Sgt. Thomas S Williams was born 2 January 1827 in Columbia, Maury County, Tennessee to Alexander Williams (1803-1876) and Isabella Gill (1805-1862) and died 18 March 1860 Baker, San Bernardino County, California of unspecified causes. He married Albina Mariam Merrill (1826-1914) 1842 in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.
Biography
Mormon Battalion
Thomas Williams served as Sargent of Co D of The Mormon Battalion in their historic march westward during the Mexican-American War in 1846-1847. His wife and two oldest children went with him.
1850 Freight Train
Thomas Williams was co-leader of the Thomas S. Williams/Seth M. Blair Freight Train (1850) / Departure: 6 June 1850 / Arrival: 7 September 1850.
Company Information: Blair partnered with Thomas S. Williams to freight merchandise and transport Blair's family from Council Bluffs to Salt Lake. Several poor families also accompanied them.
Indian GrandDaughter
Crozier's parents (Caroline Marie Williams (1843-1916)) also reared an Indian girl, named Viroque, who came to them under a unique set of circumstances. Crozier recalled:
My grandfather, Thomas S. Williams, was returning home from one of his freighting trips, when he found himself camped at the same location with a group of Mexicans. They had with them five Indian children, having taken them captive during a recent battle. Grandfather asked what they were going to do with the children and the Mexicans replied that they intended to kill them. Grandfather decided to try to buy the children. The Mexicans said they would sell them for two thousand dollars. The bargaining went on the rest of the evening; by morning the Mexicans were willing to let the children go for sixteen hundred. Grandfather paid the sixteen hundred dollars and took the children home with him. One of them a little girl about five years old, he gave to my mother. My grandmother named her Viroque. This girl was reared and educated in Salt Lake City by my parents until she was twenty-one years old. Then she married a man from Ogden and had a son. She was always treated as one of the family. Any time during the year that she wanted to come home and do up her sewing, she would do all Mother's housework while Mother sewed for her. Mother said that is was very nice to have this exchange of labor because she'd rather sew any day than wash the dishes and clean the house. Crozier's daughter, Caroline, remembers her grandmother telling how Viroque, being Indian, loved bright colors. She would iron anything that had a little color in it, but wouldn't touch pieces that were plain white. (Crozier Kimball His Life and Work, by Marva Jeanne Kimball Pedersen , p.2-3)
Death in California
Family records show caused of death as killed by Indians in March 1860 near Baker, CA on a wagon freight trip.
In 1851, Phoebe Lodema Merrill, sister of Albina, became the wife of Parmino Adams Jackman (1822-1860). A few years later Parmenio and Thomas, his brother-in-law, engaged in a freighting business venture. In time, this business became one of the most prosperous in the city.
In 1860, Thomas and Parmenio went to California to bring back a wagon train and merchandise. They had several wagons drawn by 40 spans of mules and they employed many teamsters. Near Bitter Springs on March 18th, the two men were shot down by Indians as they rode in advance of their wagons to look for a suitable place to camp. The Indians, an old man and his three sons, appeared friendly and told of good grass and water just ahead. The unsuspecting white men allowed the redskins to fall into the rear, when suddenly each rider was pieced by two arrows in the back.
Mr. Jackman fell face down in the sand and Thomas thought him to be dead. Thomas galloped away and reached his men while yet enough life remained in him to tell the story. As he rode along he tried to pull one of the arrows from his back and the point was broken off inside him. He died that night. When found, Mr. Jackman was still alive but had been tortured by the Indians. He was paralyzed and unable to help himself in any way, except to reach a five-shooter pistol in his pocket. Four barrels had been emptied at the Indians, while the fifth was retained to put an end to his own suffering in case the Indians attacked again. He lived one month to the day.
He was buried in San Bernardino, California. Of the entire, outfit, only one pair of mules was returned to the widows. The teamsters appropriated, for themselves, the remainder of the animals and the valuable outfits. The murdered merchants had much valuable real estate in the city, but the affairs, consequent upon the men's tragic death, reduced the windows from affluence to almost poverty.
Later Mrs. Jackman remarried, but Mrs. William remained a widow until her death. Albina died on November 28, 1914, in Pocatello, Idaho. She was the mother of ten children. After the death of her husband, Phoebe Lodema Merrill Jackman married Sylvenus Collett. Upon his death she married William Thompson. She, at some time, moved to Rexburg, Idaho and died there on January 18, 1909, and is buried in the Rexburg, Idaho cemetery with her husband, William Thompson.
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Caroline Marie Williams (1843-1916) | 24 April 1843 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois | 21 December 1916 Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona | David Patten Kimball (1839-1883) |
| Ephraim Thomas Williams (1845-1885) | 15 June 1845 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois | 28 April 1885 | Ann Caroline Hoalmes Archibald (1845-1912) |
| Phebe Isabella Williams (1847-1880) | 15 January 1847 Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado | 12 November 1880 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah | Hugh Thomas Doran (1839-1882) |
| Alvina Altimira Williams (1849-1850) | |||
| Manassah Woodville Williams (1850-1905) | |||
| Cyrena Williams (1852-1853) | |||
| Thomas Stephen Jedadiah Morgan Williams (1855-1921) | |||
| Lu Ella Williams (1857-1857) | |||
| Francis M Williams (1859-1863) | |||
| Norma Williams (1860-1868) | |||
Siblings
Vital Records
1850 Overland Travel
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Database Thomas S. Williams/Seth M. Blair Freight Train (1850)
- Blair, Cornelia Jane Espy (30)
- Blair, Ellen Cornelia (3)
- Blair, Preston Alonzo (1)
- Blair, Seth Millington (31)
- Blair, Seth Millington, Jr. (6)
- Williams, Thomas Stephen (24
References
- Thomas Williams - disambiguation page
- FindAGrave Memorial #97473377