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Descendants of John Williams

43. KEZIAH A. (KITTY)⁸ WILLIAMS (JAMES⁷, JOHN⁶, WILLIAM WALTER⁵, WILLIAM⁴, STEVEN³, WILLIAM², JOHN¹) was born 1833 in Mississippi, and died Bef. 1910 in Oklahoma. She married (1) JOSEPH HENRY THOMPSON January 14, 1850 in Hinds Co., Mississippi, Book 3, page 101. He was born April 17, 1821 in Tennessee, and died January 27, 1905 in Scott Co., MS. She married (2) MARTIN VAN BUREN ABERNATHY Abt. 1868. He was born December 23, 1836, and died November 05, 1913 in Guthrie, OK.

Notes for KEZIAH A. (KITTY) WILLIAMS:
Kitty has been somewhat of a mystery to our family. Our Thompson ancestors knew her as Catherine Williams. About all that we knew was that she was born ca 1833 in Mississippi and soon after the birth of her last Thompson child, Bedford Forrest, she fell in love with Martin Van Buren Abernathy and ran away with him to Texas then Oklahoma taking all of her Thompson children except the oldest, Joseph Buford. She later married Martin Van Buren Abernathy and had Abernathy children. When we visited with Bedford Forrest's descendants in Houston in 2000, we found out that they called her Becky! When we visited with the Abernathy descendants we found out that they called her Kitty! At least one of us was right.

Notes for JOSEPH HENRY THOMPSON:
Joseph Henry Thompson first married Elizabeth Luellen (Ellen) Lee, daughter of Sherod and Rachel Carnes Lee in Hinds Co. 11/4/1847. In 1848, Ellen died in childbirth leaving one son, Charles N. Thompson, who died in 1849. According to Charlie Brenner, descendant of Sarah Eleanor Williams and Sherard Lee, Jr., Joe Henry and Elizabeth Luellen lived in Washington Co., Texas for a short time, where she died. Ellen and Charles N. are presumed to be buried in Hinds Co., whereabouts unknown until further info regarding Texas is found. Joe Henry inherited this son’s share of the Sherod Lee estate. Buying out the other Lee children, he acquired the 400 acre plantation, believed to have been at Edwards. On 1/14/1850 in Hinds Co., he married Keziah A. (Kitty) Williams, daughter of James and Lucinda Williams and granddaughter of John and Fanny Williams.

1850 Hinds Co. Census Records show:
#660 Joseph H. Thompson age 30? m Planter $400 Real Estate born TN
Keziah Thompson age 17 f born MS
#661 Lucinda Williams age 48 f born SC
Henry Williams age 14 m                  born MS
Sarah age 12 f born MS
Hinds age 10 m born MS
James age 8 m born MS
Harriett age 3 f born MS

He and Kitty sold the Lee Plantation in 1858 to R.O. Edwards, founder of the town of Edwards and the King Edward Hotel in Jackson, and acquired the 240 acre plantation in Raymond that had belonged to Kitty’s father.

1860 Hinds Co. Census Records show:
#818 J.H. Thompson age 39 m Farmer $4000 Real Estate $8040 Pers. Prop. born TN
C. age 27 f born MS
J.B. age 9 m                         born MS
J.W. age 7      m                              born MS
F.G. age 5      m                              born MS
W.S. age 3      m                              born MS
F.            age 1 f                              born MS
H. Williams age 20 m                              born MS
T. Williams age 23 f born MS
SA Ellison age 43 f       $8000 Real Estate $6000 Pers. Prop. born TN
JW Bolls age 26 m $4000 Pers. Prop. born MS
Ann Ellison age 23 f                               born MS
Thos. Ellison age 21 m                               born MS

During the Civil War, Joe Henry served in Ham’s Regiment, CSA Calvary. While he was away from home, the Yankees took over their house on Battle Hill Plantation at Raymond, and made it into a hospital for their wounded men. Kitty and the children got away, but later went back to find their place torn up. The soldiers had torn up the feather beds to use for bandages, and feathers were scattered all over the yard. After the war, they sold the plantation to her mother.

Later, Kitty divorced Joe Henry and left for Texas where she married Martin Van Buren Abernathy. She took all of the Thompson children except the oldest, Joe Buford.The children that went to Texas were: James W. (1853); Felix G. (1855); Belle; Lou; and Bedford Forrest (8/1/1866-7/2/1953). Wiley S. (1857) died young. In Texas, the Abernathys had Annie, John R. and Van. Two others, Frank and Martha, died young.

Meanwhile, Joe Henry and Joe Buford moved to Scott Co. 1870 to live with Hiram and Kessiah.
After marrying FannieMeasels, Joe Buford moved his father and family to land acquired from the Measels family by the old railroad "dummy line" in Leesburg. Our family still resides here today.

