— born in Livingston (now Mercer) Co., MO:
7.  William Monroe WILLIAMS, b. 16 Aug 1840; d. Union soldier killed in battle in Saline Co., MO

— born in Grundy (now Mercer) Co., MO:
8.  Virginia Carol "Jennie" WILLIAMS, b. 25 Jan 1844; m. B. F. CORNWALL

1.  Delilah Sampson (GAULDING) WILLIAMS. 

1.  Family Group Sheet by Betty Ann (MATTHIESEN) COGLIATI and her grandmother, Maude Irene (THOMPSON) ROSE, who was raised by her grandmother, Elizabeth LaVernia (WILLIAMS) McCRAY.

2.  1820 Census:  Prince Edward Co., VA (records extracted by Mrs. Thomas W. Botts, 1205 University Ave., Columbia, MO, and supplied courtesy of Art Daly).  The following are listed as heads-of-households:  John B. ROYAL, Littleberry ROYAL, William WILLIAMS, John R. WILLIAMS, Theodore WILLIAMS, and Thomas D. WILLIAMS.

3.  U.S. Selected Counties:  Census Index, 1830 (Broderbund CD-315):

1830

Williams, Royall T.

VA

Prince Edward Co.

p. 126

4.  1840 Census Index and Digital Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #5-6 of 9 — indexed as being in Jackson Twp., but it says Franklin Twp. on the page; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

1840

MO

Livingston [now Mercer] Co.

Franklin Twp.

pp. 274A-274B

Ln. 3

Royal Williams

010 001 - 203 001

100 000 - 100 100

These data indicate:laves

No. & Sex	Age Class	Therefore Born	Individuals Inferred
1 white male	5-9	1830-1835	=
1 white male	30-39	1800-1810	=
2 white females	4 or under	1835-1840	=
3 white females	10-14	1825-1830	=
1 white female	30-39	1800-1810	=
1 male slave	9 or under	1830-1840	= ?
1 female slave	9 or under	1830-1840	= ?
1 female slave	36-54	1785-1804	= ?

Listed two lines below Benjamin THAXTON and four lines above William WYATT.

5a.  1850 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #27 of 66):  District 56, Mercer Co., MO, p. 386A, 171/4, enumerated 26 Aug 1850, official enumeration date 1 Jun 1850 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Royal Williams	50	M		Merchandising	1640	Virginia
Delila	51	F				do
Mary L	16	F				do
Ann	13	F				do
David Williams	17	M		Farmer		do
Monrow	9	M				Mo
Virginia	5	F				do

Living two doors from Delilah's sister, Malinda GAULDING, and her husband, Benjamin D. THAXTON.

5b.  1850 Slave Schedule Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #1 of 1; missing columns contained no data):  District 56, Mercer Co., MO, p. 649, enumerated 25 Aug 1850 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Names of Slave Owners	Number of Slaves	Description
		Age	Sex	Colour
Royal Williams	1	18	F	blk

There are only six slaveowners in District 56; Benjamin THAXTON was one of the other five.

6a.  1860 Census:  Middlebury P.O., Mercer Co., MO, p. 193 (extracted by Doreen McGowan and Mrs. Botts, the latter courtesy of Art Daly):

WILLIAMS, Royal Sr	66	M	VA
WILLIAMS, Delila	68	F	VA
WILLIAMS, Monroe	18	M	MO
WILLIAMS, Virginia	15	F	MO

6b.  1860 Slave Schedule Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #1 of 1; missing columns contained no data):  Various Townships, Mercer Co., MO, p. 80A, PN 1, enumerated 1 Jun 1860, (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Names of Slave Owners	Number of Slaves	Description
		Age	Sex	Colour
Royal Williams	1	14	M	B

There were only 12 slaveholders in the county, and Royal and Benjamin THAXTON were two of them.

7.  Family Quest Archives:  California Federal Census 1870:  Sonoma County.  Heritage Quest CD M593-91:  Cloverdale Township, Sonoma Co., CA, p. 267B, 21/21, enumerated 21 Jun 1870 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Williams, Delila

69

F

W

At daughters

___

___

Va

Living next door to daughter Macedonia (WILLIAMS) McCRAY and eight doors down from daughter Amanda (WILLIAMS) THOMPSON. 

