. In which the doctor said that he treated said soldier from November the 4th to November 22, which was the date of his death. The cause of his death was pneumonia fever. James and Martha are buried in the New Hope Cemetery at Louisburg, Missouri. |
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