According to the Harrell file at the MS Dept. of Archives and History, "Thomas Jefferson Measells (married to Eliza, Kessy's sister) originally owned the land that is now the old Joe Thompson place and the Thompsons owned a place west near Rankin/Scott line. Tom and Joe Buford swapped land and the Measells still own the land in Line Prairie." This file also states that "there are two children and one other buried on the Old Thompson Homeplace (Catherine Thompson Shoemaker Place) under a great oak tree. The tree has since been cut but the graves are still evident." (Although several family members remember these graves, we have been unable to locate them.)

The Thompson family has been an integral part of the Leesburg community in Scott County since the 1860’s. In 1881 the founding fathers of the Leesburg Baptist Church included Hiram and Kessiah Thompson, Thomas Jefferson and Eliza Measels, and Jim and E.C. Measels Williams. Members of this family continue to be leaders in their community, serving as businessmen, ministers, teachers, attorneys and elected officials in Scott and surrounding counties.

Land records from the Hinds Co. Courthouse in Raymond, Mississippi are as follows:

11/27/1852 - George W. McDuffie (estate records show that he is kin to the Lees) as a commissioner appointed by the Probate Court of Hinds Count;y, Mississippi sells to Joseph H. Thompson of the county of Hinds the SW1/4, S13, SE1/4, S14, N1/2, NE1/4, S23, T5, R3W, all in the county of Hinds, Mississippi signed by G.W. McDuffie, Commissioner. This is the Sherod Lee Estate - land Joseph Henry jointly inherited through his first wife, Ellen Lee. Land was auctioned off and money was divided between Joe Henry and Ellen's 2 minor brothers (one, Samuel Coleman was said to be insane and living in Texas with relative, John Cabeen.)

1/18/1858 - Joseph H. Thompson and Kisiah A. Thompson, his wife sell to R.O. Edwards 400 acres located in Hinds Co., Mississippi being the SW1/4 of S13, the SE1/4 of S14, and the N1/2, NE1/4, S23, T5, R4W signed by Joseph H. Thompson and Kizziah A. Thompson.

Joseph H. and Kitty obtain 240 acres of land between Raymond and Edwards known as Battle Hill Plantation - it has not been proven, but I believe this is Williams family land.

7/28/1859 - Leone Walton (who is Leone McRaven Walton, widow of John A. Walton) sells to Joseph Thompson 21 acres off of the south end of the SW1/4, S5, T5, R3W being all that portion of said land south of the Raymond to Vicksburg Road signed by Leone Walton. On same date, - Joseph Thompson sells to Sarah A. Ellison 40 acres in Hinds Co. being the N1/2,E1/2, NE1/4, S4, T5, R3W (Kitty did not sign on this transaction nor was her separate approval required as was customary when a couple owned land together.)

(NOTE: In 1860 Hinds Co. Census a S.A. Ellison and her children are living with Joe Henry and Kitty. In researching, I discovered that this was Sarah Ann Walton who married first, Westley Bolles then Henry H. Ellison. Further research shows her to be the daughter of Augustus G. Walton and Sallie Williams Walton daughter of Drury Williams of Georgia. These 2 land records executed on the same day with heirs of John A. Walton would lead you to believe that there may be a closer connection between the Williams, Waltons and Thompsons. The 40 acres that Joe sold to Leone was patented to John R. Smart. Further research is required to find how Joe obtained this land.)

8/1/1866 - Mrs. Kitty Thompson enters into a contract with JJ Garrard & Co. and CE Webb where she grants, bargains, sells and conveys unto these named 1/2 of the crop of cotton now planted and growing on the plantation in Hinds County, Mississippi know as BATTLE HILL PLANTATION. together with one half interest in stock, and farming implements in exchange for a loan of $150 for supplies furnished and advanced for said plantation along with other advances as needed not to exceed $300 to be used , laid out and expended in the cultivation of said crop of cotton. She makes these her factor for sale as soon as can be gotten ready for market and to pay them on such sales the rate of commission then customary in the city of New Orleans. In the event the sale does not generate enough funds to pay off funds advanced and commissions, they would be able to seize her crop of cotton and stock and farming implements to pay off and discharge all such sums as due. This contract is signed by Kitty Thompson and J.H. Thompson

12/5/1866 - Joseph H. Thompson and Kittie A. Thompson, his wife sell to Lucinda Williams 21 acres in SW corner of SW1/4, S5, T5, R3W and W1/2 of NE1/4 & NW1/4 of S8, T5, R3W totaling 260 acres. This deed is signed by J.H. Thompson and Kittie A. Thompson and witnessed by Joseph Gray (Clerk) and M.V. ABERNATHY.