8.  Mrs. B.F. Hoover & Mrs. D. Hesler.  1965.  Middlebury Cemetery, Mercer County, MO.  (Online at the Mercer County MOGenWeb site):

WILLIAMS

Royal

____

27 Jan 1865

age about 65y; stone is down

9.  Art Daly kindly sent me a photocopy of a photograph of the stone.   It reads:

In Memory of ROYAL WILLIAMS * WHO departed this life Jan. 27, 1865. AGED about 65 years

*A five pointed star pointing downwards (symbol of the Order of the Eastern Star).

10.  Betty Ann (Matthiesen) Cogliati.  Tombstone photograph taken 21 May 1977 in the Silveyville Cemetery, Dixon, Solano Co., CA.  It reads:

DELILAH S. WILLIAMS DIED Nov. 5, 1879 AGED 80 years.

11.  Bev Daly kindly sent this excerpt of a letter from Mrs. W.S. Morton of Farmville, VA (dated 12 Mar 1957):

(Farmville, Pr Edw. Co) Deed Book #2 pg 125 Dec 20, 1836: Royal Williams and Delila his wife of Buckingham Co VA convey to Robert Venable, Nath'l Venable, James Venable, and Joseph Venable for $85.00 a tract of land in Prince Edward Co., containing 42 1/2 acres, adj. lands of Nath'l Venable, on Appomattox River and being this same land conveyed to said Williams by the Sheriff of Prince Edward Co. being sold for delinquent taxes, formerly the property of Freeman D. Gaulding.  This deed was acknowledged in Buckingham County on Jan 12, 1837. ....... The Buckingham Court records were all burned in 1868 and there is no way of tracing Royal Williams through any records except the property tax papers which date back to about 1784.  A copy of the property tax papers are filed in the State Library at Richmond, VA.

12.  From "Mary Hart, 25 Jul 1963," presumably entries in the Deed Books of Mercer Co., MO (courtesy of Art Daly):

Date of Deed	Grantor	Warranty Book	Grantee
27 Dec 1851	Royal & Delilah Williams	B330	Gideon Bosley
27 Dec 1851	"	B397	John A.C. Thompson
4 Feb 1856	"	D529	Siras Jones
9 Feb 1857	"	D694	James M. Williams
17 May 1857	"	I629	Amos S. Bailey
29 Jul 1857	"	I192	William Reid
19 Sep 1857	"	F267	Mirandy Blalock
16 Nov 1857	"	E457	Samuel Shook
24 Nov 1859	"	F428	James M. Williams
9 Oct 1861	"	I187	John A.C. Thompson
8 Mar 1862	Royal Williams, Sr.	H969	Armons L. Wynn
14 Mar 1863	Royal & Delilah Williams	I504	B.C. Whitten

As six of the grantees are known to be kin, the rest may be as well; and we do know that Priscilla McCRAY married a BOSLEY. 

13.  Emails from William Gaulding, Art Daly, Lawrence May, Doreen McGowan, Carol Mahoney.

14.  Broderbund.  World Family Trees.  Vol. 1, Pedigrees #1943 and #2923, submitted by Thomas A. Gauldin.

15.  J.M. Guinn.  1904.  A History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California.  Chapman Publ. Co., Chicago.  See biographical sketch of William Lafayette McCRAY, son of William Henry McCRAY and Macedonia Alice WILLIAMS. 

16.  Mrs. Mary Casteel Linn.  [n.d.]  Notes on Royal Williams from the History of Mercer County (1888).

17.  Author and title of article unknown.  Dec 1965. Clues.  On p. 812:

Delilah Sampson GAULDING born Prince Edward Co., VA 15 Nov 1799...

I'm still trying to find out what Clues is and to get a copy of the original article.

18.  See article on "Old Middlburg or Middlebury" by Doris Thompson (courtesy of Art Daly). 

19.  Messages in the Williams Family Genealogy Forum (online at GenForum.com).