‘Elder’ Daniel Williams

View Tree for Daniel WilliamsDaniel Williams (b. March 31, 1763, d. July 03, 1820)

Please read this review of records for what we can PROVE for Daniel and his parents and what can NOT be proven: https://www.bobbystuff.com/genealogy/197/edward-and-daniel-williams...

Daniel Williams (son of Edward Williams and Jemimah Anderson) was born March 31, 1763, and died July 03, 1820 in Floyd Co., KY214. He married Rebecca Violet Crouch on 1787 in Boonesboro, KY.

Includes NotesNotes for Daniel Williams: Known as "Elder" Daniel Williams. His birthplace has also been described as Lee Co., VA, and NC.

Ref- Earl L. Fyffe Sr. papers. 16 Sep 1795 - Daniel Williams and wife Violet of Clark Co. sold to Ambrose Coffee of same......for ten pounds..20 acres on Spencer Creek being part of Edward Williams' 400 acres preemption and adjoining same.

According to Morgan County Kentucky Cemetery Listings, DAR Marker on grave. Ky Pvt, Battle of Blue Licks, Revolutionary War. Emigrated to Kentucky with Daniel Boone May 1775. Married by squire Boone at Boonesboro. Helped organize teh Burning Springs Association in 1813 and was first moderator. Built first cabin in what is now West Liberty, Kentucky.

NOTE from a long time Williams researcher and descendant: Wardie Craft did not have access to the records that were later found for Daniel Williams. Daniel Williams is NOT the son of Mary Emory (Emery) Williams.

Excerpts from the book "The Life and Times of Wardie and Hazel Bach Craft, Memory Hill, a Dream Come True" by Wardie Craft. Daniel Williams 1753 - 1820 Daniel was the son of Edward and Mary Emery Williams of Chester, Pennsylvania. They migrated to the Yadkin River settlement in Rowan Co., NC where Daniel was born about 1753. Edward and Mary were close friends of the Daniel Boone family. In 1775, Edward came to KY with Daniel Boone and helped in the construction of Fort Boone (now Boonesborough) in now Madison Co., KY. Young Daniel Williams grew to manhood in KY and married Violet Couch at Fort Boonesborough about 1787. Squire Boone Jr was the Baptist preacher who joined them in Holy Matrimony. They set up housekeeping on his father Edward's farm in Fayette (later Montgomery) County where they raised a family of 12 children. About 1805, Daniel moved his family to now Morgan County, built a log cabin on the site that is now West Liberty and started to preach to pioneer settlers as they moved into the area. He founded several Baptist churches and in 1813 constituted the Burning Springs association as an arm of the North district association. Daniel was called to his eternal home on Sunday, July 3. 1820 and is buried beneath a tall oak tree in the Walnut Grove Cemetery near Caney. The cemetery is located on a hillside where he once preached and called his flock together by blowing a horn which could be heard up and down the creeks and hollows of Morgan County. The oak tree still stands (year 2000) as if to protect his final resting place from the ravages of time.

Elder Daniel Williams

1753 - 1820

ELDER DANIEL WILLIAMS, SON OF EDWARD WILLIAMS, LIES BURIED IN THE WALNUT GROVE CEMETERY ON CANEY IN MORGAN COUNTY, KY. HIS PRESENTLY WELL KEPT GRAVE SITE AND THAT OF HIS WIFE IS IN A FENCED-IN AREA ON THE LARGE CEMETERY. ABOVE THE GRAVE SITE IS A HUGE WHITE OAK TREE SAID TO BE OVER 300 YEARS OLD. A FEW YEARS AGO, IT WAS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING WHICH DAMAGED ONE LIMB OF THE TREE BUT THE AREA OF THE CEMETERY IS MUCH THE SAME AS IT WAS WHEN DANIEL, HIS FAMILY, OTHER RELATIVES, AND FRIENDS WERE BURIED THERE.

Daniel Williams is supposed to have been born at the headwaters of the Potomac River in Virginia or Pennsylvania, the son of Edward Williams and a descendant of Roger Williams of Philadelphia. (Note: The Pennsylvania Historical Society reports Roger Williams left no male descendants.) Some records say Daniel and his father, Edward, probably with other members of the family, came down the Ohio River to the Falls (G.S. says May 1775), then to Harrodsburg; from there to Fort Boonesborough. Mr. McKee says the family came directly to Ft. Boonesborough from the Watauga Settlements in North Carolina on Boone's second trip to Kentucky about 1779.