FAMILY LORE:

The following infomation was passed down to us from Mary Alma Parker and other family members, but we have not been able to document and prove at this time:

According to information given to Alma Thompson, Joe Henry came to Mississippi from Missouri. He owned land where St. Louis is now located, traded it as a young man for a shotgun and came to Mississippi. His brother, Hiram (H.A.S.) already lived in Central Mississippi. Alma was told that Joe Henry and Catherine (Kitty) owned a plantation with slaves at Coldwater, MS. (We found this plantation to be at Raymond, not Coldwater. But Civil War Records at the MS Dept. of Archives and history show that J. H. Thompson enlisted in the CSA Calvary, Ham's Regiment at Richmond, in Pontotoc Co. This regiment was mustered out of Yalabusha County, MS so he possible did own land in both places. Also, there is a Joseph Thompson who received a U.S. Patent in 1847 for land in Yalobusha Co.)
Also according to Alma, after the war, Joe Henry and Catherine separated. He walked to central MS with Joe Buford, (age 12) to ask Hiram to take him in with his children. His son, Jim, always held it against his Dad for making him go back home, thinking he was too young for the trip. While they were gone, Catherine took the other children to Texas in an oxen-drawn covered wagon. An Abernathy boy who worked for them went with them. Joe Henry didn't know for several years where they were until someone saw them in Texas. Joe Henry and Joe Buford stayed on with Hiram and Kessiah. His children from Texas later on came back to visit him. Some of this information was given to Alma Thompson by Jim Thompson when he visited from Texas.

The descendants of Bedford Forrest Thompson, (Joe Henry and Kitty's youngest son) were told that Martin Van Buren Abernathy was a traveling salesman who came through Morton, Mississippi where Joe Henry and Catherine lived after the Civil War and that she left with the children while Joe Henry and Joe Buford were working in the fields. They moved several times to keep from being caught by Joe Henry, first to a small town near New Orleans. After leaving Louisiana, they moved to a ranch near Clifton, Texas where the children were born. Later they moved near Hillsboro, TX then Tipton, OK to a community called Crossroads.

The descendants of Kitty's Abernathy children were told that Martin Van Buren Abernathy was wounded and captured during the Civil War in Mississippi and escaped from the prison camp nearby the Thompson plantation where he met Kitty. (This version makes the most sense as their plantation was found to have been in Raymond, Hinds Co., MS where the Yankees did come through. Also, when the plantation in Raymond was sold back to Kitty's mother, Lucinda Williams, in 12/5/1866, M.V. Abernathy witnessed the deed.)

According to letter from Uncle Felix C. Thompson, 1-19-1920, Joseph Henry was raised and brought to Mississippi by Obediah Pearson, brother to Lucinda Pearson Williams.

On file in the office of the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army in Series I, Vol. XXIV, Official Record Atlas Map, Map of the Battlefield of Champion HIll, http://www.civilwaralbum.com/vicksburg/ch_map7.htm

This map shows the location of Union and REbel forces during the battle and the surrounding landside, including neighbors. J.H. Thompson is shown next door to Sarah Ann Ellison.

Notes for MARTIN VAN BUREN ABERNATHY:
1880 Fannin Co. Texas Census District 28

p. 467
M.V. Abernalty w m 46             farmer
K. w f 44 wife             keep house
J.W. w m 22 son            at school
F.C. w m 21 son             at school
W.S. w m 19 son            at school
B.F.      w m 15 son at school
E.L.       w f 17 daughter       at school
M.A. w f 12 daughter
Van      w m 9 son
John      w m 6 son

Children of KEZIAH WILLIAMS and JOSEPH THOMPSON are:

58.	i.	JOE BUFORD⁹ THOMPSON, SR., b. January 05, 1851, MS; d. November 29, 1935, Scott Co., MS.
	ii.	FELIX C. THOMPSON, b. Abt. 1853.
	iii.	JAMES W. (JIM) THOMPSON, b. Abt. 1855.
	iv.	WILEY S. THOMPSON, b. Abt. 1857.
59.	v.	BELLE THOMPSON, b. Abt. 1859.
60.	vi.	EMMA LOU THOMPSON, b. Abt. 1863.
	vii.	BEDFORD FORREST THOMPSON, b. August 01, 1866.

Children of KEZIAH WILLIAMS and MARTIN ABERNATHY are:

	viii.		M. ANNIE⁹ ABERNATHY, b. Abt. 1868.
	ix.		VAN ABERNATHY, b. Abt. 1871.
	x.		JOHN ABERNATHY, b. Abt. 1874.
	xi.		FRANK ABERNATHY, d. died in infancy.
	xii.		MARTHA ABERNATHY, d. died in infancy.

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