While living at Ft. Boonesborough, Daniel fought in the Battle of Blue Licks, "the last battle of the American Revolution". The battle, on August 19, 1782, was between Kentucky frontiersman, including Daniel Boone, whose son Israel was killed in the battle, and a marauding band of Tory and Shawnee raiders led by the renegade Simon Girty. Daniel Williams and Violet Crouch were married by Squire Boone at Boonesborough six years later (1788).

In the early 1790s (one record say 1793) Daniel Williams, Thomas Ammons, and Andy Trimble organized Lulbegrud Church in Montgomery County, KY and named it for the nearby creek, which was itself named for the creek in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. Lulbegrud Creek is now the boundary between Clark and Powell Counties, Kentucky. The church is located on the Clark County side of the creek. The church is now gone and the site is unmarked.

Daniel's father, Edward, was a Deacon in the Lulbegrud Church. Daniel Williams was appointed in 1794 as one of the three church messengers to the South Kentucky Association on Gilbert's Creek; in 1799, he was named Pastor of Lulbegrud Church.

Daniel Williams appeared on the Montgomery County, Kentucky tax list, Aug 22, 1800 as did his father, Edward. Daniel and Violet moved to the Prestonsburg District (per Wardie Craft), then to Smith Creek in eastern Morgan County where his house still exists on Route 437.

Daniel organized the South Fork Baptist Church (Burning Springs Association) in Malone, Morgan County, in 1807 or 1808, and is said to have established 10 other churches in eastern Kentucky. In later years, he and Violet moved to Caney, Morgan County, where they built a house of cannel coal, which Daniel considered to be a beautiful stone. The house, however, later burned. The history of Menifee County says that only the chimney was made of cannel coal and when Daniel lit the first fire in the fireplace, the black stones caught fire and burned the house down.

Daniel continued as minister at Caney, performing more than 100 marriages in the area. He often preached beneath a tall oak tree on the side of the mountain overlooking Caney Valley. The tree still stands. It is related that on preaching day, Daniel would stand on the hillside near the tree and blow a horn whose blasts could be heard up and down the valley. It was at this spot that he and Violet were buried. Daniel's grave marker, supplemented in 1955 by a DAR marker is inscribed "Elder Daniel Williams, Died July 31, 1820, age 57 y. 4 mo. The Dec'd immigrated to Ky, May 1775 and served as pastor of various churches of United Baptist during his life."

A possible list of children of Elder Daniel Williams and Violet Couch: Sarah Francis "Frankie" Williams, John T. "Squire" Williams, Thornton Williams, Nancy Williams, Elizabeth Williams, Isaac Williams, David Williams, Wiley C. Williams, Edy "Edith" Williams, Vina "Winnie" Williams, Mary Phoebe "Polly" Williams, Caleb Williams, Jeremiah Vardeman Williams, and William Williams

More About Daniel Williams: Burial: 1820, Old Caney Cemetery, Caney, Morgan Co., KY.

More About Daniel Williams and Rebecca Violet Crouch: Marriage: 1787, Boonesboro, KY.

Children of Daniel Williams and Rebecca Violet Crouch are: +Sarah Frances Williams, b. January 1787, Montgomery Co., KY, d. October 20, 1853, Morgan Co., KY215. +John T. Sr Williams, b. November 07, 1789, near Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky216, d. March 10, 1869, Morgan County, Kentucky217. +Thornton Williams, b. January 1792, Clark County, KY, d. Abt. 1850. Nancy Jane Williams, b. 1794, d. Abt. 1840. Elizabeth Williams, b. November 20, 1796, Boonesboro, Madison Co., KY, d. 1871, Morgan Co., KY. Isaac Williams, b. 1798, d. date unknown. David Williams, b. 1800, d. date unknown. Edy "Eddie" Williams, b. 1803, Floyd Co., KY, d. date unknown. Vina Winnie Williams, b. 1805, Floyd Co., KY, d. date unknown. Caleb Williams, b. September 12, 1809, Floyd Co., KY, d. October 07, 1865, Morgan Co., Ky. William Williams, b. 1810, Floyd Co., KY, d. date unknown. Jeremiah Vardiman Williams, b. November 11, 1811, Floyd Co., KY, d. date unknown, Morgan Co., Ky. Mary Polly Williams, b. 1814, d. date unknown.